As our industry hits a recruitment crisis , ARC Event Consultancy co-founder Rebecca Leach considers whether we are doing enough to create the right culture and support within our organisations and companies to attract and retain people in events .

Move on two years and events are back with a bang , but lots of the people , especially those with knowledge and experience , are not . Across all sectors of the event industry there are issues with recruitment . The buzz and excitement people get from working in events isn ’ t always worth the stress , uncertainty , short contracts and long hours that it is known for .

There are some great initiatives to bring more young people into the industry , such as university degrees , college and online courses , which provide people

with a great grounding for getting their first role in events . Many entry-level roles have decent numbers of applicants but most major sports events have large numbers of experienced roles unfulfilled , with no knowledge of where these people will come from .

Most job descriptions for event jobs include sentences such as :

• Willing to work unsociable hours

• Willing to work weekends

We all know that during events the expectations are that employees will work early mornings to late evenings and it is always a struggle to ‘ turn off ’ from work .

When we set up ARC Event Consultancy , focusing on major sporting events , our aim was to work around our families and wherever possible to maintain a good work / life balance . We love events , but didn ’ t want to continue to work the long hours required or be moving location for each new event . So , we focused on events in the UK , we worked from home , we set the tone and expectations right from the start with each event we worked on . Our opening gambit was often , “ We can ’ t be away for long periods of time

Rebecca Leach

and we have to fit the work around family life , but we have lots of experience , we promise to deliver and do a great job .”

Fortunately , the plan worked , and we have managed to build our business over the years , and luckily once again since the pandemic .

There are so many more people out there who love events but are worried that a job in events means giving up everything else . Some event organisations are doing

an amazing job and putting more focus onto people , but what could we all do to make our industry more open to everyone ? How can we protect the welfare of our employees during event-delivery time ? Are we expecting people to give up family life or any kind of work / life balance to deliver an event ? What could we do differently to ensure events maintain an experienced , knowledgeable and content workforce ?