Dear Roxy Jacenko, you’re wrong
PR ‘maven’ Roxy Jacenko has slammed her own staff as ‘lazy’, questioning the work ethic and commitment of young Australian communicators and calling for them to put their hand up to work long hours without questioning their compensation. CEO and founder of The Impact Agency, Nicole Webb, says Roxy has it just plain wrong.
I take extreme offence to Roxy Jacenko’s recent comments that imply people who work in PR agencies are lazy and not committed to the job.
Roxy, pictured here with husband Oliver Curtis
As a business owner, go right ahead and work long hours. Sit in bed at midnight and shoot-off emails. That’s your prerogative – you chose this life and hopefully the effort you put in pays off.
But, it’s unfair to expect employees to reciprocate this behaviour and nor should you want them to. As a manager, part of your role is to support your team so they don’t burn out.
She is overworked at her own PR.
Here, here! Could not agree more.
100% the truth. Roxy runs her agencies like a sweat shop. Minimum wage, text messaging at all hours of the night and weekend for the most comical reasons. Of course she can work all hours of the night and weekend as she sits in her ivory tower driving to and from work in the latest car. She needs to focus on her clients more and less on her brand.
I worked for a privately owned event management company when I was in my early 20’s. I was told that I should be in the office before 8am & not to think of leaving until 6pm. It was also frowned upon to eat my lunch away from my desk! The CEO and his son were allowed to come & go as they pleased without explanation. Fair enough – they owned the business. It did absolutely nothing for staff morale – with most only lasting 6-12 months. Roxy is in a fortunate position and can hire help for her family (probably relieving herself from having to do school pick up, make meals, washing, cleaning, etc). This is not reality for most of us!!
Its amazing that in 2019 and in either ignorance or rejection or multiple studies, management still believes that time at work = productivity (the actual evidence suggests quite the opposite).
Why cant it be your reality if you want it ?
You also have the right not to want it also (which is quite easy,try not to do much..)
WELL SAID! Any company that uses Roxy to promote their business is crazy, it is all about her and the product gets lost!
Couldn’t have said it better myself. Her comments are plain wrong and an insult to her staff and those in the industry! Obviously trying to push her new Chinese media agency with that reference
Could not agree more!
In her interview, she was also complaining about junior staff leaving before 6 months. If your juniors are leaving you at the 6 month mark it’s probably because you’re overworking them, maybe underappreciating them and/or handing them higher level tasks without the higher level of pay. The amount of agencies that are still paying their juniors under 45k a year including super and expecting loyalty is ridiculous. They know they deserve better and go and find it.
Sadly this article would be so much more powerful if it wasn’t written by an agency that pays their junior staff under 40k plus super, frowns on them taking lunch breaks and expects them to work large amounts of overtime without additional pay.
Youuuuuuchhhhhhhhhhh! **Microwaves popcorn** Nicole? Anything to add to this one? Surely it’s an exaggeration or upset ex-employee but would be good to hear your response to this.
Intriguing. But not sure I can trust anyone in PR who uses the grammar disaster of ‘Their on in the same’ as a profile name???
My first PR agency job (around 7 years ago) I was on $25k before they generously (their words) offered a 10% increase. I left.
terrible place to work… this is big talk coming from IMPACT
To ‘their one in the same’,
I’m going to have to disagree with you. I’ve known Nicole and Impact for a long time and have heard nothing but good things about the agency from staff both current and former. They even have a creche in the office allowing staff to bring their kids in and to help save them money and stress less. It’s one of the few PR companies I’ve heard of where people are positive about the hours worked and their treatment by management.
They probably expect you to have a grasp of grammar too!
..and a good attitude which is lacking in you’re petty comment!
*They’re
It’s no wonder why her long time staff have all left recently. She can try and put it down to “normal business” but what small business loses 10 staff in 4 months?
All smoke and mirrors! Needs to focus on her work and clients instead of her personal PR agenda and quest for fame!
Is it dark up there Roxy?
‘She claims, in her experience, Chinese workers are far more hardworking and answer emails at all hours of the day.’ – Will we give clients the best counsel after working an 12 hour day? Probably not Roxy.
