Dead end burn out
Ad operations is a high-stress environment. It is the lightening rod for every ad management crisis. Ad operations is wrong, even when they are right. When ad agencies submit creative that doesn't work, or clickthrough URLS that go to a "page not found," ad operations is responsible for fixing it. They labor without benefit of sunshine and are frequently sequestered in a physical location of your office that is as far away as possible from sales and marketing. I can almost hear the strains of "Song of the Volga Boatman" while ad operations labors at the oars.
What makes this problem worse is the tendency to want to keep excellent workers tied to the same job for longer than they can stand it. For instance, a great ad trafficker is smart, technically adept, self-motivated and has great attention to detail. Keep them in that job and you have the foundations of a reliable operations group. Keep them in that job for too long, and they become bored, frustrated and lose motivation. They reach a dead end and burn out.
It is this environment that can create disastrous levels of turnover in an organization.
Solution
Recognize the achievements of ad operations personnel regularly. Cross train them in other functions such as inventory management, ad product development or integration projects with other tools and applications. Engage them in projects that give them exposure to senior management, educating the rest of the companies on content areas that monetize most effectively, creative units that perform the best and ad campaigns that consistently deliver quality results for clients.
