Association View
I
magine a thief in the night snuck in
and made off with the awards from
your office display cabinet.
Would you still be the same
noteworthy company?
Of course you would.
But what if another employer made
off with the talented people who helped
win those awards?
It could happen, and it does.
Whilst looking attractive to new
recruits is important, a strong retention
strategy is one that should never be
overlooked. After all, you know that the
most valuable assets of your company
are not the trophies on display, but the
hard-working folks who bring them to
the cabinet.
Every year the Association of Event
Organisers (AEO) conducts a salary
survey which gives its members an
opportunity to benchmark earnings and
benefits against other organisers in the
industry.
The 2019 AEO salary survey revealed
that 93 per cent of its participants had
no intention of throwing the towel in on
events over the next five years.
While this is fantastic news for the
industry, it isn’t necessarily an indicator
of loyalty to any one company.
In fact, the research showed that more
than half of the participants expected to
move on to a new company within three
years.
The case for retention
Whether you’ve been in the
interviewee or interviewer seat before,
you’ll know that “How long have you
been with the company?” is a popular
question – it’s an indicator of company
culture and happy staff.
People jumping ship is knowledge lost.
The relationships they built need to
be picked up or sometimes even reset.
It also means finding time to invest in
training new staff once again. Lower
staff turnover, therefore, equals higher
productivity.
What’s more, there’s the impact on
the bottom line to consider. If you use
a recruitment agency, you’ll appreciate
that it’s not small change.
So, what should organisers do to retain
their staff?
Think of employees as customers.
Your company would run research on
your customers to understand what
makes them tick, keeps them happy and
most importantly keeps them loyal.
Employees are no different. It
is therefore completely logical to
understand how your company is faring
against your competition.
Stop saying
goodbye to
great talent
AEO marketing manager
Carmen Searle on how the
AEO salary survey could help
your company
Enter the AEO salary survey
The survey is an opportunity for
your company to position itself in the
industry as one of the most competitive
places to work and remain.
Participating members receive
exclusive access to confidential and
aggregated findings, giving them
insights on whether staff are being paid
fairly, how their packages contrast with
other sectors, how their salary brackets
for the next step up fares against their
key competitors and more.
If your company is armed with this
knowledge and shapes its package
competitively, your best talent will find
themselves asking if it really is possible
for the grass to be greener on the other
side. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll be doing
away with those goodbyes – at least for a
little longer.
The survey in more detail…
The 2019 salary survey drills into pay
and benefits across a variety of different
roles and levels within a business, and
is categorised by sales, marketing,
operations, event/conference managers
and managing directors.
It saw participation from a third of
members, some of which took part in
a new phase of the survey designed to
understand which benefits motivated
and were most valued by events
professionals.
The next AEO salary survey will be
launched to members in May 2020.
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