Pretty simple really, if you don’t agree with those working conditions, don’t work for Roxy.
I’ve just finished reading a cracking good book from the founders of Basecamp.
‘It doesn’t have to be crazy at work.’
https://basecamp.com/books/calm
Says it all.
Roxy is the worst PR for the PR industry in Australia and makes it harder for the rest of us to maintain credibility within the other marketing disciplines. She is literally the negative traditional stereotype incarnated.
Finally, someone said it.
PR – truly the unwashed armpit of our industry!
On behalf of armpits across Australia, we are proud to be seen as just as hardworking as PR professionals who we know usually have an armpit or two.
Regarding your ‘unwashed’ remark, we are concerned that you may be suffering from an armpit related condition which has caused you to lash out.
Would you like more information on good armpit health and hygiene?
Hi Rox, sounds like you wrote that. Maybe we should ask the recently departed Sweaty Betty-te, Holly Asser, for comment?
“…put their hand up to work long hours without questioning their compensation.”
Say’s every media senior executive in the land who is on $10k+ a month, live in the CBD and drive the latest sports car to their car spot inside the building. Out of touch Wa**ers, honestly. The hide on this woman.
Put it this way – I would never hire Roxy nor someone like her.
I find it funny that Roxy expects midnight responses and working all hours when she has a nanny and all the help for her kids. Some of us in PR are also juggling a family with no help at the same time as making work a priority.
Managers who are obsessed with their staff seeming ‘busy’ all the time are often in the same league as micro-managers.
An incompetent manager doesn’t trust their staff, and isn’t able to assess the quality of their work effectively, so needs to use ‘hours worked’ as a proxy for productivity.
Plus, if a business needs staff to work very long hours regularly, it sends a clear message of mismanagement to me. Or am I out of date?? … I always thought good management meant using effective planning, communications, pricing, and positioning to influence the work that comes in, balanced with great staff recruitment and management to ensure the work can be done well (without a slave driver).
I take umberage that report after report tells us that the marketing and communications industry, both in Australia and around the world, are leading offenders when it comes to clocking long hours in salaried positions with no compensations paid in time or money. I’d suggest that junior marketing and communication personnel are leading whingers about clocking long hours…having worked across a number of industries…banking, consulting and finance spring to mind…junior execs get it relatively easy. Many of the juniors I see consider a 60 hour week a hopelessly unsustainable grind…in consulting a 60 hour/week is an easy week….over 90 is a hard week. Some junior doctors I know work 72 hour shifts!!! If you don’t like it, work in another industry.
Yes but the difference is the pay, prestige and importance. No one is going to die if PR junior exec on less than $50K inclusive leaves work at 6.
You expect juniors to work longer hours than many doctors… for PR? No one except you should be working more than 40 hours a week on this stuff – if it’s your business, great, put in all the hours you want because you’re the prime beneficiary, but not the staff you’re paying peanuts to and who should expect to have meaningful lives outside of their work. The entitlement and smell of burning martyr is strong in you.
Well said, Nicole.
Excellent argument. I run my own copywriting agency and, sure, I can work my crazy hours, as I’m the owner. But I don’t expect my staff to work like I do. It’s not their business. Employee satisfaction is absolutely everything today- I was so impressed with the measures you take to look after your team.
Chris.
“…socialite best known for her appearance on the 3rd season of the Celebrity Apprentice Australia”. Oh dear – if Roxy is the face of the professional PR industry in this country I’d hate to see its arse
Brilliant response. This made my day.
Sorry, but you lost me at “I take extreme offence to…”
I believe Nicole meant, “I took extreme offence at…’’
Roxy knows how to get a headline but she clearly doesn’t think much beyond that. No other PR professional in Australia would advise a client CEO to go to the media and complain about their own staff. She’ll have no staff to service the few clients she has left, with her signature c-grade-influencer-luncheon-with-expensive-floral-display. Let’s all not play into the drama. It’s called feeding the troll. Her clients and staff deserve better.
It amuses – and baffles me – why the PR industry seems to think they are the only ones “hard done by” with long hours and supposed pressure and stress.
