Adland cares: supporting caregivers in advertising
Opinion
The demanding, unpaid, and often hidden role of caregiving impacts countless professionals who work in the advertising industry, but there are ways to better support them.
Advertising is great, isn’t it?
Hustle, bustle, creativity, post-shoot wrap lunches, all-agency trips; it’s hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement.
But for lots of people in adland there’s an additional role that must be filled. Far less glamorous, unpaid and unpredictable — caregiving.
There’s an estimated 5.8m unpaid caregivers in the UK — a number that excludes those unaware of their caregiving role. That’s a vast number of people, and it’s highly likely they’ll be some of your colleagues, you just don’t know it.
Being a caregiver in adland
Caregiving takes many forms.
For some, it’s regularly checking in with a family member to make sure they’re okay.
It could be looking after a loved one’s life admin as they’re unable to do so, arranging housing, nurse visitations, or ensuring they avoid scams.
Other times, it’s a long-term mental/physical support role, meaning they need to live alongside that person, always being on call. Or it’s a weekly shop for a vulnerable aunt.
Caregiving isn’t monolithic, and every case is just as important as the next.
But being a caregiver in adland is daunting.
We’re often type A personalities, throwing everything we have into the work, pushing for perfection.
We sacrifice evenings and weekends, making sure the creative comes first, feeling the need to be faultless at every turn.
But caregiving doesn’t worry about all that. It’ll throw you off your game at 2pm on a Tuesday, when you suddenly need to rush home to make an unexpected hospital trip, missing a review before a pitch.
It’ll make you really log off the laptop at 5pm for the day, as your partner is unable to get out of bed. It will call you just before the client drinks (you really need to attend) as your loved one is having an intense mental episode, and the only person they trust is you.
There are innumerable scenarios that pop up out of nowhere to snap you out of ad mode and into caregiving mode.
The importance of support
Supporting a caregiver in our wonderful advertising bubble is an incredibly hard thing to do.
Friends or family not in the industry often offer advice, such as “get a less stressful job” or “leave your caregiving situation.”
Even mental health professionals come to similar conclusions. But this is the last thing we need to hear — it stops you from sharing your situation with others, bottling it up inside instead.
So, who can you reach out to if not family or friends?
Is there a close friend in your office you can confide in? Do you feel comfortable talking to your managers about problems outside the workplace?
Do you have a mental health first-aider at work who doesn’t have a workload just as large, if not larger than you?
Opening up as a caregiver is difficult, no matter how long you’ve been in your role.
There’s an intense internal fear of being judged unfairly for what you’ve got going on at home. Will you still be given good briefs or career-defining opportunities?
Will you be seen as less able to perform? How do you get rid of the unshakeable anxiety that you will be seen as someone lesser who is unable to put in as much effort as everyone else?
Who can caregivers turn to?
At Mother, we’ve started a small caregiver’s group, where we gather together to chat about our caregiving lives.
We share advice, tips and sometimes just vent over coffee about how tough it can be. Openly sharing stories and situations with people who are going through similar stresses, whilst also understanding the industry pressures.
It has been something that has surprised all of us at just how uplifting and freeing it can be. It has also become apparent that no matter how different caregiving responsibilities are, there are always similarities with others.
If you’re reading this and wish for something similar at your company, reach out to your people team and see if this is something they could help arrange.
And if not, start it yourself.
Granted, caregiving is already a big enough responsibility but the group has been truly great for all involved. If you’d like to chat further about the group, please feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn.
My other go-to for support is Nabs. Recently I called to see if they had any resources that we could pass onto the group. An hour later I’d learnt about the multiple ways they could support both our group and me personally.
We discussed my own situation, and it was wonderful to feel heard by someone that understands the industry and mental health.
They offered free therapy sessions with a therapist of my choice and I’m happy to say that after 10 weeks of sessions, I feel some of the internal struggles of guilt and pressure have quietened down.
This is a truly great resource dedicated to our industry and I feel we need to shout about it more.
So, for any caregivers out there, know you’re not alone in this wild advertising bubble. If you don’t quite feel up to sharing with your workmates, Nabs are a fantastic resource.
You can’t take care of others unless you take care of yourself, so please reach out.
And to adland as a whole, the people we work with are the most important part of our industry and although from nine to five we are all wrapped up in making wonderful creative things happen, I think we could all do with remembering that really, we’re only making ads, and the things that truly matter, tend to happen outside of these hours.
Ben Waters is a producer at Mother.