In this week’s episode of Lumar’s Human-First Digital podcast, host Chris Spann sits down with Kayley Dempsey, Digital Marketing Operations Lead at Manifesto, to tackle the realities of career anxiety, burnout, and managing work-life balance in fast-paced SEO and digital marketing careers. They dive into actionable strategies for managing work stress at both personal and managerial levels.
Kayley opens up about her unique career journey—from studying foreign languages to becoming a digital marketing leader—and shares her insights on juggling the demands of parenting alongside career pressures in an ever-evolving industry.
Whether you’re a seasoned digital marketing executive, a team leader, just getting started in your SEO or digital marketing career, or a parent navigating work-life balance, this conversation offers relatable perspectives and advice to help you stay happy and healthy at work this year.
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Episode Timestamps
- 00:00:11 – Introduction to Human-First Digital
- 00:00:16 – Managing Anxiety in the Workplace
- 00:03:49 – Transitioning to Agency Life
- 00:05:07 – Insights on Managing Anxiety
- 00:09:27 – Balancing Work and Parenting
- 00:11:50 – The Importance of Company Culture
- 00:18:00 – How Managers Can Support Their Team’s Mental Health
- 00:20:50 – Finding Joy and Switching Off
- 00:24:28 – Community and Mental Health Support
Episode Preview
CHRIS: For managers who are listening, how do you go about supporting your team, especially if you’ve got a geographically separate or culturally diverse team?
KAYLEY: So, I think firstly it’s important to establish the person you’re managing’s attitudes and mental health. Some people are an open book, and they will say, “I’m having a high-anxiety day today,” and that’s one type of conversation.
Other people might not have the words to talk about how they feel or just might not choose to share that side of themselves at work, which is also valid. And those “Working With Me” [surveys] can give you real insight into [how a person prefers to express themselves at work and what they are comfortable sharing with others in a work context].
You should be having regular one-to-ones — and also, regularly one-to-ones shouldn’t just be: “Tell me about all the projects you’re working on and their status.” It should be: “How are you doing?”
Your one-to-ones should be about you, not just the work.
If it’s someone who is very open, just ask them, “How are you feeling? Are you doing okay at the moment?”
If it’s someone who [prefers to be less open at work], you can ask questions like:
- Does this level of stress feel okay right now?
- Do you feel supported on this?
- Are you logging off on time and taking lunch breaks are the moment?
CHRIS: Yeah, you can frame it in a slightly different way.
KAYLEY: It’s understanding the symptoms of someone having a bad mental health experience [at work] — what would you see? You might see long working hours, skipping lunch breaks, people not feeling like they can talk about how things are going, or not feeling like they can ask for help.
So it can be helpful to just ask questions like, “Do you need a sounding board for anything?” or just book in stand-ups, 10-minute check-ins, a couple times a week to ask, “Do we need to move any deadlines around? I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now.”
That communication and trying to be proactive is super-important [as a manager]. … But if you give the wrong approach to the wrong need you’re going to wind the person up more.
Listen to the full conversation above, or on your podcast player of choice:
Episode Links
- Follow Kayley Dempsey on LinkedIn.
- Follow Chris Spann on LinkedIn.
- Follow Lumar on LinkedIn.
- Explore Lumar’s technical SEO and website optimization platform.
Further learning on SEO career management
- SEO Career Development Guides [Lumar Website Intelligence Academy]
- SEO Project Management Guides [Lumar Website Intelligence Academy]
About Human-First Digital (HFD)
In this SEO podcast series, website optimization expert Chris Spann (Senior Technical SEO at Lumar) speaks to the brightest minds in SEO and digital optimization. The HFD podcast is brought to you by Lumar.
Ready to take your website to the next level? Explore Lumar’s full website optimization platform and our suite of enterprise-scale SEO, web accessibility, and site speed tools.