Poor luvvies. Life is soooo hard. A junior on 45K is such an impost to the lifestyle expected huh?
A junior on $45k? Entry level media jobs are unpaid these days, everyone knows that.
I work at a fashion PR agency in Sydney. Totally underpaid and overworked. 10-11 hour days a standard + multiple late night client events throughout the year. Time in lieu? Time in who? Never heard of her.
SEND HELP!
Yes its actually true many Asian cultures inherently accept 24/7 working patterns.
Just so happens some Asian cultures also have by far and away the worlds highest rates of suicide through over work, its been very well documented.
Bit worrying if Roxy Jacenko is using that as a benchmark.
Hi Nicole. Massive congratulations on your position. Nicely said.
Right on!
A mate of mine was a senior PR person, previously a journalist. He said to me once “ Nine out of ten PR people these days are just empty suits. Suits wandering around with nothing in them” That was 40 years ago. And it’s still true today.
9-5 does not work in all industries; the world runs 24/7. You have to be on top of everything if you want to be successful in your career. Yes there are still jobs where you log off and switch off; but not all people have that privilege. Woolies closed for 30 mins because of IT issue and everyone was up in arms going against how their dinner plans were impacted. All well and fair that you need to invest on right people and have people covering the hours. But what happens when these right people go home and the service is still required? Get more right people? Then what is the point of running a business if you cannot make any money? That is the whole point isn’t it?
Why does a manager need to be on top of everything that goes around you? Is it too much to ask for people to take that extra responsibility? Look out for each other! I am sure people would be compensated for this if they do!
… “is it too much to ask for people to take that extra responsibility?”
Yes.
Yes it is too much to ask and people are not compensated for the extra hours.
The way they’re paid, juniors at agencies (PR, Media, Creative… take your pick) working a 60 hour week could earn far more on a per hour basis if they got a job at the local Maccas.
24/7 Businesses work in shifts. Woolies, Coles and McDonald’s, etc don’t work their cashiers (for example) for 10-12 hours and send them home to count up their banking.
In a fair workplace if there is a need for someone to put in a longer day here or there most happy staff will gladly do it. But it should be an exception not the rule.
“But what happens when these right people go home and the service is still required? Get more right people?”…ummmm yep that’s exactly what you do. If you can’t make money that way then don’t offer your services outside of the hours that you roster people to work.
It’s Roxy audition for pre-selection. She’s left it a bit late.
If only this issue was constrained to Roxy herself, instead of the countless power hungry, botoxed, megalomaniac Roxy-wannabes running communications agencies. Getting out of the agency circus was the best thing I ever did for my mental health.
Roxy Jacenko’s husband is literally a convicted criminal, who used his insider knowledge of companies actions to enrich himself, and she’s the daughter of wealthy parents who used their connections to get her first PR gig. But sure, she knows all about hard work.
Nicely said. A good manager is one who values her staff over her clients. It’s PR not ER.
Roxy, who hurt you baby?
The fact that this [edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] can spew nonsense that is clearly at odds with 15 kinds of nomalicy and decency is truly sad. Especially because people look up to her…. makes me shake my head for humanity…… and then someone stands up to her and reminds everyone that she’s not the [edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] face of the communications industry. Well done Nicole. More heads of business should pubicly deride her misguided postulating.
Brilliantly said! I thought the same when I read her revolting comments.
Seems like a strategic tactic to brown-nose the Chinese market by making idyllic remarks about Chinese workers and slamming western culture, no?
Not ONE of her ex employees has a single good thing to say about her.
What a fantastic recruitment add for The Impact Agency. Do agencies still not get that your best staff will walk, find better pay, and better conditions.
Great response!
This is rich coming from IMPACT … IMPACT employees are overworked and underpaid. It is telling that the CEO wrote this and not an employee. Take extreme offence to that!
As an actual IMPACT employee, I have to say that you are wrong. Since being here, I’ve been supported in my career, in both my downfalls and my successes, and I’ve never once been subjected to these kinds of issues. I was even told by management to remove my emails from my phone so that I was able to switch off once I left the office and give myself time to rest and recuperate.
