Marketing employee suspects she may be working in a ‘burnout factory’ after being assigned 25 clients

SINGAPORE: One Singaporean marketing employee is beginning to suspect that her company might actually be a “burnout factory” in disguise, after being assigned 25 whopping clients.

In a post on Reddit’s ‘Ask Singapore’ forum on Wednesday (Oct 15), she shared the staggering list of tasks she is expected to handle daily. These include coordinating social media and content calendars, tracking KPIs, checking websites for bugs or layout issues, providing optimisation feedback, managing day-to-day client communication, tracking her team’s workload, and ensuring that every task fits neatly within each client’s allocated hours.

On top of her regular duties, the employee said she is also expected to manage client onboarding under an extremely tight timeline. 

The process usually goes like this: win the client today, complete the onboarding within 24 hours, and launch the campaign immediately. If anything takes longer, she said she often gets questioned about delays, such as why a task assigned on Wednesday has not been completed by Friday.

“It just feels… unrealistic,” she wrote. “I like being challenged,  but this level of speed and load feels like I’m permanently behind. [I even] get questioned as to why things aren’t being done. For instance, instruction was given on Wednesday, why not done by Friday?”

Seeking perspective, she turned to other Singaporeans for advice. “For anyone working in Singapore (especially in marketing/agency-type roles), is this normal? Is this just how things are here, or am I in an environment that’s pushing too hard? Would love to hear how others deal with this or what’s considered reasonable in your workplaces.”

“You are actually a work slave given this amount of workload.”

In the comments, numerous Singaporean Redditors described her workload as “intense,” “ridiculous,” and “crazy,” with one even saying the employee was right to call the company a “burnout factory.”

One commenter wrote in disbelief, “For 1 person? That’s too much to ask, even for a team that is quite nuts. Are you in a media agency? Pivot to the MNC ones, and it should be better. By 7:30 p.m. yesterday, I was the last one in the office.”

Another user criticised the unrealistic pace, saying, “24 hours turnaround time into campaigns is ridiculous. No proper company would want this because it means poorly thought-out and subpar campaigns.”

A third chimed in,“You are actually a work slave given this amount of workload.”

A fourth added, “You are in a burnout factory. Unless you have stocks in this startup, there’s no point in burning your life. There are easier ways to make more money; I mean, a legal, stable, full-time job with work-life balance.”

Still, not everyone saw the situation as extreme. A few users countered that such demanding workloads are, unfortunately, part and parcel of the marketing industry, especially in fast-paced startups.

One user added, “That’s expected in an agency and a very high quality of work. Accumulate a few years of work experience there, and you will be highly sought after by other companies. It will be a lot slower-paced there because you are only handling one company.”

How many clients can one person handle?

According to business management consultancy Sakas & Company, an account manager who isn’t responsible for campaign fulfilment can typically handle between four and eight clients without compromising quality. Meanwhile, a strategist who isn’t involved in day-to-day client interactions can usually manage around eight to twelve clients.

Read also: ‘Is this a violation of labour laws?’: SG employee on probation says his employer is forcing him to work without pay on Saturday to finish urgent project