What makes PR one of the most stressful professions in the world

The industry has consistently made it to the list of 10 most challenging professions in the world

by

Anamika Chatterjee

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Published: Fri 6 Apr 2018, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Fri 6 Apr 2018, 2:00 AM

Sitting in a newsroom, the world of public relations professionals can seem distant to us journalists. After all, journalism in many ways is at odds with the ethos of PR - if the latter is about hardselling a brand, the former is about examining the truth beneath the hype. However, with the onset of the digital age, these textbook definitions are undergoing a change. Today, PR is a 24x7 job, one that routinely finds a mention in lists of most stressful jobs in the world (just last year, Forbes ranked it as the eighth most stressful job, two ranks above broadcast journalism).

Reams have been written about how digitisation has changed the face of contemporary media. The tremors have been felt in the world of PR too. Dilip Cherian, one of India's leading image gurus, points out, "I would put change in three kinds of buckets. The first is how the environment of work has changed, which I think has been hugely positive. Today, agencies have a 360-degree approach to looking at PR, which is far from the media-oriented approach of many years ago. The second change is in the people bucket, and there I have had mixed reports. Today, there is a whole bunch of newbies who think they fully understand the pillars of PR - be it content creation, digital, video, etc. But fewer and fewer people have the skill set to straddle at least three or four sectors that are part of the business. There is a problem of plenty there. The third change is in the area of clients, who have become more demanding and definitely more appreciative of what good PR can achieve. That also means the demand on the agencies is much higher." (read full interview below)
With the rise and rise of social media, PR has become a 24x7 job with the idea of work-life balance slowly eroding from the industry. What are the perks and perils of being in one of the world's most stressful professions? We look through the glamour to understand what is at stake.
THE DEMANDS OF THE JOB
Dubai-based PR professional Shamira Mitha runs a boutique agency Verve that specialises in tackling promotional activities for the hospitality industry. Being in the profession for nearly 20 years, Shamira, in many ways, can map its evolution in the region. "When I started out in 2000, there was only a handful of media. We were a community of PR professionals who worked closely with each other and exchanged notes. We would get physical invites made and drop them to the media houses ourselves," she reminisces.