We all want to succeed, but IMPACT has always had a philosophy that work doesn’t come at the expense of mental and physical health. When you have burnt out employees, they will do the bare minimum; supported employees will go above and beyond for you.
Stop Roxy….stop… ssssssssh….. you’ve lost this one… sssssshhh…
Haha
I have run my own boutique for 15 years, and yes I was guilty of driving staff to hard in the early days a a result of pressure to succeed. It became apparent that in the longer term you lose good people due to burnout, it’s true your staff are your greatest asset. We are big fans of time off in lieu, additional hours when required are documented and time off given.
Pretty simple, don’t offer the world but just be fair and understand that staff genuinely need a break from the office. Compulsory time off at Christmas has also been well received.
Born into wealth and privilege, entitled, privately educated and [edited] wife of convicted criminal tells us all to work harder….better take note then heh?
@Groucho… This reminds me of my first boss who had a sign over his desk “Hard work never hurt anyone” — but, we all asked, how would he know? History does indeed repeat itself.
Why would you give her air, she is [edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy] and a poor example of an influencer.
It would be interesting turn of events were an employee of Sweaty Betty ever to find themselves in front of the Fair Work Comission. Roxy’s comments would unlikely serve her business well.
Hi Nicole
thank you for your article, I like so many people are massive supporters of employers having more reasonable and realistic expectations of their people. I am also an employer.
As a Rehabilitation Counsellor of some 20 years vintage, it saddens me that we have been talking about how to care for our people, and how our people are our best asset, yet at times very little feels like it is changing.
People are not widgets.
I continue to see a lot of driven, ambitious people who are dedicated to their careers who end up depressed to the point of needing hospitalisationn, burned out, over fatigued, or sick with automimmune disorders, all telling me that the relentless pressures within thier workplaces were really big contributors to thier dis-ease.
This isn’t just in PR, it’s in finance, its in Health ( now isn’t that scary) it’s in welfare ( scary too) it’s in public service, education… it has become the workplace dis-ease of our modern era.
In helping these people recover, it takes a lot of work, soul searching and work in personal identity to realize how broken their relationship to their work had become. The social and economic burdens are gigantic. And it’s not necessary and really we do know better.
again I thank you for your article.
As an ex-Sydney ‘burnt-out’ worker from creative industry I’ve found this thread so interesting to read. There was one time in my life that work 60+ hrs per week was the ‘norm’ for me. A series of significant life events forced me to reevaluate and realise that in reality no job is worth expending all your ‘living’ hours on. I feel so relieved not to be trapped in the misconception that any of that crap actually matters and it makes me very sad to see someone with such a high profile have such a poor attitude towards their staff and such a disrespect view of their personal time. Prioritising your work behind your life leaves you empty. As a reality check, if you work only 1/2 extra per WEEK it will add up to an extra TWO WEEKS of work a year – UNPAID. When you employ someone, you agree to a specific number of hours per week that you are paying for. To think that it is acceptable and appropriate to attempt to emotionally blackmail your staff into thinking they owe you anything beyond what you have contractually agreed is shameful.
Don’t hate the player ladies hate the game- the woman is wildly successful for a reason I agree with her sentiments the new “generation” thinks money and success comes so easily. Success comes with blood sweat, tears and hard work.
As anyone who works for themselves will attest. I’d suggest reading the “How I Made It” type books from Lord Alan Sugar, Duncan Bannatyne, Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis.
It never comes easy or in a 40 hour week. But you need to work out what you want – and just ’cause next door has a Lamborghini doesn’t mean you need one too.
That is, don’t listen to your own advertising blurb for starters.
Wildly successful is a bit of a stretch. Maybe once upon a time, i don’t know. But if your agency still relies on low paid juniors grinding out countless unpaid hours each week then you’ve got a problem. Social media has provided young people with an easy avenue to express themselves creatively and establish a name for themselves if they want. Agencies don’t have the hold over young people’s careers that they used to and they’ll need to adapt if they want to attract talent.
Not knowing Impact Agency just had a look at their website to check it out.
Seems that it is entirely female.
