52 Recruitment
FOUR , IS THE MAGIC NUMBER
Robert Kenward , fitability ® recruiter at You Search and Select , talks the practicalities of a four day working week for eventprofs
ver half the industry ( 55 %) would like to work a four-day week ; that ’ s what the 2023 Annual Events Industry Salary Survey has told us . In an industry that is known for its stress inducing hours and ‘ drop everything to please a client ’ approach , this request should be seen as a seismic shift in how our people now want to work , and as an industry , we need to listen . No more is a huge workload and high anxiety seen as a badge of honor .
Just how practical it is to implement a four-day week , is another question .
A four-day week isn ’ t squeezing all of your hours into four days ( that ’ s called compressed hours ), and it isn ’ t working four days for 80 % of your usual salary ( that ’ s just working part time ). A genuine four-day week is working for four days and getting paid the usual full time , five days a week salary with a pro rata workload .
Industry pushback
I can almost hear the employers
Robert Kenward
“ The industry has spoken and we need to listen . Eventprofs want to work a four-day week ; this is happening and we , as an industry , need to be ready .” out there shuddering and proclaiming , “ well of course everyone would like to do this , who wouldn ’ t ? But where does that leave our clients , our workload , our profit ?” We are a service industry that dovetails into many other industries , our output is usually focused on being responsive to the needs of the clients we serve . A four-day working week currently doesn ’ t work in our industry . It ’ s not a thing , it ’ s not what we do . In the whitepaper , a few employers pointed out that they can ’ t even implement a ‘ leave early Friday ’ for their team because that ’ s when they are preparing for weekend events . But what if we all collectively decided that Monday is the new Sunday ? That every Monday is now to be treated as a www . conference-news . co . uk