Ahead of World Heart Day, we spoke to a PR agency founder and a therapist about recognising when workplace pressure is becoming too much and the practical steps PR professionals can take to manage stress.
Learn to recognise your own warning signs
Stress and burnout will not necessarily look the same for everyone, so recognising changes in your own behaviour can be important.
Mita Dhullipala, founder and CEO of MD Comms Group, says one of her personal warning signs is feeling “paralysed” by her workload.
“When I start to feel a bit paralysed, that's when I know I'm spinning a few too many plates,” she explains.
“I think a lot of people that I've spoken to express it as a sort of apathy that you form when you're very stressed about things – you stop caring a little bit about what you're doing.
“I personally experience it sometimes as a bit of paralysis. Even if the task is really small, I would find it really hard to do if I'm very stressed or if I'm spinning too many plates.”
Other people may notice changes in their mood or sleep.
Susan Carr, a BACP-registered therapist, says there can be both physical and psychological warning signs.
“Physically, you might feel more tired, you might have headaches, you might have aching joints,” she says.
“You might be having difficulty sleeping, you might notice that you're more emotional than usual or more irritable. There are lots of different signs and those are going to vary from person to person as well.”
Ask whether a busy period has become the norm
Most jobs will have particularly demanding periods, and PR is no exception. However, Carr says there is a difference between occasionally putting in extra hours to meet a deadline and consistently feeling unable to keep on top of your workload.
“Particularly over shorter periods of time, it might be that you need to stay at work later or go in earlier or work through your lunch,” she says.
“But where you're consistently doing that and that becomes more long-term, that might be more a sign of actually that's not sustainable.”
Where possible, speaking honestly to a manager could allow workloads to be adjusted or tasks to be delegated.
Carr acknowledges this will not be possible in every workplace, particularly where teams are short-staffed or employees do not have a supportive relationship with their manager.
In those circumstances, she recommends considering what is within your own control, such as how frequently you work beyond your contracted hours.
Don’t underestimate small breaks
When your day is packed with calls, meetings and deadlines, taking a substantial break may feel unrealistic. But even small gaps throughout the day could help create some breathing room.
For PR professionals, whose jobs can require them to be engaged and communicative throughout the day, Carr recommends avoiding back-to-back meetings where possible.
“It might be having that 10 minutes so that you can go to the toilet, make yourself a drink, sort of have those breaks,” she says.
“We can't not [do] some tasks that we have to do, and it's really important for us to do them, but maybe look: are we trying to fit too much in the day? Is it about being more realistic about what we can expect ourselves to do?”
Dhullipala similarly recommends deliberately making time to step away from screens.
“I know everybody has really long days and we're always kind of tied to a computer and emails, but making sure that you get outside is really good for you,” she says.
She also finds exercise a useful outlet for managing stress and says getting enough sleep and eating well are some of the basics which can easily be forgotten during busy periods.
Remember you can push back
For PR professionals, good client service can sometimes create a feeling that you need to constantly be available.
However, Dhullipala says there are occasions when pushing back or asking for additional time can be better than trying to meet every demand immediately.
“Sometimes, in the undue pressure of things, you kind of feel like you've got to deliver,” she says. “But at the end of the day, clients are also humans. They've got the same pressures you do.
“If you do say, ‘OK, look, actually, this is going to come over tomorrow’, usually that's fine.
Obviously, it's a situational thing that you've got to make a judgment call on.”
She adds: “A lot of the time it's like we have to be at [clients’] beck and call, and sometimes that's great and that's client service, but it's got to be balanced against your wellbeing as an individual.
“Whenever I've said to a client, ‘Look, I need an extra day because I want this to be good’, I've never had pushback on that.”
Put the problem into perspective
When everything on your to-do list feels urgent, taking a moment to work out what genuinely needs immediate action can make a difference. Dhullipala says perspective is something she regularly encourages among her own team.
“Sometimes it's really important just to stand back and think about what you're panicking about,” she says.
“Usually that will provide a little bit of enlightenment and you start to think, ‘OK, well actually maybe I can prioritise this or deprioritise that. Maybe I can speak to this person and they won't mind that this is going to be pushed back a little bit’.”
Being honest with colleagues, managers and clients when things become too much can also help, she says.
“I think sometimes in PR, because we're all kind of type-A perfectionists mostly, there's a thing of you don't want to look less than to the people you're working with.
“But everybody's human and everybody's got their own pressures. I think people would be very surprised that if they talk to somebody who's in their team or their line manager, someone else or even a client, you'd be very surprised at the sympathy and empathy that comes back at you.”
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