By Alastair McCapra (UK)
Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR)
The story of the UK Public Relations industry in the post-pandemic era has largely been positive. In the face of global political, social and economic instability, research by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) reports a growing industry, greater respect felt by PR practitioners from colleagues and fellow professionals, an improved understanding and recognition of what PR can deliver from businesses, and an increased demand to match.
The industry is not immune from the ongoing impact of the pandemic, the invasion of Ukraine, climate change, and a cost-of-living crisis. Of course, we often rely on the success and vision of the businesses we work for and with. The increased respect – and scrutiny – that social media brings has seen businesses work with their PR teams and clients to ensure their reputation management, stakeholder relations, internal and external communications, and crisis preparedness put them in a position of strength to navigate through – and out of – these challenging times.
However, times of unprecedented challenges and the resulting increased workload are not an excuse to shy away from getting our own house in order, particularly when addressing poor levels of diversity within the industry.
This especially rings true in the UK, where years of reporting demonstrate that the PR industry lacks significant diversity. Despite the fact that most people working in the industry state that they are confident that diverse teams make for better efficiency and a better working environment, this does not reflect in their reality. Nine in ten practitioners are white; fewer than that identify as having a disability or as being gay. One in four practitioners has attended a fee-paying school and is more likely to hold a senior post and be paid higher rates than those who did not. The industry is around two-thirds female, but half of the male practitioners occupy senior positions. This year, the gender pay gap is reported to have increased for the first time after years of shrinking.
Considering that working in PR comes with no barriers to entry, this is damning.
The reasons for this sustained failure to diversify range from recruitment practices to issues centred on inclusion. Alarmingly, at a time of increased demand, the vacancies most seen across the industry are at mid and senior levels that should be occupied by those with experience in PR. Far from lacking talent and passion from those in junior positions, the industry is suffering from a retention crisis. The industry’s challenges now result from our long-standing failure to address this. Put simply, there are too many people starting their careers in PR who, after years of service, don’t feel this is an industry they can or want to stay in. We are not developing our own people properly, so change is not really happening.
This was one of the key findings from our 2020 ‘Race in PR’ report. The report looked at the lived experiences of black, Asian, and minority ethnic practitioners, and found common themes of being unable to progress in the same way as their white counterparts, feelings of an unequal playing field, consequently leading to a lack of fair and equal opportunities. Eventually, having been made to feel as though they are inadequate, unable to progress or be their authentic self at work, many of these practitioners choose to become independent consultants.
The pandemic saw both our reputation and the recognised value of our work rocket, but with it exposed a vulnerability that means we are now lacking skilled and experienced talent and, thus, struggling to meet demand. Following years of steady growth, our improved business performance now needs to be matched with efforts to improve the experience of working in Public Relations for all businesses to thrive with the right people with the right skills.
We need to stop wasting good people. Only a sea change in the working culture can deliver this.