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Collective headcount across the “big six” holding companies fell by 1.6% in 2024, the first drop since the pandemic hit in 2020, according to a Campaign analysis.

The drop marks an end to collective employment expansion following the bounceback from the pandemic, although WPP and IPG started reducing numbers earlier in 2023.

However, one holding company, Publicis Groupe, bucked the trend with an increase in staff last year.

Collectively, Publicis Groupe, WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic, Dentsu and Havas finished 2024 with 437,854 staff, according to Campaign’s analysis of headcount disclosures for 31 December 2024.

They employed 7083 fewer people than in 2023, when jobs peaked at 444,937 after an unbroken, though increasingly faltering, three-year recovery and expansion following the economic shock of the pandemic.

In percentage terms, 2024’s 1.6% year-on-year drop was much milder than 2020’s 6% year-on-year fall.

And while all six companies made significant cuts in the first year of the pandemic, the impact of this year’s reductions is much less uniform. Notably there was continued expansion at Publicis Groupe, which added about 5000 staff between the end of 2023 and the end of 2024.

Publicis Groupe’s headcount figure of 108,000 is provisional, with a precise number not expected to be released until its annual report is published in April, and compares with 103,295 at the end of 2023.

Dentsu’s provisional figure of 71,000 is also close to its confirmed 2023 figure of 71,127. However, in its financial results the company said it intends to “invest in optimising headcount mainly in the International businesses, as well as implementing IT systems to further enhance efficiency in our operations”.

Two groups — WPP and Interpublic — accounted for the bulk of the headcount reductions, with Omnicom and Havas apparently taking less aggressive action.

As previously reported by Campaign, Interpublic shed 4100 jobs and WPP 6100, although both groups made disposals (Hill Holiday by the former and FGS by the latter) that swelled those figures.

Interpublic, which is set for further cuts this year after agreeing a sale to Omnicom, shrank in size by 7.1% to 53,300 staff. This is below its pre-pandemic size of 54,300 staff, making it the only one of the six not to have grown headcount since 2019.

WPP was the next most aggressive downsizer, with a 5.4% reduction in headcount to 108,044 (nonetheless larger than its 106,786 level in 2019).

Next came Havas, which, despite six small acquisitions during 2024, managed to finish the year 1.9% smaller, at 22,610 people. There are parallels with Omnicom, which as already reported by Campaign thinned its ranks despite adding about 2000 people through the acquisition of Flywheel Digital at the start of 2024.

Omnicom’s headcount shrank by 1.3%, from 75,900 at the end of 2023 to 74,900 at the end of 2024, meaning it has cut close to 3000 roles in the run-up to its planned takeover of Interpublic, which was announced on 9 December.

Publicis’ eventual confirmation of its exact headcount could carry extra significance if it tops WPP’s 108,044. This would make it adland’s largest employer, on the back of a 30% increase in size over five years.

To underline the extent of its recent outperformance of its rivals, it has accounted for two thirds of the 37,000 extra jobs created by the big six since 2019.

A full analysis of the holdcos’ performance in 2024 is available here.

This article originally appeared on Campaign UK.