MedComms agency work life balance
Hi all, I am an account manager in a medcomms agency in the UK looking to transition into an in-house marketing role.
I was wondering if my experience with work life balance is universal across most agencies.
We work at least 30 mins to 1 hour overtime every day without any time being given back. Any extra hours worked on-site at symposias or congresses are not given back either - time is only given back if we worked on weekends. Even after working overtime, we are supposed to offer help to the rest of the agency and it is frowned upon to clock off without helping someone else, meaning that a lot of people clock off at ~7:30pm.
Timesheets must be 7.5 hours minimum and if we were to take a 10 minute break in between tasks we need to make this up (toilet breaks included!). All the 7.5 hours essentially must be attributed to billable hours too!
We were told that we may have to change our personal pre- and post-work plans to accommodate for client deadlines (i.e. it should be a given that employees cancel plans to meet client deadlines).
My previous agency was nothing like this - management really protected our working hours and I rarely worked overtime. Timesheet entries did not feel like I was being micromanaged to the second.
It’s such a shame as I really enjoy the work itself, but the environment and culture makes it unbearable.
Does anyone have a similar experience or hopefully more positive experiences?