How does that work in this diverse age?
As a business owner myself, I find it a complete disrespect of your employee to expect them to work without being paid. Salary or not, state the working hours at the beginning of employment and if one works later they either need to be paid or time in lieu. Time is precious, it needs to be paid for.
Sarah
From her comments she can’t PR herself and she thinks companies and brands would want her to PR them?
The words she used to explain how she ‘runs’ her company are exactly why so many Australians anxious, burnt out, underpaid, and the industry is falling apart.
Chinese employment structure is startlingly different to a Paddo PR agency specialising in bagging young workers in Australia, and flogging them to trudge around handing out hamburgers.
Interestingly there’s another family-funded woman,who undermines the Australian fair-work wages and conditions, and is known for whinging she needs ‘overseas workers’ to work until they drop.
Best remember you get what you pay for … oh wait … obviously not much atm
I worked briefly in the IFC building in Shanghai, and was surprised to see that the banking workers entered and left at standard times.
Working for a small communications company means the long hours and shitty pay without any of the benefits of a network and larger more respected environment. The author of these complaints should note this even if she thinks it’s boutique.
This is another trash article written to belittle and demotivate lazy gen-y’ers.
What Roxy is saying is that in order to achieve success you need to work painstakingly hard and sacrifice your social life in order to reach your full potential. If it’s not for you? Fine, no worries, but if you want to achieve greatness then be prepared to slave away for many years for no monetary returns to grow yourself rather than your bank account.
You’re confusing employees for business owners. Feel free to slave away, if it’s on your OWN dollar. You can’t pay peanuts an hour and expect loyalty. Employees have firstly, legally protected workplace rights and secondly: options. Higher than average staff churn is and always will be down to bad management.
I hate to say it but I agree with Roxy, she is saying to not have a sense of entitlement and to work hard, great entrepreneurs do this and work many years for little ot no money – for others to build up their resources and skill set so they can finally charge bigger amounts of money. The interns at Roxy’s firm are pretty lazy, and lots of clients leave due to non-delivery – you could say it’s Roxy’s fault and you are right, but it’s also the calibre of the workforce at the moment. Lazy, entitlted and will do bare minumum for their pay. How can a business owner compete well in that climate?
“Great” entrepreneurs (and managers) succeed when their employees succeed by building a work place that good people want to work in, not off their indentured servitude. They don’t have an ownership stake, so if other agencies offer them a better life, why exactly should they be expected to stick around??
All of this PR about Roxy just in time for her new reality TV show on Ten….
I’ve never heard of The “Impact” Agency or Nicole Webb. Jumped on their website (a breathtakingly underwhelming nod to United Colors of Benetton circa ’93) to find out more.
Key highlights included:
CSR/ TESLA CAMPAIGN
Spelt Tesla “Telsa”.
Feedback: Tres risque.
RAMS CAMPAIGN
Provides groundbreaking key insights such as –
Research showed that over 50% per cent of first home buyers research loan products online
Feedback:
“50% per cent” – Really?
$0.01 ÷ 50%?
BULLETPROOF CAMPAIGN
Provides groundbreaking key insights such as –
The market is influenced by perception, competition for attention is intenss
Feedback: Avante-Garde use of phonetic spelling. Extra points for double S.
Finally, I’d like to leave you all with some key insights from the ASG Campaign. Ladies and gentleman, here to present their Key Insights for a campaign based around education, may I please present the grammatical & punctuational stylings of the Impact Agency –
ASG supports parents plan for the cost of their children’s education
In collaboration with Monash University, ASG surveyed 1,902 parent’s on the state of education in Australia from a parents’ perspective
Research findings was compiled into the ‘Parent’s Report Card’
But fear not prospective clients, the Impact Agency believes in work/ life balance and has a creche.
Interesting to see how the pro Roxy and anti Nicole comments have rapidly increased at the end of this post. It sure looks like Roxy is able to unleash the faux indignation and attack the writer of the article. A close look at the posts would suggest that many were written by the same people given the vocabulary and sentence structure. Well, at least she can get things moving, eventually. However if a PR company was dealing with an issue for me I would want it hosed down straight away, not days later. Perhaps they were too tired from long days, too hungry from low pay, and too busy looking for decent jobs.
