✅ Monday briefing: Met comms slammed, employee culture, reputation of PR, pay gaps, hidden salaries, AI strategy, NHS backlash, foodbank fundraiser, and more...

Good and bad practice, industry, research and insight, strategy, social media and platforms, and finally

This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from my blog and community of practice for people studying and working in marketing, media and public relations. It’s a hive mind, newsroom and source of information, help and support.

Good and bad practice

🕴 EXECUTIVE BONUSES: Woolworths in Australia is adding a reputation score to the formula for executive bonuses in a bid to rebuild trust. The move by the retail giant comes after an intensifying focus on its corporate purpose following controversies sparked by plans to open a liquor mega-store. Spotted Stuart Bruce. 

🚔 MET COMMS SLAMMED: The Met Police has been criticised for its response to the sentencing of Wayne Couzens for a whole-life term for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. In a statement it set out recommendations for how women should verify an officer's identity and intentions. Spotted Stephen Canning.

Industry

🚩 EMPLOYEE CULTURE: Jessica Pardoe has identified ten red flags based on her transition from university to a career in working in the digital public relations industry. These include staff turnover, long working hours, the family ruse, faux benefits and office-only working. Source Jessica Pardoe.

📖 REPUTATION OF PR: Accreditation and training aren’t a requirement to work in public relations, press releases aren’t going anywhere as a form of workflow, and public relations is a source of misinformation. These are all issues debated in my #CommsHero session. Source Stephen Waddington.

💸 PAY GAPS: A voluntary UK agency pay gap survey by PRWeek found that BME staff receive 77% of the average pay, while female staff receive 94% of the average pay. 30 agencies submitted data to the project. None of the top 20 agencies participated. That’s telling. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

💷 HIDDEN SALARIES: As few as one in ten companies publish salaries in ads to avoid competitors figuring out salary ranges, pay gaps and existing employees wanting more money. To research salary data check out PRCA and Reuben Sinclair benchmarks, or platforms such as Glassdoor, LinkedIn or Payscale. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

Research and insight

❗ WEB CONTENT TIPS: Three issues are frequently overlooked in website content: the stage of the customer journey, social proof, and how web pages are structured. The latter is an important accessibility criteria. Source Karan Chadda. 

😬 RECOMMENDED READ: Hard work is a good start to get ahead in a job but it’s not enough get to the top. Author Jeff Shannon suggests that politics and self-promotion are critical skills to get ahead. We’ve started a weekly thread to allow people in the community to share their personal successes. Spotted Bridget Aherne.

🗞️ MISTRUST IN NEWS: A rise in trust in media as a source of information during the COVID-19 crisis has been short-lived, according to the Reuters Institute. News media is at the heart of polarised public conversation on issues such as climate, Brexit and vaccines, weaponised by social media platforms. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

Strategy

🤖 AI STRATEGY: The UK Government’s National AI strategy outlines plans to invest in the AI ecosystem, to support the transition to an AI-enabled economy, and to ensure the governance of technologies. It includes a commitment to R&D and initiatives to address skills gaps. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

🏥 NHS BACKLASH: A recent NHS Providers meeting of NHS communicators highlighted issues as the pandemic moves into its next phase. These include service recovery, the treatment backlog, health inequalities, a burned-out workforce and the reorganisation of clinical commissioning. Source Ross Wigham.

Social media and platforms

🎒 MEDIA STUDIES: Marcus Rashford is to be taught in GCSE media studies after leading social justice campaigns via social media. The Manchester United star ued Twitter to campaign to extend free meals for students in need, against racist abuse online, and to support disadvantaged children’s reading. Spotted Michael Greer.

🔍 GOOGLE NEXT-GEN SEARCH: Multimodel search aims to go beyond content and add context search queries and results. The new AI features, still in development, provide greater detail and context-rich answers. In a demo Google shows a search using the image of a bike part. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.

👎 LEAN ON NOT LEAN IN: Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg's approach to public relations is more lean on than lean in. The NYTimes reports that the pair dodge public appearances to avoid issues such as the growing mental health impact of the crisis on teens. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.

And finally

🥗 FOODBANK FUNDRAISER: If you enjoy this newsletter we’d appreciate a donation to our annual foodbank fundraiser. We’re raising funds again for our local foodbank in Newcastle. Demand is greater than ever this year because of rising food and energy costs, and Universal Credit cuts. Thank you.