APAC: While it is common for marketers to feel overworked, a new study confirms not only that a majority of brand and agency marketers have too much to do in too little time, but that a similar proportion feel the overwork is affecting their health.

This is according to a study from trade journal Campaign Asia, which surveyed 500 respondents from across 15 Asia-Pacific markets. Those surveyed ranged from entry-level employees to top management. Just under two-thirds of respondents were employed by agencies.

The feeling of overwork is significant, but so are the hours that many respondents report working. Indeed, 59% say they worked more than the regular full-time work week of 45 hours. Catching up at the weekend is also common, with 53% doing so occasionally, and 16% regularly.

For exactly half of the total respondents, overwork reportedly affects their health, while for 60% their work affects their personal or social lives.

The reason given by many (71%) is that there is too much work to get done in regular office hours. A significant proportion (61%) also attribute staying late to the deadline-based nature of marketing work.

But just 11% of respondents said they were compensated for the extra hours spent working. Similarly, according to responses, just 40% of companies allow flexible working. The pressures of remaining in the office are particularly intense for employees with young children.

Yet 85% of employees are willing to be flexible, checking work emails while on holiday for example. Alongside the email, the proliferation of social media messaging apps has led to a plethora of new ways in which bosses and clients can contact workers; the ubiquity of the smartphone means they are rarely ignored.

Meanwhile, another piece of research from R3, found that limited digital capabilities among clients can be detrimental to an ongoing agency relationship, with the disparity at times too great to bridge. But also, the ability of an agency to respond quickly to new challenges can be a significant reason for it remaining employed.

In China, particularly, R3's biennial Agency Scope Study found that the average agency relationship lasts just 2.9 years, where business is moving away from multinationals and toward smaller, more agile agencies that deploy localised insights.

Sourced from Campaign Asia, Mumbrella Asia; additional content by WARC staff