‘My mental abilities are impaired by work’: Disparity between bosses and staffers on mental wellness intensify

By Seb Joseph

Paul (not his real name) has been told by his boss not to book meetings between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. to ensure he takes a lunch break. But doing so would mean missing important pitch rehearsals that are often at the same time, and more frequent than ever.

He, like many other agency execs, is finding it hard not to be cynical whenever his boss tells him to take time out from work. It never feels like he can do that. Not when doing so constantly chafes against the harsh realities of working at agencies — where feeling stressed traumatized and overworked is increasingly the norm, not the exception.

In fact, less than four (36%) in ten agency respondents to a Digiday Research survey said they received mental health support compared to half of those who worked at a publisher. Furthermore, just a fifth (20%) of agency execs said their employer invested substantially in mental health versus one third on the publisher side. Also worth noting: around twice as many in both groups said their companies “talked” more about mental health support than actually “invested” in it.

“It’s all just words,” said Paul. “Taking a proper lunch break or the afternoon off twice a month to have some downtime works if you don’t have important meetings or urgent deadlines, but if you do it never feels like you have the support of your boss to push back.”

It’s not like agency CEOs are oblivious to this disconnect. Mental wellness was on their radar long before the pandemic. But the hydration reminders, lunchtime yoga sessions and Headspace app subscriptions invested in by so many agencies to provide mental health support, never really addressed the intense workloads of many execs. They often saw those benefits as bribes to make up for the grueling expectations foisted on them. The pandemic just compounded this.

One agency exec was so burnt out that he was signed off work by his doctor for two weeks at the turn of the year. The stress of the job, combined with the emotional toll of living through the pandemic, caused him to have a breakdown. While his bosses acted swiftly to agree to the PTO, it never seemed like they knew what to do once he returned. He has since left the agency for another. It’s a slight improvement.

“The bosses at my new agency are cool, but they’re not going to do my report if I tell them I’m tired, which I should be allowed to do given the conditions,” said the exec who declined to be named over concerns of reprisals from his employer. “I don’t how this all nets out, but I can tell you the effect of stress is very real because I’m feeling it now. I used to be able to onboard clients in 90 days — often that was actually 45 days. I don’t know if I could cope with doing that even though I know how to because my energy levels and mental abilities …read more

Source:: Digiday