#TwitterChat: The ticking time bomb that PR professionals are facing

When it comes to Mental Health, there is a silence that descends. Mental Health issues are still not discussed openly and people tend to either suffer through it or deal with it in their own ways rather than seek help or discuss with those who can really help them. The stigma attached to mental health deters people from coming out in the open.

It’s been over 7 months now that we have lived in this pandemic period. The risk of COVID-19 infection, being cut off from everything that we have been familiar with throughout our lives, working from home, job losses, salary cuts, the great uncertainty that hangs over everything – all these have increased anxiety levels.

Also read:  #TwitterChat: Are PR professionals contributing to a ticking ‘mental health’ bomb?

For communications professionals, the stress levels have gone up. Public Relations professionals have to deal increased work pressure at all levels. There are greater job demands, with professional life frequently eating into one’s personal life. Amid such a high pressure environment, how are PR professionals dealing with the stress levels?

Continuing with Adgully’s much appreciated #TwitterChat initiative, we turned the focus to “Are PR professionals contributing to a ticking ‘mental health’ bomb?”, where industry stalwarts came together to discuss the topic of mental health from a PR perspective.

Joining in the discussions were:

Sandeep Rao, CEO, One Source – Moderator

Ritwik Sharma, Product Communication Lead, vivo India

Divya Sherigar, Senior Manager - Corporate Communication, ALTBalaji

Shashank Sethi, Director - Corporate Communication, Droom

Mohua Mandal, National Manager & Head - Group Corporate Communication, Bajaj Finserv

Sandeep Rao commenced the discussions with an important issue – that of the toxic agency culture in India.

Our first #mentalhealth question for the day, on this #twitterchat by @adgully, then.

Your thoughts, ladies and gentlemen on today's panel... pic.twitter.com/RSaNLkNkCU

— Sandeep Rao (@Husband_Diaries) October 23, 2020

Mohua Mandal remarked, “As someone who has always been on the brand side, I have only witnessed the agency culture from the sidelines, through agency partner teams and friends. I trust me, it still doesn’t cease to surprise me, the unkind pressure some deal with. Somehow what we miss in this entire domino effect is ‘empathy’ towards the next set of people whom one is passing on the heat to. It’s toxic as it becomes a dog eats dog contest.” She further noted, “The overall pressure on PR folks is numbing across the board, on both sides of the table. If the agency team is being pushed to the brink, the client-side team is also managing the same amount of #MentalHealth issues. The important aspect I think is to accept and address these.”

Divya Sherigar, too, felt that mental health is an important issue that needs to be discussed and addressed across industries. According to her, “The pressure may seem more due to PR professionals catering to multiple stakeholders and their over impending deadlines. The hype is more to do with how the PR people are expected to be perfect, always! Also, it’s a thankless job which makes people all the more wary of the constant pressure and crossing deadlines.”

“Highly competitive fields are often cited as a reason for the declining mental health of individuals,” commented Shashank Sethi.

When asked, since competition is everywhere, why does PR get the worst of it, Sethi replied, “While in PR you are managing the brand image, that too not with physical arms or tools, and handling media channels at the same time, trust me, same is the case for Digital Marketing agencies, too, nowadays.”

Ritwik Sharma added here, “I would like to first point out that the communication function in general is stressful irrespective where it is practiced – inhouse or agency. Only the degree may vary. There’s now no doubt that the PR industry is super stressful. And workload is the main reason why PR professionals don’t take time off for their mental health. For those working in agencies, demands from clients and deadlines are the main cause of stress, while in-house, unclear expectations were the main factor. It is said that PR professionals who struggle with their mental health rarely take up the conversation with the organisation’s HR department, stating it makes them look weak and may cause issues in their career. This needs to change. In conclusion, the PR industry needs a cultural change. And it needs it now. Mental illness in the public relations profession is frequently ignored. It’s time we speak up and not dust our problems under the carpet.”

Joining in the discussions as a guest, @kasturipaladhi, a clinical depression survivor, shared her experience and said, “Speaking as a clinical depression survivor, being on the agency side, yes, there is a lot of pressure. But like all other things, if you draw boundaries, keep people informed about them and most importantly, are honest to yourself about the work pressure, things ease out. At agencies, sometimes the colleague, in fact, help colleagues become more aware of their mental health conditions. It happened to me at #MSL. Misrapolis and team were so incredibly supportive about my situation that I felt guilty for not being able to perform my best.”

Catch the complete conversation on Twitter and follow @adgully for more discussions like this.