My dear & aptly named Groucho,
I am in no way affiliated with Roxy. I am an EA in a completely different industry.
Sharing Roxy’s opinion does not automatically make me Roxy. You may wish for Australia to remain under British Monarchy. Does this make you the Queen of England?
Interestingly, by your own rhetoric, you are in fact Nicole Webb. I must therefore congratulate you on the swift removal of erroneous material from your website. However, a quick spelling & punctuation check on the remaining website text may be of use as unfortunately, I was only able to list a few of my favourite examples in my previous post.
The correct sentence structure and vocabulary used by myself and other previous posters may indeed seem somewhat different & foreign to you, which is completely understandable given the substandard grammar, spelling & punctuation displayed on your website. As such, I must once again point out that just because someone is different to you, it does not make them Roxy Jacenko.
You’re 100% right about one thing – I was indeed very late to the party with my initial comment due to my busy schedule and long work hours.
To be honest, I was downtrodden. I thought I had completely missed the boat – surely no one would ever reply to my comment so late in the game?
Alas, there you were dear Groucho, lurking on a week old Mumbrella article; poised, like an Asp, feverishly clicking the refresh button and ready to strike.
Within a few short hours, there it was – your inherently flawed yet wonderfully self sabotaging response. And then, what happened next was nothing short of a miracle – The Impact Agency site was updated at precisely the same time!
It was truly magical, as if all the stars had aligned and then simultaneously decided to shoot themselves in the foot.
Truly, magnificent work team.
Nasty…and sounding ever so slightly trollish in the desire for response…not appealing
Mic drop
I’m surprised Roxy is so busy. She’s on Instagram posting pics of herself and her bikini. Oh that’s right she has cleaners, cooks, drivers and nannies. Always time for a selfie !
@AK just because your opinion is different does not mean everybody’s is. You see, contrary to your apparent belief , the world does not revolve around you. And that’s a good thing as the less people that write twee nonsense like you the better. Thank goodness you are but a humble EA ( I didn’t realise that position still exists) but if you aspire to a proper job a writing course might be a good start. And I wouldn’t for a moment think you were affiliated with Roxy – she has her standards too you know.
Stay in Sydney Roxy ! I’m the only person in Melbourne who knows who you are and even I don’t care . Saw you filming here to curry favour ; go away.
Sorry haven’t read anyone’s comments lol, but thought i’d leave mine… 🙂
I’m not sure what people think PR is exactly or even what the role entails when applying. If I was Roxy I would ask the new PR candidate to watch ‘The Devil wears Prada” yes I’m aware that’s not PR, but that work ethic and format is pretty much spot on. If they don’t agree with the format or the movie – NEXT.
PR is predominantly a woman’s playground, it’s unfortunate as men do not think this is an industry for them – I actually think men would thrive in this industry. The last company I worked for boasted about the fact 80% of there world wide staff was female, 90% of our office in Sydney was female – IT WAS HORRIBLE. Not because they were women (I could easily work with Roxy, she’s direct – at least you know where you stand and she’s worked bloody hard to get to where she is) but because NONE of the female staff would ever work back, I would work 14 hour days and these ladies would already be changed into their active wear ready for the gym before the clock had event hit 4.45pm.
I mean if any of Roxy’s staff are not working back and putting in the extra hours with her, do they expect to go far? They won’t.
And there’s proof it pays off, her previous PA / ex best friend now owns her own PR agency and has some of Roxy’s ex clients – bet she worked back when Roxy asked ……………….. #justsaying
Side note: If you can’t complete your work duties in an 8 hour shift and you are not willing to stay back an hour or two to finish your work, then I’d suggest finding a new bloody job. done. 🙂
The proof is in the pudding. Between Roxy and the author of this piece, who’s more successful? I think we all know the answer to that question.
This is so funny !
Can Roxy tell us what she has done for any company [Edited under Mumbrella’s comment moderation policy]
One example of her PR being a success
Profit vs her fees ..??
Hey Karen,
Have you worked there?