A public relations agency sells judgement, media relationships and fast writing to clients who expect answers day and night. Account teams carry the client bond, and burnout, conflicting clients and confidentiality are the people issues that show first.
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Share your requirementsA public relations agency manages how clients, whether companies, founders or brands, are seen in the media and by the public. Account directors hold the client relationship, managers and executives write releases, pitch journalists and run events, and a few specialists handle social, analyst and crisis work. Clients are billed on retainers, so margin depends on how many hours a team spends against what is billed. A news event, a product recall or a social post can turn a quiet week into an all-night one. Journalists know the individuals, not the agency, so a senior leaving can carry a relationship away. Staff handle sensitive client information daily. The wider HR for professional services page covers what advisory firms share.
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles in public relations agencies. For each role we agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. Tell us the role and the number of people, and we start there.
We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.
Every business interviews, but few have a written process that works the same way for every role and every interviewer. GullyHR designs yours, from the role brief to the offer, trains your managers to run it, and can run it for you on the roles you hand us.
We agree what the role must deliver, the must-have and nice-to-have skills, and how each will be scored.
Screening call, assessment, interview rounds and decision points, sized to the role and the number of people you hire.
Structured questions for each role family and a rating guide, so two interviewers judge the same answer the same way.
A short briefing for your managers on what to ask, what to avoid and how to give a clear yes or no.
Who approves, how the offer is made, and how candidates are kept informed from first call to joining.
Clients pay a fixed fee while hours grow, and juniors absorb the extra at nights and weekends.
A news story or a post demands an immediate response, and the same few people are always the ones pulled in.
Journalists trust a person, so a resignation can drag a media list and a client with it.
Two clients in the same sector sit in one office, and staff worry about conflicts and leaks.
Executives draft and chase coverage for years with no clear path to account manager, and many leave for in-house roles.
Embargoed news, unreleased results and spokesperson details move through chats and personal phones.
Teams are judged on the number of clips, which pushes quantity over fit, and clients later question the value.
Strong performers see the same pay for very different hours, and compare with in-house peers.
Start with the topics that matter most here: Employee Engagement and Experience; Career and Succession Management; Retention and Attrition Management. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for professional services, not in general.
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
The pieces a public relations agencies business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
A simple weekly time record by client and role, so the owner sees where workload and fee diverge.
A simple weekly time record by client and role, so the owner sees where workload and fee diverge. The attendance and shift process can include a lighter version for professional staff.
Named people, backups and time-off in lieu after a night call, so the same person is not always on duty.
Named people, backups and time-off in lieu after a night call, so the same person is not always on duty.
Contacts live on a team list, not a personal phone, and two people know every key journalist.
Contacts live on a team list, not a personal phone, and two people know every key journalist.
A short rule on conflicting clients, embargoes and social media posting, signed at joining.
A short rule on conflicting clients, embargoes and social media posting, signed at joining. The HR policy packages work offers wording.
Steps from executive to account director with skills and sample work for each, using the learning and development process.
Steps from executive to account director with skills and sample work for each, using the learning and development process.
Scorecards include coverage quality, message pick-up and client satisfaction, not only counts.
Scorecards include coverage quality, message pick-up and client satisfaction, not only counts.
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirementsConfirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
A skills ladder and coaching so juniors grow instead of leaving.
Clear rules for conflicts, confidentiality, social media and crisis hours.
Scorecards that reward outcomes and client satisfaction, not only clip counts.
Ways to look after a team that works through nights and deadlines.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in professional services, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
Why associates and managers leave consulting, accounting, legal and advisory firms, and how to ask about progression, workload and partners at exit.
6 min readRead article
Eighty per cent responded, the report was thorough, and six months later trust was lower than before. What went wrong between the survey and the silence.
8 min readRead article
A two-hour exercise that names the roles you could not fill quickly, who could cover them, and what readiness would actually require.
7 min readRead article
What really keeps mobile app and web developers in a small firm: stay conversations, growth paths, fair release rules and a risk sheet an owner can use this month.
6 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Track hours by client, set a crisis rota with rest afterwards and watch for clients that cost more than they pay.
Keep the contact list on a shared system, pair two people on each key journalist and agree handover steps in the exit process.
Rules on embargoed information, sharing in chats, use of personal phones and social media posting by staff. Confirm wording with a qualified professional.
Tell both clients, separate teams where possible and set written rules on information. Check the client contracts for conflict terms.
Combine coverage quality, message pick-up and client feedback with output counts. Avoid scoring on volume alone.
We would ask how hours compare to fees, who handles crisis calls and how media contacts are shared. A good opening project is a crisis rota plus a confidentiality note. Scope is written for you to accept or change.
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