Exhibition News August 2020 | Page 8

News Feature At the beginning of the summer ESP Recruitment, in association with EN and sister publication Conference News, conducted extensive, industrywide research to understand how both employees and employers have responded to the pandemic What do employees think? The employee survey has revealed that 59% of exhibition organiser employees would rather split their work time between home and the office when businesses start to reopen. When asked if employees feel they are being paid what they think they are worth, around half agreed. When employers were asked the same question, over 70% said they were paying their staff the appropriate wage. The survey has also revealed that 67% of organiser employees would like more flexible working hours, compared to 32% when the same survey was carried out in 2015. Results also show that 53% of venue and 41% of supplier employees would also prefer flexible working conditions. Of the 929 respondents 11% of staff working for exhibition organisers reported that they have been furloughed, compared to 48% of supplier and 24% of venue employees. Almost half of those working for organisers have reported a salary drop of up to 20% compared to just 28% of venue employees. 70% of employees are worried about their jobs in the exhibition industry while only 17% of staff feel secure in their current roles. 85% of businesses organising events “59% of employees want flexible working conditions” Sector Corporate Inhouse Venues Exhibition Organisers Event Management Agencies Charity/Public Sector Not-For-Profit Event/Exhibition Services Commercial Conferences Production Companies Experiential Outdoor Hotels C & I overseas intend to run their events again over the next 12 months. A large number of industry employees have been furloughed following the outbreak, going from 85% in full-time employment to 50%. Liz Sinclair, ESP Recruitment’s director who collated the results, noted the shift in attitudes to work since lockdown. She said: “From experience, the majority of staff didn’t enjoy working from home as they missed the office culture and social aspect of work, and not everyone can motivate themselves at home. This seems to have changed since having this situation Furloughed 21.54% 34.69% 10.92% 38.04% 27.45% 8.22% 48.44% 38.64% 57.89% 28.00% 30.00% 61.11% 58.33% Unemployed 8.46% 6.12% 8.4% 9.78% 1.96% 6.85% 6.25% 11.36% 5.26% 12% 3.33% 5.56% 0% forced on us by Covid-19. “Now, people have found a way to efficiently work from home and with the use of technology, you can still have the social- and team-focused aspects of your day. As staff aren’t spending time travelling to work, employers might even get more hours out of their staff from home as they don’t have to rush off to catch a train or deal with childcare. “It seems that staff will want this flexibility to continue after lockdown, which employers should consider, as happy staff are generally more productive.” 08 — August