All companies strive (hard) to retain talent – to the point that some HR roles have titles such as Talent Officer or even Talent Retention Officer. However, according to Payscale (the Seattle-based salary data company), the median level of tenure of all Fortune 500 companies averages just 3 years and eight months. Equally surprising is the average tenure of Google employees – despite the fact that the perks Google lays on for its employees are the stuff of legend*. Though the tech behemoth has topped Fortune magazine’s list of best companies to work for every year since 2007, the median employee tenure at Google is just more than 1 year.
With this in mind, it is with enormous pride that we are celebrating a number of milestone anniversaries this year with five H4Bers celebrating between 7 and 20 years!
Sue O’Neill, our Editorial Director, celebrated a massive milestone anniversary at the end of May – her 20th year with us (she likes to tell people she started when she was 5 years old!). As Editorial Director, she is the back stop and back bone to our quality control and we ensure that nothing leaves the building without her casting her beady eye over it for any errors in grammar, spelling and medical factualness. Sue has enjoyed working in both our New York and London offices and can confirm that there is truth to Oscar Wilde’s quote ‘We [British] have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language.’ This is just one of the many things that makes her job interesting and amusing. When Sue’s not busy marking up our copy with her red pen, she’s exploring the many historic sites of Britain or taking in some live jazz or classical music.
In June, Tope (pronounced ‘Tops’—and she is!) Mogaji, our Management Accountant, celebrated her 12th year with H4B. In addition to providing excellent reporting and guidance on the numbers, Tope lights up the office with her smile and good cheer. And… as most of us have heard, Tope has a beautiful singing voice. When she’s not chirping round the office, she’s sorting out vocal arrangements and providing one-on-one coaching for upcoming gospel artists. The most exciting news this year… Tope becomes a mum in September. Congratulations Tope!
Jonathon (Jon to everyone) Yuill, our Creative Director, celebrates 16 years with us this year – 8 years full-time permanent and 8 years freelance. When Jon joined us, the agency had recently transformed from WCRS to EURO RSCG Life, before merging with Health4Brands to become H4B London. During this time, Jon has mentored, led and inspired our creative talent, too numerous to mention, honing the product of the agency, delivering sparkling, robust and enduring integrated campaigns that have commercially delivered for our clients (for both human and animal health). Jon is the creative heart and soul of our agency. Thank you for the adventure you’ve taken us on, Jon! We’re all looking forward to the next stretch of the journey – and hopefully not (m)any more agency name changes!
Angharad Irvine, our Executive Assistant, celebrates her 7th year with us this August. Angharad has organised us from Day 1, overseeing the smooth running of the office and ensuring harmony is maintained! Her role covers many facets, from HR to Social Media to helping organise our European CEO (and a few other members of the management team). Basically, she is the one we call on when we have any questions about, well, anything!
Mark Murrant, one of our star Copywriters, celebrates his 7th year with us this year. Mark started in client services before crossing to the other side of the office where he flexes his medical and creative muscle, producing outstanding, clear and persuasive content and big communications ideas for all channels across a gamut of product/disease categories.
