Majority of PR practitioners in Latin America are currently working from home with 85% entirely remote and only 4% permanently in the office. Post-pandemic, 63% said they expect to continue working on a hybrid model, while 14% expect to remain full home-based. 

Most PR professionals reported being happy in their environment despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, with 38% stating their company creates a very good working environment and 43% stating describing it as good.

In terms of company performance, 80% said their company’s performance in promoting diversity and inclusion at work was ‘good’ or ‘very good.’ Although this number was higher for men at 88% compared to women at 76%.

The impact of the pandemic on mental health was clear, with 23% of practitioners saying they suffered or have been diagnosed with mental ill health. A further 60% said they would like to talk to a manager or senior colleague about mental health.

But there is room for improvement, as even though the industry is predominately female with 68% of the workforce identifying as women, the survey found female practitioners are less likely to feel confident that they are being paid well.

Indeed, women are nearly twice as likely as men to earn less than $2k US dollars per month. Three in ten respondents also said their employer had made redundancies as a result of the pandemic.

Gustavo Averbuj, chair of PRCA Americas, says “The pandemic has not only brought suffering and ill-health to families, but it has also forced many of us to change the way we live and work. This report suggests that leaders in PR and communication are already rising to the challenges of taking care of their staff’s mental health and wellbeing, as well as creating diverse and inclusive professional environments.”

The research was sponsored by research and data provider, Quiddity, and will be published by PRCA Americas. An English language edition will also be published in the UK and Middle East. Find the full LATAM Census report here.