CIPR

The CIPR's Annual State of the PR Profession Survey of almost 2,000 members, carried out by ComRes, is released today. The survey reveals that while the profession has remained resilient, with slight increases in the majority of communications budgets, economic pressure continues to bite with almost half of in-house public sector respondents worried about redundancy. Key findings include:

• For the first time, PR boardroom representation has been surveyed: 22% of practitioners hold a board position; 35% state there is a comms professional on the board.

• Survey of almost 2,000 members reveals a profession that is resilient but concerned about jobs, with 49% of public sector practitioners worried about redundancy.

• Report Builds Diversity Picture: gender disparities in pay and seniority are revealed.

PR and the boardroom

For the first time, the report provides insights into PR board representation. 22% of practitioners surveyed currently hold a board position and 35% of practitioners who are not on the board state there is a communications professional on the board.

Gender disparity

The profile of the profession has remained similar to 2009 with 65% female practitioners, compared to 35% male. Men are more likely to hold a senior management or director position than female practitioners, with 18% of male practitioners at Director level, 11% at Senior Management and 11% at Managing Director compared to 9%, 7% and 9% of female practitioners respectively*. Men are almost twice as likely to be earning a salary in excess of £50,000 than women. The results also showed that male practitioners are more likely (30%) to be a member of their organisation's board compared to their female colleagues (18%). The report also includes data on ethnicity, disability and age, from the December 2009 CIPR survey.

Expected areas of growth and decline

Online reputation management, crisis management and internal communications are expected areas of growth, linked to organisations' need to communicate and engage in difficult times. Activity areas under downward pressure include event management and sponsorship.

Pay

On pay, 34%, 39% and 35% of private sector, consultancy and freelance practitioners earn a salary in excess of £50k. This contrasts with 19% in the public sector and 20% in not for profit or NGO.

CIPR President Jay O'Connor says: "This report reveals a mix of confidence in terms of growth expectations over the next five years, but also deep concern within the public sector about jobs. It is clear practitioners need support to communicate the value of the work that they do, to develop new delivery models and skills. We will be working with members to deliver this.

For the first time we have an insight into public relations practitioner representation at the boardroom table - we will track progress and work with members to understand the routes and barriers to the boardroom. Of real concern however is the clear disparity on pay and seniority between female and male practitioners. Getting under the skin of this issue is a priority - the CIPR's Diversity Working Group will be tasked with this, working with practitioners, employers, other groups and bodies to collectively understand and address the disparity. For a profession with such a large and vibrant community of female practitioners, we cannot continue with a situation where pay and access to senior positions is skewed by gender."

ComRes Chairman Andrew Hawkins says: "Broadly speaking, results paint a striking portrait of continuity from 2009, with crisis management experiencing growth, while sponsorship remains to be an area of ongoing decline. On a more positive note, the survival instinct of the PR industry remains apparent, with strong levels of growth in the area of online reputation management persisting into 2010.

ComRes are delighted to have conducted this study on behalf of the CIPR. Our particular thanks also go to all those who participated in this study – we are extremely grateful for your time and input."

Download the reports

The full results of the research can downloaded from the CIPR Research and Reports page.

Notes

* Overall there are more women in the sample than men (by a ratio of almost 2:1), but once we reach the higher levels of responsibility (Director and Senior Management), that difference has largely disappeared, with the proportions of men at Director level double that of women at Director level (18% of men in the sample are Directors compared to 9% of women). Given that there are more women in the sample overall though, the absolute numbers are similar.

It is also true that the men in the sample are more evenly spread over the age range, whereas women tend to be more concentrated at the younger end. The reasons for the differences by age and level of seniority may well be related, but the key point is that men tend to be both older and in more senior positions. Therefore the average age of men is older than women and men are more likely to be in senior positions (but this does not mean that women are not in senior positions).