The Iceberg PR Salary & Culture Guide data was collected anonymously over a three-month period to gather insight as to how people feel about their salaries, promotion opportunities and recognition, and the value placed on non-monetary benefits such as working from home. The PR Salary & Culture Guide gives an indication of current public relation agency salary standards, from PR Coordinator to senior leadership levels.
This is only an excerpt of our findings. To access the full data, purchase your copy HERE.
Demographics
The survey results reflect the responses from 100 PR professionals. The majority of those who were surveyed work in-house (32%) or for an agency (62%). Surprisingly, when asked where they wanted to work in the next two years, 74.4% would like to work in-house and 20.21% want to work for an agency. Is burnout the main cause for shifting from working for an agency to in-house? What can agencies do to retain talent?
The top five sectors the professionals work in are:
- Lifestyle
- Finance
- Retail
- FMCG
- Health
Will we see a shift in sectors in the next one to three years? What sectors will come out strong post-pandemic?
Salary Guide
When it comes to average salary vs. what salary they believe they’re worth, every professional surveyed believed they were being underpaid and deserved more. The majority of respondents felt they were underpaid by an average of $12,000-$13,000 due to increased workload because of COVID. Will this be a trend for years to come? Will workloads keep increasing post-pandemic?
Effects of COVID over the last 2 years
Unsurprisingly, COVID has had a major impact on the workplace. More than half of the respondents had their employment affected by COVID-19 (72.3%). Out of those affected, the biggest impact was reduced hours (36.4%). Hopefully, in our 2023 guide, we’ll see very few remaining effects brought on by COVID.
Salary Reviews
Of those surveyed, 43.2% had a salary review in the last 6 months while 13.6% had a salary review in the last 6-12 months. Surprisingly, 40.24% of respondents felt they should occur every 6 months while 56.10% of respondents felt that pay reviews should be mandatory every 12 months. So, although the majority of people received a salary review in the last 6 months, most respondents believed a pay review was only necessary every 12 months.
Salary Satisfaction and Pay Rises
50.1% of the respondents have never asked for a pay rise and 16.1% had asked for a pay rise 12 months ago. That’s a very high number of people who either wait for their employer to give them a pay rise or continue to be paid the same amount year after year. Is it due to fear or a lack of confidence? Is it assumed that it’s the employer who decides when to provide a pay rise?
70.7% of those who did ask were granted a pay rise, proving that employees have more bargaining power than assumed. The majority of people surveyed who obtained a pay increase received 15% or greater, which was the highest salary increase that people asked for. Proving that it’s important for employees to understand their values and ask for what they think they deserve.
Workplace Salary Culture
The same percentage (60%) of respondents said that they would move cities or move to another country if the money was right. Now that the Australian borders have reopened as well as the majority of countries around the world, will that mean that more Australians will leave Australia to find better employment opportunities?
No surprise that when it came to office perks, 26.1% of respondents said that their employer allows them to work from home, and paid mobile phone bills came second at 15.8%. Given the fact that the pandemic has rapidly changed the workplace landscape, we’re seeing more perks and flexibility in the workplace and in return, more employees are expecting employment perks when looking for new opportunities
Workplace Culture
89.74% of respondents felt their work was supportive of employees continuing to work from home. The 10.26% of respondents who said their company wasn’t supportive said it was due to in-person collaboration, efficiency and productivity.
Based on the data, 48.6% of respondents want to go into the office 2 days a week, with 5 days a week being the least popular. This is not surprising given the fact that the pandemic has forced people to work from home, shifting the way employers and employees think about work. Going forward, we’re more likely to see companies allowing flexibility with the days’ staff come into the office.
Based on the data, there was a direct correlation between employers providing enough mental health support to keep employees happy at their current job. 74.4% of respondents said that their employer provided enough mental health support and 74.3% of respondents said they were happy at their current job.
Additional Data
We asked respondents various questions about what prompts them to resign, working from home, mental health, and employers requiring employee cameras to be turned on.
73.7% of respondents prefer splitting their time between the office and home and prefer a hybrid work model. Unsurprisingly, 6% of the respondents said they would be okay with having to turn on their camera while they work, while the other respondents would resign and felt it was an invasion of privacy.
Toxic culture was the number one reason (49.0%) why an employee would leave their work. What can employers do to ensure a more positive work environment for their employees? What can employees do to feel more comfortable? These questions can only be answered by the employer and employee since every workplace has its own unique culture.
For more data and analysis, purchase your copy of Agency Iceberg PR Salary & Culture Guide HERE. All proceeds of the PR Salary & Culture Guide will go towards Youth Projects and Melbourne City Mission. Both organisations are doing amazing work within our community and it’s our honour to support them!
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