Hospitality can be a very challenging industry, one that doesn't always afford even smaller luxuries to those who are part of it. Shamira says it's not always that her team can afford to take weekends off. "Many hotels host brunches during the weekend. Invariably, the media prefer to come for those. And so an account executive always has to be present." Her thoughts are echoed by a former PR professional in the food and beverage industry Dev J. Halder, who says that mostly, it's this act of managing relations that takes a toll. "Clients are demanding and, most times, ask for work beyond working hours. PR mode is quite a blame-riddled game. Consumers and clients alike take PR to be a feedback mechanism. Often, the careful crafting of image takes a backseat."
The challenges are different in different sectors. Natasha Hatherall-Shawe runs a PR agency that deals in beauty, health and wellness - sectors often considered "little lighter than some other industries". However, hear Natasha talk about things that keep her connected 24x7 and it may all seem a tad Kafkaesque. "Some of the things we have to deal with regularly include significant reactions to products that result in medical attention, journalists having all their hair cut off accidentally, injuries and accidents in fitness classes, media people missing flights on press trips and plenty more," she says. "In peak events season, we can have up to 12 events a week, which means a relentless schedule working up to 20-hour days. Often, I find myself in meetings and at events all day, so the only time I get to catch up on email and actual work is early mornings (I get up at 5am every day), evenings and weekends, which does have a serious effect on your personal life and your health." Not so glamorous after all, is it?
IMPACT ON PERSONAL LIFE
In his light-hearted essay for PR Daily in 2012, Chicago-based communications professional and author of Act Like You Mean Business, Rob Biesenbach writes, ".Here's a dirty little secret in this profession: People take perverse pride in how stressed out they are. I suppose it provides a kind of validation that the work we do is vitally important. Or maybe it's a defence we use for all those missed dinners, soccer games for whatever crisis has arisen at the office. Yes, we face a lot of pressures - demanding bosses, mercurial clients, cranky reporters and the need to bill, bill, bill. As a result, much of what we do is beyond our control."
One may or may not agree with Biesenbach's take on the industry, but the fact remains that it is a job that can easily impact familial relationships. While most professionals are aware that this is a choice they make, sometimes there are some very intimate moments at stake. Shamira recalls having to report to someone who insisted on hosting the media for dinners even though her days started early morning. "I had just one weekend then, and sometimes when I worked during that day, I would take my son with me." For Natasha, it has meant a number of personal sacrifices. "During the weekend, I see people out and about enjoying life at the beach, having brunches, and I'm at my desk. It is all choice and I am very aware of that, but sometimes it can be hard. The biggest sacrifice, honestly speaking, is not being able to start a family as work demands and stress from running a busy business have not made this possible. However, I'm making changes to give my husband and I the best chance of having a family of our own one day soon."
HOW TO RECLAIM YOUR LIFE
In a high-pressure job, how do you reclaim your life? According to most PR professionals we spoke to, you need to be either truly, madly, deeply in love with the job to remain connected to it 24x7 or leave the field altogether. Former PR professional Farah Zoghbi says that it cannot possibly be a 9-5 job because it includes a number of areas that need to be looked after. "For instance, networking is a huge part of the job. You need to be out and about. Now if you engage yourself in typical paperwork from 9am to 6pm, it'd mean that you wouldn't be able to do that in those hours," she says.
While working round-the-clock is inevitable, Shamim Kassibawi, managing partner at Spread Communications that does promotional work for celebrity events, does concede that for most hardcore PR professionals it's a psychological thing. "We act like this press release has to go now. We take our jobs to heart." At the same time, she warns that the idea that PR is all glamour needs to be dismantled. "I always tell people that you're entering a profession where you're always on the line. People think PR is glamorous and yes, at times, we have to look good. But that's not the whole story. For instance, recently, we went to LA where we had a celebrity event. Now the prospect of travelling to LA for a celebrity event may seem very glamorous to some people, but the fact is that I slept two hours at night every day because there was just so much work to do."
Most PR professionals we spoke to maintain that the younger people in the profession have a different approach towards PR, which may not be a wise one. Shamira cites an incident about a client complaining about a young PR executive who just would not pick up his phone after 6pm. Natasha adds, "I have had junior staff who have refused to do what they view as menial tasks such as scanning magazines or packing gift bags, which is not the way, when everyone knows that I, as CEO of a business, am regularly doing all these things."
A range of perspectives indicates it's not all roses and peaches for the PR professionals. And yet for most, it's not a job, it's a lifestyle.
"Successful PRs have moved from being gatekeepers to idea generators": Dilip Cherian
We spoke to India's leading image guru Dilip Cherian on how PR industry has transformed over the years. Here are edited excerpts from a brief conversation
1. How have you seen the nature of PR change over the years?
I would put change in three kinds of buckets. The first is how the environment of work has changed, which I think has been hugely positive. Today, agencies have a 360-degree approach to looking at PR, which is far from the media-oriented approach of many years ago. The second change is in the people bucket, and there I have had mixed reports. Today, there is a whole bunch of newbies who think they fully understand the pillars of PR - be it content creation, digital, video, etc. But fewer and fewer people have the skill set to straddle at least three or four sectors that are part of the business. There is a problem of plenty there. The third change is in the area of clients, who have become more demanding and definitely more appreciative of what good PR can achieve. That also means the demand on the agencies is much higher.
2. With digitalisation, PR is increasingly becoming a 24x7 role. Is it difficult to achieve work:life balance in that sense?
I am a great believer that there is no Chinese wall between who you are and what you do. If you're not born to do that, then whether you are graphic designer or a stand-up comic, you're expected to be that persona almost all the time. PR is no different. You can no longer leave your school satchel in the house and go out to play. That is over for a whole bunch of professions, not just PR. The second thing you talked about being connected 24x7, which is also true of merchant bankers, media people, except artists perhaps. I think these are huge changes. It changes the concept of work:life balance, now that is in the realm of myth.
3. How invested are most agencies into the well-being of professionals?
What is happening is, it is coming from a different direction. Today, you have a large number of people, but fewer and fewer skilled ones. To keep the skilled ones, you give them lots of options. For instance, we are encouraging a lot of stay-at-home work options. We are encouraging the practice of compulsory leave as opposed to the earlier practice of encashing leaves. Those things are happening less out of altruism but more because the few who are good need to be kept, and because you cannot discriminate, it is available to others.
4. What changes have you observed in the PR-journalist relationship?
PR has become much more powerful in terms of being a gatekeeper. Successful PRs have moved from being gatekeepers to idea generators.
5. What difference have the millennial workforce made in the PR scene?
My sense is that the millennials have played the role in the digitalisation and the visual element of PR today. But elsewhere, they haven't really played a huge role.
6. You maintain good PRs are far outnumbered by bad PRs?
A lot of PR people are still stuck in the concept that good PR is about, in social terms, being gregarious and 'on' all the time. But good PR is actually about deep understanding of the industry, the sector and many ramifications of that sector. Good PR is someone who is able to understand how often a CEO should be out there in the public. A car launch with a mob attending with cameras and lights is not as successful as it is made out to be. Good PR is about getting away from what I call conventional matrices and look at what at the core of the company you're doing PR for should have. Second aspect is about second-guessing what is going to happen to the company. Earlier what you saw was what you got, what you dealt with.
7. Digitalisation has also given brands the freedom to directly reach out to the brands. How has that posed a challenge to the world of PR?
In fact, that has made the task of PR much more, shall I say, 'on' all the time, much more content-driven, much more quality-conscious. 
anamika@khaleejtimes.com