Mental health is a business-critical issue for the public relations industry.
Our new 2023/2024 Workplace Mental Wellbeing Audit, conducted in partnership with the PRCA, reveals that one-third of public relations practitioners are currently diagnosed with a mental health condition. The audit also found that 91% of PR professionals experienced poor mental health at some point in the past year, with 58% citing workload stress as a significant contributing factor.
Only 22% of PR professionals say they have taken time off work to rest and recover when experiencing poor mental health, compared to 41% of UK workers overall. This is an issue that has far-reaching consequences for employees and businesses. Organisations have a responsibility to take steps to protect the wellbeing of all their staff.
Latest research
Download the 2023/2024 Workplace Mental Wellbeing Audit to find out the latest on the current state of mental health in public relations.
pan industry support
In May 2021 we announced we were joining forces with the PRCA and ICCO to address the industry's mental health challenges and launched a new mental health survey with the agreement to use the findings to inform a joint programme of activity over the summer. Former CIPR Health Chair Rachel Royall joined a Comms Hero podcast to discuss our joint efforts in tackling this issue.
Member SUPPORT
The mental health support we offer members, provided by Health Assured, is financed by iprovision, the CIPR benevolent fund, who exist to support PR professionals who fall on hard times. The service provides:
- Specialist legal, medical, consumer and tax information
- Options for structured counselling
- Critical incident advice
- A health and wellbeing portal
Find out more information on our mental health support page.
embedding wellbeing at work
The CIPR Health Group have released a series of five case studies focused on embedding wellbeing at work. Follow #CIPRWellbeing and @CIPRHealth on Twitter for more reaction.
Hotwire case study (pdf)
Cambridge University Hospitals case study (pdf)
NHS Digital case study (pdf)
Ferring case study (pdf)
Surrey Police and Sussex Police (pdf)
CIPR mental health initiatives
Resources for organisations
Resources for individuals
For more information on mental health and public relations, please contact Jon Gerlis.