Melbourne has seen the launch of a new player in the people and culture consultancy space, with Human Kind Collective looking to fill a HR gap for media agencies of of all sizes.

Founded by Virginia Scully, former Managing Partner – People at independent media agency Hatched, the HR consultancy will have a particular focus on independent agencies, offering a range of services including salary benchmarking, policy development and implementation, and psychosocial safety and mental health support.

"The world of work has dramatically changed and, in many respects, isn't actually ‘working’. We need to leave the practices of treating humans as resources in the past. To do that, a collective of HR revolutionaries is required. So we created one," said Scully.

"Indies are adaptable to rapid change and open to experimenting with new ideas. They can embrace innovation more readily with fewer layers of decision-making giving them an enviable competitive advantage. Often they have the biggest care factor but the least time and resources. Being independent, there’s no global HR support which could result in reputational, legal, financial and human risk. They don’t know what they don’t know," said Scully.

The consultancy's mission is to address several challenges faced by agencies, including the exodus of women over 30 from the industry, managing multigenerational workforces, and a concerning level of mentally unhealthy employees.

"Agencies are facing several challenges from women over 30 leaving the industry in droves to managing multigenerational workforces and a concerning level of mentally unhealthy employees. And that’s on top of an ambitious legislative agenda with the compliance and governance bar rising. This is not a time to go it alone," Scully said.

Human Kind Collective has already partnered with its first agency, Media Republic.

Media Republic's Director, Steve Fagan, said: "Unlike our hold co counterparts, many independent agencies don’t have the headcount to justify in-housing a full suite of P&C functions. But without them, we’re flying by the seat of our pants. We’ve been waiting for something like Human Kind Collective to come along. Virginia has hugely impressive creds and working with her simply makes sense."

Members of the Independent Media Agencies Association (IMAA) will receive complimentary access to the culture health check and a discount on a range of Human Kind Collective services.

"Our mission is to simplify complex challenges and build a foundation of kindness to drive positive change. Together we can fuel industry economic growth through supporting gender equity, mentally healthy workplaces and organisations," Scully said.