Hicklin’s staff do get a ray of hope

It’s been a fairly grotty spring thus far -Âunless you work for Hicklin Slade & Partners, which has devised an unusual incentive scheme: win a prize (a holiday in Florida, plus spending money) for coming up with the best way to make staff happier. (Presumably “send all of us to Florida, with spending money” was not a valid entry.)

Of the 80 entries that flooded in, one of the best was “agency blind dates”: monthly lunch dates between staff who don’t normally interact. Dates are for a maximum of four people (HS&P is very broad-minded) with no shop talk allowed.

But the winner was senior art director Lindsey Jones, who came up with the idea of an agency social club, run by the staff, with a budget to organise nights out, visits to art galleries, the cinema and so on.

So clients take note: if you want innovative campaigns, forget large retainers, a week in the sun is all it takes to get the creative juices flowing. Brochures and tickets to the usual address, please…