PR 24/7: Social Media, PR and Job Satisfaction - SFU Report

http://www.sfu.ca/PRprogram

Simon Fraser University Continuing Studies' Public Relations Program conducted a study of how PR professionals are managing workload and work-life balance, including the state of PR in the era of social media.

Our hypothesis was that PR practitioners might be having increased difficulty maintaining work-life balance as a result of increased, round-the-clock demands of social media. We thought that job satisfaction might have been affected in a negative way. Additionally, we expected to see some confusion about clear departmental responsibilities for social media and an overall lack of clear social media guidelines or policies.

For the most part, what we discovered was the opposite of what we expected.

Key findings include the following:

1. Over half of our respondents found that over the previous year, their work hours beyond 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. had increased because of social media—yet, in spite of this, for most respondents, social media either had no effect at all on their job satisfaction, or increased their job satisfaction.

2. When asked how their companies govern after-hours social media, most said policies are in in place. Of those who do not work with such policies, almost half said they try to keep up with and monitor social media outside of work hours.

This video features several Vancouver PR professionals who comment on how social media has affected their lives.

For an infographic summarizing the report's findings, as well as more information about SFU Continuing Studies' Public Relations Certificate, visit: http://www.sfu.ca/PRprogram.