What would make your PR job super-happy this Diwali!

 26th October 2016    PR Insight 
 Paarul Chand

Let’s face it, perfect as your PR job can be at times (when the Economic Times puts your client’s story on the front page, for example!); every Diwali don't you just wish that tucked along with the box of Kaju Katli and diyas are some things that would make your PR job just a little bit easier?

Twitterverse had this response to the question: 

While coverage clearly dominates the PR pros mind in the run up to Diwali, for others it was a wish that Goddess Lakshmi would make a visit via the clients!

Rahul Rakesh, senior communications professionals with a leading PR agency says that, “First let me begin with my Diwali wish for the industry. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and I wish this Diwali clients are enlightened enough to increase the retainer fee brackets. The increase in fee bracket will have both trickle down and ripple effect on our salaries and service offerings respectively. Please don't squeeze us!”

Rahul Rakesh: “I wish the monopoly of the canteen guy from our building gets challenged and there comes a difference in the quality of food. It would add the right amount of spice at our work space!”

Rahul also adds that, “Ours is an industry of image management and is one of the most stressful industry, it would be great if we could be more respectful of each other. If we can respect each other's time (e.g. for and during meetings). If we can respect our work and are more responsible towards owning it. If the team members are more respectful of each other's situations. If the clients are more respectful towards their agency counterpart. There would be reasons seemingly logical, team may be equally bad but that doesn't give anyone the right to demean someone's dignity. And more so when most of them have been a part of the agency culture.... after all we are in a communications business.”

Along with an open space close to nature at office, for Sharat Shyam, senior account executive with Avian Media, it would be freedom from paper work, he says, “Do away with unnecessary documentation. The same time can be utilised to explore brand building opportunities for the client.”

Sharat Shyam: “Opinions at each level should be valued equally when it comes to decision making for a particular client.”

Respect is also on the mind of Ankita Vaid, public relations officer. She wishes that, “Journalist start respecting PR personnel. Both of us need to understand that the association of PR and a journalist is very important and beneficial for work. I as a PR person understands this very well that we need to maintain good relations with the journalists, but in return we do expect some kind of respect. There are many journalists who are very nice to PR people and I respect them for this. But, many of them still think that they don't want to entertain any PR people, but trust us we call only for work and not with the motive of irritating anyone. Hope to have better associations this Diwali!”

Ankita Vaid: “Fewer calls and an automated system to track all the coverage so that we don't have to make a monster report at the end of the month. And off course better pay scales and bonus.”

For George Samuel, account executive with Avian Media, top of the wish list is, “Six-hour work days and ban on accessing mails and client calls once out of office to maintain work life balance is the need of the hour to avoid permanent brain damage.”

He also wishes that, “The industry moves on from the old school trend of formal dressing at work place. Moving on in terms of dress code won’t cause any harm and at the same time make the environment in office a bit more relaxed.”

There you have it, some of the things that would make a PR pro happy! But are offices listening?

Asif Upadhye – director & chief fun officer, Never Grow Up (Yes, that’s actually a designation and company name!) has recently launched a tool to measure the happiness quotient of an office. He says, “The PR industry is characterized by tight deadlines, long hours of work and schedules that are often inconvenient. In such an industry, stress, role-disconnect and a lack of work-life blend can often crop up and affect engagement and happiness. The ‘Happyness Quotient’ tool is an answer to that. It's a tool that provides real-time data about the happiness of employees and about what drives them. The data and insights gained from administering HQ can be used to address varied issues that employees face and that impact their performance on the job. After all, a happy workforce is a productive workforce. “

True that, indeed!

Wishing all the lovely PR people a happy, shiny Diwali from all of us at PRmoment India!