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Y&R Asia boss: we need to blend our passions with work to address work-life balance issue

The Mumbrella360 APAC panel before the discussion started

Mumbrella360 APAC panel before the discussion started

The regional president of Y&R, Matthew Godfrey, said today that people working media and marketing need to bring their passions into work to help address the work-life balance issue in Asia.

Godfrey, who is a car marketing enthusiast and writes his own blog, called on the industry to start “blending your passions” with work.

“The things that bring you joy – you need to bring them into work,” Godfrey told delegates at the Mumbrella360 conference in Sydney today.

He added that agency leaders need to encourage healthier lifestyles among their staff.

Godfrey was on a panel that included Wayne Arnold, global CEO of digital agency Lowe Profero, Cheuk Chiang, APAC CEO of OMG, John Zeigler, APAC chairman and CEO of DDB, and Dan Neary, Asia vice president of Facebook.

His comments came in response to a question about how the industry should respond to the deaths of two young people in Asia over the last 12 months – one in Indonesia who worked for Y&R, one in China who worked at Ogilvy. Both allegedly died after excessive working hours.

In answer to a question about the difference in work ethic between Australia and Asia, Zeigler said: “Asians are working double the rate of Australians.”

“Asia presents a huge opportunity for people who are prepared to work hard,” he said.

Zeigler added that there was no work-life balance in any industry in Asia, and the media and marketing industries are not unusual in working hard.

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