PR professionals grapple with burnout, new report shows
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Check on your communication friends and colleagues, because half of them have considered quitting their job due to burnout, according to a new report from media insights platform, Muck Rack.
Why it matters: The demands of the job — like the project workload, "always on" mentality and tight deadlines — have caused 44% of PR professionals to quit this year.
By the numbers: Muck Rack surveyed 1,604 PR professionals from April 4 to May 10, and found that burnout is consistent across both brands and agencies, and also across seniority levels.
- 75% of those who work in agencies report high stress and most commonly report stress levels at an 8 out of 10.
- Meanwhile, 71% of those who work in-house report high stress levels, with 6 being the most common rating.
Zoom in: Another factor in work-life-balance is the return to office battle that is still ensuing between employer and employee.
- According to the report, a majority of in-house and agency communicators want a hybrid work environment, but less than half report hybrid as the norm.
Regardless of how they work, most PR professionals are taking work home with them, per the report.
- Roughly 8 in 10 are working outside regular business hours at least once a week.
- 58% say they work more than 40 hours per week, and one in ten say they're working more than 51 hours.
The big picture: Across industries, burnout is on the rise and more than 80% of employees risk experiencing burnout this year, per a 2024 Mercer workforce trends report.
- Plus elected officials and business leaders are looking for new ways to address mental health, as its economic impact comes into focus.
What they're saying: "We know from our own experience that comms professionals are often expected to be available and responsive in ways that can really disrupt a sense of personal time and personal boundaries — leading to a feeling of lost agency, a lack of care and a feeling of disempowerment," says Ethan McCarty, CEO of Integral.
- To better equip PR professionals, leaders must inspect the manager experience to ensure that they are not "getting crushed from above with directives and chipped away from below by new demands," he says.
- Other tips include taking external stressors into account and addressing the modern — often hybrid — work environment.
- "You may need new tools, policies and rituals to ensure that people know how to take time off and how to respect the time off and workloads of their teams. It is not obvious how to step away from an "always on" workplace," added McCarty.
More on Axios:
