by Nora Panahi
The average employee tenure in the PR industry is just shy of three years.
In 2024, data from PRWeek UK revealed that PR is the second-worst sector for retaining staff. PR is a fast-paced job. It can be emotionally and intellectually demanding. Whether we’re in the throes of crisis communications, vying for media attention, or simply trying to foster strong relationships with our clients, burnout and employee turnover are not uncommon.
That means agencies and in-house teams alike MUST identify means of keeping PR professionals onboard. How do we incentivize retention? How do we uphold work-life balance in a way that’s meaningful to our employees? How do we acknowledge the hard work of our long-tenured employees?
Kickstand may have found the answer.
What is the Kickstand 5-5-5?
At Kickstand, we pride ourselves on our unique approach to benefits and company culture. From our alternate Fridays program to our Working Parent Stipend, Kickstand has made holistic support of our employees part of the fabric of the agency.
The 5-5-5 program is a prime example of this. Here’s how it works: once an employee has been with Kickstand for five years, they become eligible to take a five-week paid sabbatical. They’re also granted a $5,000 bonus to spend however they want.
In 2024, we saw two Kickstanders – Miranda McCanna and Joanna Weinstein – become the first employees to reach this exciting milestone. We recently sat down with Miranda and Jo to hear about what they did on their sabbaticals and what they learned from the experience.
Here’s what they had to say.
Q&A with Kickstand’s first 5-5-5 recipients
Nora Panahi: Let’s start with something easy: how did you spend your five weeks off?
Miranda McCanna: I went to Spain for the first time! My husband and I visited the Caves of Nerja and the Alcazaba of Malaga. We got to try authentic paella and Spanish cappuccinos and churros. Besides that, I spent a lot of time relaxing at home in Austin. I got to enjoy parts of my neighborhood – especially the pool – that I don’t normally have time for on weekdays.
Joanna Weinstein: I went to Costa Rica, which was lovely. I got to spend time in different climates during that trip – we were up in the rainforest, and then we did the dry forest and the beach. I got to see wildlife like howler monkeys, sloths, poisonous frogs, beautiful birds…and I got to visit a coffee plantation, which was a dream of mine! My big goal was to go somewhere completely different than where I am right now (New York), so that was really nice. I did some adventurous stuff like ziplining and horseback riding. I tried to focus on having new experiences, then used the second half of the trip to relax and reflect.
NP: Jo, what did getting that time to explore new experiences mean to you?
JW: Normally when you take PTO or a long weekend, you usually have trip plans already set. The beauty of the five consecutive weeks off was not having to plan out every single second. There’s a lot of space to do nothing and stay away from screens. I tried to be intentional and stay off of social media, which was incredibly hard for me! But it was great to be disconnected. Having uninterrupted time off also meant that I didn’t need to feel rushed when I got home from Costa Rica – there was no “I need a vacation from this vacation” or struggling to readjust to work right after landing back in the States.
NP: Did you learn anything about yourselves during your time off? Any big epiphanies?
JW: A big takeaway for me was learning just how addicted to my phone I really am! Once I made the resolution to stay off of it, I became aware of how much time I typically spent doomscrolling on social media. Instead I spent the time journaling, taking myself out on coffee dates, that sort of thing. I’m usually a very busy person who needs to have something to do at all times, so challenging myself to relax and do nothing was very rewarding.
MM: For me it was a great exercise in trusting my team at Kickstand. There’s always a fear when you go on vacation that something’s going to erupt without you and you’ll have to hop back online, or that you’ll come back to new issues that need solving. I’d never been away from work for anywhere near five full weeks, so there was this underlying worry that it was too good to be true. But my team kept things running smoothly while I was gone. Nobody reached out to say that things were on fire and needed my help! I was so impressed with my team’s ability to keep things afloat without me.
JW: I had a similar experience! The first week of my sabbatical I was obsessively checking Slack – not because I needed something to do but because I wanted to keep tabs on what was happening with our clients. But then I realized, this is ridiculous, I’m never going to get this time back. My teams have it covered because we’ve all set ourselves up for success in my absence. It gave me a new perspective on my work-life balance priorities for sure.
MM: Work-life balance definitely has a renewed importance for me now.
NP: What does it say to you about Kickstand that this benefit exists?
JW: When I told my dad about the 5-5-5, he told me all he got at his ten year milestone at work was a plaque. Five years is only half of that, but it’s still a long time to stay at a company – especially in our industry. This opportunity really demonstrated to me how Kickstand is willing to go above and beyond for us and how they really value the work we do. PR is a high-pressure job on an ongoing basis, so to have our efforts truly appreciated meant a lot to me.
MM: The whole Kickstand team deserves a lot of credit. I didn’t get a single work-related text for my entire sabbatical. To me, that was indicative of the team respecting the benefit and actually wanting me to enjoy my time away. The fact that my colleagues were willing to work a little harder so that I could stay offline tells you a lot about the culture here. We’re all invested in each other’s success, whether that’s professional development or company-mandated personal time.
The key to employee retention
The key to employee retention isn’t virtual happy hours or quarterly pizza parties. It’s about demonstrating genuine appreciation for people’s hard work, and showing them you care about their growth outside of the office, too.
The Kickstand 5-5-5 both celebrates and incentivizes retention. Other agencies struggling with employee churn should evaluate whether work-life balance is just a buzzword or a staunch commitment.
Learn more about life at Kickstand.
Jo unplugs in Costa Rica
Miranda lives it up in Spain
