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"High Potential PR
Professionals A Study of Employee Turnover and Retention in the Public Relations
Industry"
CUT TURNOVER BY CHALLENGING EMPLOYEES, ICCO STUDY
SAYS
“Stretch Them More if You Want Them to
Stay”
Barcelona, 15 December 2008 – Employees who get challenging
and rewarding assignments are most likely to stay in their jobs at public relations consulting firms,
according to a study commissioned by the International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO)
and the Institute for Public Relations.
“People who choose a career in a
consultancy are a different breed,” said Louis Capozzi, president of ICCO. “Our
study shows that to keep them, you’ve got to constantly bring them new challenges and
opportunities. In other words, ‘stretch’ them more. The tougher the challenges, the
more likely your highest potential people are to stay with your firm.” Staff turnover has
been identified almost universally as one of the most costly and difficult issues facing public
relations firms today. And since public relations is a service and relationship-based business, high
rates of employee turnover can have a profound impact on client satisfaction and
retention.
Accordingly, the study points to seven specific opportunities to guide
firms in reducing unwanted turnover. They are
- Provide
employees the opportunity to work on challenging projects of various types. It is
essential that work be delegated fairly and also with development in mind. In the primary research,
respondents’ level of responsibility was ranked the most important factor to an employee in
terms of his or her intent to stay at a firm.
- Create an aggressive
management development programme that includes training to help managers improve relationships with
their direct reports. Direct supervisors have the most influence on the day-to-day life
of an employee. In the long run, good people managers will nurture an environment where employees want
to stay. In turn, employees will want to do their best for a supervisor they respect and admire. They
will pursue more challenging projects and learn to be better supervisors
themselves.
- Make sure your employees know your firm’s
mission, and work to instil a sense of shared vision among your employees. Employees who
feel they really matter as individuals are more likely to stay at your firm; they’ll also be
better performers. They want to see how their efforts contribute to the firm’s overall
success, and, in order to be able to discern that connection, they must know what it is they are
ultimately working towards: fulfilment of the firm’s vision. Create a vibrant, competitive
environment – not internally, but with your competitors. Drive your firm for growth by making
your goals ambitious and communicating them broadly. Make sure your employees know they are part of the
team that’s pitted against the
competition.
- Refine your hiring practices.
It takes a certain kind of employee to thrive at a public relations firm. Individuals
who are cut out for agency PR (as opposed to working on the corporate side or in an entirely different
industry) thrive on challenge. Develop a means to target your searches, and, once in the interview
phase, assess what kind of an individual you are meeting so that your firm won’t waste time,
money and effort developing an employee with no interest in staying on the agency side.
Characteristics of the firm’s culture should be identified, and interviewers should seek out
candidates with attributes that “fit” with the firm’s culture. Open the
hiring procedure to current employees and ask for their input. To keep especially high potential talent
from getting bored once they are in, implement a “high-achievers programme” that
identifies these employees and offers special training, development and
rewards.
- Place an emphasis on work/life balance; if possible, tie it
to incentives to stay.Work/life balance is important to today’s workforce, and
its importance continues to grow. Creating a programme that builds in flexibility, for example one in
which a given number of years’ tenure at your firm entitles an employee to extra holidays or
a sabbatical, helps to mitigate unwanted turnover in two ways: by improving work/life balance, which
was found to be one of the top factors in determining an employee’s intent to stay at a firm,
and by providing a direct incentive to stay on for a given number of years and
beyond.
- Create an environment and corporate culture that are diverse
and different from the rest. Working in a public relations firm can be extremely
difficult with long hours, constant pressure and fewer intrinsic rewards than similar positions in
corporate companies. According to our findings, these employees want more – more challenging
work and more opportunities for advancement – which in turn amounts to more pressure. If you
celebrate this type of person in your public relations firm, employees will feel the attention they may
be lacking.
- Spark a robust dialogue within your organisation.
Communication is a must. It supports all of the other six recommendations above and
helps develop specific tactics to identify shortcomings and devise remedies. Participate in an ongoing
discussion among your employees. Use the conversation to create a sense of team in winning new
business, sharing recognition both in trade publications and among the wider public. Celebrate the
wins, and mourn the losses – together.
The study, co-sponsored
by ICCO and the Institute for Public Relations, was conducted by graduate students from the New York
University (NYU) School of Continuing and Professional Studies. The authors, Vanessa Tremarco and
Pamela Blum, amassed primary and secondary research to complete the Capstone requirement for a Masters
degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communications at NYU. Data sources included: a secondary
research study and analysis of secondary data amassed from the 2007 Holmes Report Satisfaction Survey,
two international studies of employees of public relations firms, and personal interviews with Human
Resources directors of major organisations.
The International Communications
Consultancy Organisation (ICCO) is the voice of public relations consultancies across the globe. ICCO
membership comprises national trade associations representing independent public relations
consultancies in thirty countries around the world: from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the
Americas and Australia. These affiliated trade associations collectively have over 1,000 PR
consultancies as their members, who between them employ some 25,000 staff.
ICCO
President Louis Capozzi is Chairman Emeritus of the Publicis Public Relations and Corporate
Communications Group. He is available for media interviews relating to the study on talent
retention.
The Institute for Public Relations is an independent foundation dedicated
to “the science beneath the art of public relations™”, bridging the
academy and the profession, supporting PR research and mainstreaming this knowledge into practice
through PR education.