POSITIONING VOL 8 NO 2

Compensation, negotiations, hiring practices, relocation and the workplace environment are among the issues explored in a new survey of public relations practitioners conducted by Heyman Associates and Marketing, Strategy & Planning, a marketing research firm.

Balance is One Thing, Less Money Another. Work/life balance may be important, yet less than 20% of the PR practitioners surveyed say they would leave their job for one that promises less stress and a reduced salary.

Take This Job. Why do people leave jobs? Looking for new challenges is the primary reason given for leaving a job, more so than being unhappy with the company culture, having a chance to increase job responsibilities, or make more money.

Just a Phone Call Away. It seems that many PR practitioners vacation with a cool drink in one hand and a cellular phone in the other. According to the survey, about 70% of practitioners with annual compensation of $150,000 or more say they regularly contact their offices during vacations.

Lost World. While more than half of all practitioners say they benefitted from mentors early in their careers, less than 30% say those starting out today will enjoy the same benefits.

Crystal Ball Gazing. Will compensation increase? Practitioners are evenly divided on whether their compensation will rise significantly this year. Those earning the most are more optimistic.

The survey questionnaire was mailed to 3,000 public relations executives working in corporate communications departments, PR firms, advertising agencies, associations and institutions, with 886 (or just under 30%) responding. A closer look at the results follows:

More respondents (74.9%) strongly agreed with the statement, "I expect there to be some negotiations between employee and employer prior to a job offer being accepted" than any other in the survey (only 0.5% strongly disagreed). Young practitioners are even more likely to negotiate, with those under 40 agreeing 79.9% compared to 69.7% of those over 50.

Most practitioners are prepared to negotiate for themselves, disagreeing by 35.5% to 20% with the statement, "I don't feel comfortable negotiating a compensation package for myself." Almost one in three say they did considerable research before negotiating their most recent job, 37% of those over 50 and 20.2% of those under 40.

What items aside from salary are most likely to be included in negotiations? According to the survey, respondents report vacation time (57.7%), incentive bonus (39.7%), stock options (27.6%), sign-on bonus (23.6%), guaranteed bonus (14.9%), company car (12.6%) and employment contract (12.9%). Those working in corporations are far more likely than those in agencies to negotiate sign-on bonus (31.2% vs. 15.7%), guaranteed bonus (19.1% vs. 12.1%) or stock options (39.4% vs. 11.7%). As could be expected, those with the higher annual salaries are far more likely than their lower paid colleagues to bring such items to the table.

Most say it would take a significant salary hike to get them to leave their current job, with 31.8% indicating they would stay put for anything less than an increase of over 20%. Salary wouldn't matter for another 11.5%.

Respondents are split on whether they believe their total compensation will increase 10% or more in 1997 (28.5% agreeing and 35.3% disagreeing). Most optimistic are agency practitioners -- by 41.3% to 23.8% -- and those earning $150,000 or more -- 39.1% vs. 22.5%. Few, however, believe that raises will find their way to the people who work for them (with only 10.6% strongly agreeing).

If a company is considering placing an ad for a well-paid PR professional, it might reconsider. Only 1.2% of those with annual compensation of $150,000 or more (and just 5.3% of all respondents) got their jobs through the classified ads. A total of 54.2% obtained their current jobs from networking and referrals (61.4% of agency people vs. 48.5% of corporate types) and 24% through recruiters (31.4% of those in corporations and 16.1% with agencies).

Older bosses look most highly upon job candidates with long service at a single company. Those over 50 years old say they would generally look favorably upon a candidate who spent 10 or more years at his/her present job, compared with just 20.2% of those under 40.

More PR practitioners say they would not be prejudiced against hiring job seekers who were terminated from their last jobs. Even some of the best paid PR practitioners, according to the survey, have not been immune from terminations.

People say they most often leave their jobs to look for new challenges (26.6%), are unhappy with the company culture (17.4%), have a chance to increase their job responsibilities (17.1%), were downsized (9.5%) or can increase their pay (8.8%). A big gap exists between agency and corporate practitioners when it comes to "unhappiness with company culture" with 26.5% of agency people citing this compared to just 12.9% of those on the corporate side.

Just over half of the respondents surveyed report that they had been offered a job involving relocation in the last five years (55.4% corporate, 42.7% agency), with virtually the same number accepting or declining the position.

The most common items offered in a relocation package are: moving expenses (87.5%), temporary living quarters (70.8%), shipping of automobile (37.1%), willingness of the company to buy employee's home (31.3%), cost of living adjustment (25.2%), mortgage differential payment (21.5%), fixture allowance (17%) and trailing spouse program (16.7%). The more senior the executive, the more likely the new company is to financially support the move. Over 40% of those earning $150,000 or more, for example, say the company was willing to purchase their home, compared to just 17% of those earning under $75,000.

For those refusing relocation, the primary reason given was a desire not to uproot their family (26.4%), followed by a spouse's hesitance to leave an existing job (10.9%).

Mentors have played a role in the PR career of over half the respondents (including 61.4% of all agency people). However, only 28.5% believe that people starting out today will have the same benefit.

More than half say they contact their offices during vacation, including 70% of the higher wage earners. Nearly 40% work for their employers on their home computers.

Only 18.9% of those surveyed say they would accept less money for a job with less job-related stress. This number is slightly lower among older practitioners and those earning more money.

Only 13.9% say they would consider leaving their jobs due to a "normal" family situation (such as taking care of elderly parents, raising a family).

How many hours a week do PR practitioners work? According to the survey, over 97% report working an average of 40 or more hours a week, broken down as 41.4% between 40 and 50 hours, 41.3% between 51 and 60 hours and 14.3% over 60 hours.

Work options most frequently cited are flex scheduling (43.6% of respondents reporting its availability where they work), telecommuting (30%) and extended workday/workweek (17.7%). Nearly 40% report that no such work options exist at their company.

Respondents report that their companies use online services widely (56.4%), with 86.7% tied into the Internet. In describing the most important reasons for being on-line, they cite gathering research information (39.2%), sending interoffice e-mail (32.6%) and distributing press releases (8.2%).

FAVORITE CITY? CITY BY THE BAY

The Heyman Survey also asked public relations practitioners to write in the name of the city they would most like to work in and their PR dream job.

Without question, San Francisco was selected as the most work-friendly city, followed by New York City and then Washington, D.C., Chicago, Atlanta and "someplace warm." Foreign destinations, specifically London and Paris, also received some interest.

Since one person's dream job can be perceived as another's nightmare, selections here ran the gamut. They included corporate communications positions at such "hot" companies as Intel and Microsoft; well-respected corporations like McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Disney; sports and entertainment organizations like Major League Baseball, the United States Golf Association, Metropolitan Opera, DreamWorks and Comedy Central; companies recognized for their social responsibility like Ben & Jerry's and Southwest Airlines; and high-powered positions, like White House press secretary.

The second most frequent response was to "own my own PR firm." And the #1 answer written next to "my public relations dream job is?" "My present job."