In Focus: The people story behind the numbers

When we look at metrics like gross income per head, utilisation and recovery rates in isolation, they feel like operational or commercial challenges. But when you step back and look at them holistically, these numbers are actually outcomes of how skills are structured, supported and deployed across your agency.

If these metrics are under pressure, it’s rarely just a pricing issue or a client problem. More often than not, it’s a signal about capability, role design or leadership capacity.

This matters because it changes where you look for solutions. If you’re treating falling productivity purely as a finance or operations issue, you’re missing what’s actually happening with your people.

What we lost when we cut

Looking at agencies that completed the DBA In Focus survey in both years, headcount was down just 0.5%, but fee income per head fell by 2.1%. That’s the pattern that should concern us. 

In theory, if you’re removing lower performers or consolidating roles, you’d expect income per head to at least stay steady, if not rise. The fact that it fell suggests that some agencies removed not just cost, but critical capability – the people driving income, managing client relationships, maintaining momentum.

The picture varies considerably from agency to agency. Some grew, some contracted significantly. But the overall pattern points to something important: last year’s restructures weren’t only a cost story, they were a talent and capability one. And that raises uncomfortable questions about which skills and responsibilities are most essential right now, and what happens when you lose them without a plan to redistribute or rebuild that capability.

Who can actually afford to start in this industry?

Junior designers with under three years’ experience are earning £26,000 to £28,000, with some roles falling below the London Living Wage. That’s not just a pay issue; it’s an access issue.

If you’re a graduate with student debt, living in London or another major city, these salary levels make it extraordinarily difficult to begin a career in design. And while it’s encouraging to see more agencies offering internships, pay levels at entry point continue to limit who can realistically afford to join the industry at all.

The question we need to be asking is: what is this actually benefiting? Because access at the start of a career has a direct impact on long-term diversity, retention and ultimately, who ends up in leadership roles a decade from now.

If agencies are serious about building diverse teams, early-career pay needs to be part of that conversation. It’s not just about who you’re willing to hire; it’s about who can afford to say yes.

The structural barriers to women's progression

Women continue to hold only 37% of senior business and department head roles, and the gender pay gap widens significantly at senior levels. The contributing factors are worth restating.

Only 34% of agencies offer enhanced parental pay, and that figure drops to 15% among smaller agencies. These are understandably difficult commercial decisions, particularly for smaller businesses operating on tight margins. But the data reinforces something we see time and again in practice: support through parenthood plays a critical role in whether women stay, progress and ultimately lead within agencies.

This isn’t about judgment. It’s about recognising that structural factors, not individual capability, are shaping who gets to stay and who doesn’t. And if the outcome is that women consistently drop out at mid-to-senior level, we need to be honest about what’s driving that.

When pay can't move, clarity becomes everything

With only 58% of agencies planning pay rises this year, and fewer than half of small agencies doing so, pay pressure is clearly being driven by rising costs and tighter margins. But here’s what agencies often get wrong: when pay can’t move, the biggest risk isn’t the freeze itself, it’s a lack of clarity.

Agencies that are retaining their best people tend to be the ones that are transparent about constraints, progression and expectations, even in challenging conditions. People can handle difficult news. What they struggle with is ambiguity, particularly when it comes to their own future.

If you can’t offer a pay rise this year, that’s understandable. But have you told your team why? Have you been clear about when things might change, or what progression looks like in the meantime? Because in the absence of that clarity, your best people will start looking elsewhere.

Skills, not headcount, will shape what's next

Finally, while much of this data is retrospective, it’s difficult to ignore what’s ahead. AI is likely to have a significant impact on skills, roles and productivity over the next few years, and how agencies approach this will matter enormously.

The agencies that treat this as a people and skills challenge, not purely a technology or headcount one, are likely to be far better positioned for what’s coming. That means thinking carefully about which skills you need to build, which roles may need to evolve, and how you support people through that transition.

The pattern across all of this is clear: the agencies that will thrive aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets or the most aggressive growth plans. They’re the ones that understand their people challenges are their business challenges, and they’re addressing them as such. Because if last year taught us anything, it’s that capability is harder to rebuild than it is to lose.

Other expert perspectives:

In Focus: Where agency margins are won – or lost in delivery: DBA Expert Manish Kapur

In Focus: Staff cost to fee income ratio: DBA Expert Mike Almandras