2025 agency report: The cost of overworking for client-facing teams

Our panel of experts

We’ve brought together leading industry voices to help interpret the data and share practical solutions:

• Rob Sayles, agency consultant with 25+ years’ experience working with agencies
• Leanne Spencer, wellbeing speaker and burnout prevention expert
• Percy Stilwell, co-founder of Resource Guru and former agency professional
• Dr. Matthew Chan, medical expert and advisor. Matthew also holds an MBA, and works as chief of staff/head of operations for a start-up

We also spoke with several current and former agency employees to get their insider perspective and learn from their personal experiences.

4 causes of, and solutions to, overworking at agencies

Our data shows there’s not just one reason why people working at agencies are prone to being pushed to extremes. Several factors contribute to regular excessive working. Here are the four key drivers that emerged from our research:  

Cause 1: Challenging client relationships

What is happening? 

Here are some of the negative experiences agency workers have had with their clients that are connected to excessive working:

• 43% put client needs above their own wellbeing
• 20% say clients put too much pressure on them
• 15% say they’re intimidated by their clients 
• 13% feel undervalued by clients
• 11% feel mistrusted by clients

And, 46% of burned out agency workers say demanding clients caused their burnout.

Why is it happening? 

Agencies couldn’t exist without the clients that (quite literally) pay their bills. And, while many have healthy working relationships with their clients, that’s not always the case.

Unbalanced relationship dynamics where the “client is king” are causing serious strain. This leads agency teams to stop at nothing to protect client satisfaction and client retention. 

Given the fierce competition between agencies to secure new business, there is often a fear that, if clients don’t perceive the agency’s work or approach as “good enough” they’ll opt for a different agency. This can cause problems for the original agency in two ways: it threatens agency revenue, and can cost the account manager their professional reputation. 

Rob also observes that constantly giving in to whatever clients ask for leads to scope creep, which also contributes to overworking:

“Agencies are notoriously bad at managing scope creep. Small, uncharged requests from demanding clients build up, completely derailing resource plans and forcing teams to deliver more for less.”

Rob Sayles Agency consultant

So, what can be done about it?

Expert advice

Sure, it’s a tad cliché, but good relationships are built on clear communication. That extends to the agency-client relationship too.

Key to that is being transparent about what’s included in the work you’ll deliver for a client. This is about setting boundaries, building a clear scope of work and, as the work progresses, explaining how changes to the plan affect delivery times.

One foundational step that facilitates these conversations and agreements is using purpose-built resource management and project management tools. 

By having a central system in place where they manage each client project, agencies can set realistic expectations, share real-time status updates, and accurately analyze project performance.

Cause 2: Intense workloads and tight deadlines

What is happening?

Both workloads and deadlines were cited as causes of burnout in our survey results: 

On the topic of deadlines, agency workers highlighted a number of personal sacrifices they have to make to deliver work on time, including:  

• Skipping meals (49%)
• Cancelling personal plans (42%)
• Skipping sleep (40%)
• Skipping exercise (39%)
• Working during social events (31%)
• Working during annual leave (29%)
• Overusing stimulants (27%)
• Sleeping at the office (22%)
• Missing medical appointments (15%)

Why is it happening?

When agency capacity planning is unrealistic, or ignored completely, an imbalance occurs. The amount of people and resources available to get the work done, and the amount of client work they’re expected to complete, is unmanageable. That naturally leads to increased pressure on agency workers. 

On top of intense workloads, agencies also operate on a time crunch. Each client project also comes with a deadline and, more often than not, they’re as tight as possible to protect agency profitability. 

But what’s the answer to that? How can agencies manage to remain profitable while also keeping workloads and timelines fair?

Expert advice

When asked how agency leadership can set more realistic deadlines for their staff, Rob had this to say: 

However, this data is unfortunately sometimes siloed at agencies, particularly if they’re using disparate systems to manage projects, people, and resources.

To get true insights from projects that are already complete, a dedicated system that connects the dots on all the agency’s efforts—and allows you to report on the same—is a necessity.

Cause 3: A pervasive culture of overworking

What is happening?

On top of client expectations, heavy workloads, and deadlines, agency teams also deal with internal pressures that are causing a cycle of overworking. 

Why is it happening?

Agency workers who don’t put in extra hours fear being seen as uncommitted by their managers and clients. Additionally, agency leadership may glorify those who put in the effort into client work beyond normal working hours due to client pressures. This can make workers feel they need to show up in this way in order to be recognized.

Expert advice

Rob tells us one of the best ways to address these cultural expectations is to actively manage clients who don’t respect the agreed parameters for projects:

The first step in being able to defend your project scope, and the people working on that project, is to develop a deep understanding of all the moving parts involved.

Once again, this is where a formal approach to resource management (including your choice of resource scheduling software) comes in. By centralizing where you manage your people and resources, you can keep an eye on how projects are progressing, spot scope creep, and flag it with clients before it becomes a major issue. 

Cause 4: Inadequate resource and time management structures

This cause of burnout and overworking underpins the other three we’ve discussed so far. 

The data shows that the way agency staff, their workloads, and their time is managed is not on par with the level of organization and efficiency they need to keep up. 

What is happening?

Of those reporting burnout at agencies:

Poor resource and time management is connected to a range of other problems:

• 1 in 5 (20%) of agency workers would quit their jobs due to overallocation
• Nearly a quarter (23%) of agency workers would quit their jobs due to working on under-resourced teams
• When asked how accurately forecasted hours match actual hours worked, nearly a quarter (22%) of agency workers said they spend more time than is allocated
• Over a third (38%) are relying on Google Sheets to manage resources and track time, rather than purpose-built resource management or timesheets software

Why is it happening?

Agencies lack the right systems to distribute workloads fairly, ensure teams aren’t overburdened, and accurately track their time. Without those mechanisms in place, there’s a disconnect between the availability and capacity teams have, and the workloads they’re assigned.

There’s no transparency between those assigning the work and those executing it. There’s also no single source of truth to track project performance in real-time, which can lead to a perpetual cycle of overstretched agency teams.

Expert advice

Rob recommends agencies modernize their approach to resource and time management, and move away from the likes of Google Sheets. This will not only protect their employees, but their businesses as a whole.