We’ve been in the public relations and social media business a long time. Long enough to know that as an industry, we’re largely made up of Type-A personalities, overachievers, perfectionists, go-getters and people who pride themselves on the hours they put in and how attached they are to their devices.
We’ve also seen a lot of industry peers burn out as a result of the demands of the job – often giving up on the field entirely and embarking on second careers in other professions.
No industry is immune to burnout, but the PR industry in particular often treats it as “part of the job.” We know that at big agencies, people are often assigned a ton of accounts in order to make the agency profitable. The average is somewhere between 4-8 accounts, but we have heard it can sometimes be as many as 20. That’s 20 different businesses you need to have a deep understanding of in order to do your job well. How can any one person do that without burnout?
At Kel & Partners, we wholeheartedly reject burnout culture – not only to do better as a company, but also to serve as an example for the industry as a whole.
That’s why putting people over profit is a core value of our agency and it affects the way we operate in every way.
People over profit? Sounds ambitious, idealistic and even lofty, right?
It may surprise you to read that in 20 years of business, Kel & Partners has never had a revenue goal. That’s right. We’re not focused on squeezing more out of our margins to hit a certain number. Our focus has always been on the people – our team, and our clients. We believe that happy employees lead to happy clients. For this reason, we are focused on the well-being of our most valuable “asset” – the people who go to bat for our agency and our clients every day.
We give our all to the clients and projects we take on because we care – right down to the core of our being – in doing phenomenal work and delivering spectacular results.
We also know that to give our all, we need to know when to call it a day, disconnect and live our best lives outside of work. We don’t want people to live to work, we want them to work to live, and to thrive not only at work, but also, and most importantly, as human beings.
So, what does this people over profit value look like on the ground and in the day-to-day operations of Kel & Partners?
It starts with a realistic account load. At Kel & Partners, our managers – we function as extensions of our client teams – are never assigned more than two accounts. The same for their support staff. We do this with the understanding that no one human can keep the priorities of 20 businesses straight – it’s a disservice to the clients AND our team to do it any other way.
This impacts our day-to-day, every day. Because of this, we are able to keep eight-hour days and one-hour lunch breaks – and encourage employees to disconnect during those breaks to get outside, go on a walk, read, listen to a podcast, or just do nothing and give their brains a well-deserved rest!
Secondly, we offer bi-weekly three-day weekends for all team members – with the goal of moving to a true four-day work week. Since implementing our “three-day” program, employees across the board have reported feeling more refreshed and more productive at work, having a greater sense of work-life balance, and increased happiness.
Besides our “three-day program,” we offer a generous holiday schedule and paid time off – during which people are, for all intents and purposes, mandated to disconnect – because as a team, we have your back and there’s nothing that will come up that can’t wait or that we can’t handle.
Most importantly, we value the well-being of our employees so much that we’ll terminate clients if they’re affecting employee health and wellness negatively. We’ve never had a revenue target because we know that our most valuable resource is our employees.
Happiness through kindness drives our culture at Kel & Partners with one goal in mind: making our employees and our clients deliriously happy!
Julia McGovern - Chief Co-Leader of Kel & Partners, the anti-agency agency for public relations & social media.
Message K&P Contact Julia on LinkedInKel & Partners is the anti-agency agency for public relations & social media. We craft and execute fresh strategies that increase full-spectrum awareness to help our clients achieve their overarching business goals. Our clients live & die based on their ability to get above the noise level. Our client-side DNA and radical transparency blend to create a kick-ass partnership with our clients.