News Feature
What do employers think?
The new study has revealed that 59%
of venues have seen a sharp drop
in revenue by between 61%-100%,
compared to 45% of organisers due to
Covid-19.
Event services or suppliers have also
been affected the most by the outbreak,
with 70% reporting a fall in revenue of
between 61%-100%.
38% of employers reported that they
would rather their staff continue to
work from home after lockdown to
avoid using public transport.
55% of organisers have turned to
digital platforms to connect with their
customers through virtual events,
webinars and online networking, but
alarmingly 45% of organisers have not
created any digital events. Just 16%
of organisers reported that they had
specifically created online events to
generate revenue for the business and
a further 36% created these events to
engage with their customers. 46% of
organisers explored both options.
EN can also reveal that 75% of venue
bosses are still being paid their full
salaries compared to just 36% of senior
organiser staff, and 34.5% of event
services have cut their salaries by 60%
or more.
Both organisers and venues agree
that the exhibition industry will take
a long time to recover at 33% and 30%
respectively.
Despite almost two thirds of
organiser staff being female, only one
third of women have boardroom places.
Working in operations and sales is
still the best way to reach the top jobs
in exhibitions with 40% of senior roles
coming from a sales background and
26% from operations.
38% of employers are happy for their
staff to continue to work from home
after lockdown showing a significant
shift in attitude by employers.
37% of organisers said they will have
to wait and see what the industry is like
before they re-employ furloughed staff
compared to 31% of venue staff and 41%
of suppliers.
54% of employers said that the
prospects for promotion within
their businesses were either good or
excellent before the outbreak compared
to 23% post-pandemic.
35% of employers felt optimistic about
a recovery in Q1/2 2021 but 34% felt that
it was a long road back to recovery.
Liz Sinclair, director at ESP
Recruitment, noted her shock at
the figures. She said: “In 20 years of
running ESP Recruitment and during
the time I worked in events, I have
never seen stats like these before, even
during the recession. It is very hard
to see a whole industry put on hold
without a date to resume.
“There is always discussion about the
hospitality industry by the government,
but the events industry is never
mentioned, when its revenue is around
£70bn, according to the Business Visits
and Events Partnership, and employs
over half a million event professionals.”
38% of
employers are
happy for their
staff to continue
to work from
home
August — 09