The State of Talent Report
Stay up to date and prepare for the future of work with Soundings’ State of Talent report
With the global workforce and the event industry landscape continually changing, our customers tell us how difficult it has been to keep up with talent trends and their impact on business. Soundings has kept a close eye on current trends and the freelance economy since well before the pandemic began.
We’ve seen that incorporating an agile talent strategy is critical to business success in the event industry–both now and in the future. An agile talent model allows companies to unleash human potential, increase talent retention, and elevate their products and services in a fluctuating work landscape.
We’ve curated the latest industry data along with our recommendations on leveraging agile talent solutions to help you optimize your team and business continuity plans.
In each State of Talent Report, we will address the current talent landscape, talent trends, and implications for the future of work in the event industry.
September 2022 Edition
The Current Talent Landscape
The current state of the global talent workforce and what it means for the business events industry.
1 - There is a talent crisis.
“The work landscape shake-up has prompted millions of people to quit their jobs throughout the past two years. 47 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021, according to the US Bureau of Statistics. The labor market broke wide open. Now, the aftermath is (millions) more job openings than the number of new hires.” - Soundings
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Workforce Statistics:
The Leisure and Hospitality (L&H) industry experienced a surge in job quits in 2020-2021, from 4.1% pre-pandemic to 5.6% in February 2022.
Of the total 4.5 million Americans who quit their jobs, 860,000 were L&H workers.
The number of L&H job openings far exceeds the number of unemployed workers who previously worked in the industry.
Takeaway
The pandemic encouraged millions of people to reevaluate their work conditions and consider what they truly love to do. The rise in voluntary attrition in the industry differs from spikes in the past. Most workers are indefinitely leaving full-time jobs or the workforce altogether.
2 - Talent is feeling burned out.
In a survey conducted by MeetingsNet, 42% of respondents have considered leaving the planning profession due to stress since 2020. This comes as no surprise as CareerCast cited event coordination is one of the most stressful jobs, and event coordinators experience more stress than taxi drivers, PR managers, and senior executives.
Takeaway
Many event professionals seek a healthier work-life balance, better work environments, and the ability to focus on their passions. They are looking to the freedom and flexibility that freelance work offers instead. From a company perspective, freelance talent can be used to reduce burnout of your current team – a sort of talent wellness tool. Mental health days have become a common benefit in the workplace. Business leaders could leverage a contingent workforce to take pressure off their teams when needed.
"78 percent of people feel unduly stressed at work, rating their job stress at a seven or higher on a 10-point scale — that’s up from the 69 percent who said the same only two years ago.” - CNBC
3 - The gig economy (freelance workforce) is growing.
While the gig economy is not new, the recent explosion is expected to continue accelerating– especially in the events industry.
“59 million Americans performed freelance work in the past 12 months, representing 36%—or more than one-third—of the entire U.S. workforce.” - Upwork
According to Upwork’s Freelance Forward report:
Freelancing is growing among the most educated. The higher skilled nature of freelancing is clear in 51% of post-grad workers doing freelancing, up 6% since 2020.
48% of freelancers surveyed say they see freelancing as both a full time and long-term career opportunity.
Takeaway
The freelance workforce is growing rapidly and the talent joining are highly skilled. Because there is an influx of people with varying skill levels, you can utilize freelancers for skill attrition gaps and to add skills that are valuable to your company’s growth. Embracing the freelance workforce in the event industry can help rebuild and strengthen it.
4 - The Gen Z workforce is expected to grow over 3x by 2030.
“Gen Z workers are expected to more than triple to 87 million people by 2030 in Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, accounting for 30 percent of total employment, according to a study by Oxford Economics.” - Washington Post
Takeaway
The event industry has a talent gap for entry-level roles – we need young talent to level out the talent crisis. Prioritize recruiting the Gen Z workforce. The freelance economy presents an opportunity to bring Gen Z talent into the industry. This gives them the ability to work how they want to while also learning what parts of the industry they love. Give them the opportunity to grow and learn, and it will serve your company now and in the future.
Current Talent Trends
How people are responding to the changes in the workforce.
5 - Reduction in workforce, expansion in contracted work due to technology.
“By 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal. A significant share of companies also expects to make changes to locations, their value chains, and the size of their workforce due to factors beyond technology in the next five years.” -PwC
According to PwC’s Future of Jobs Report 2020:
43% of businesses surveyed reported that they are reducing their workforce due to technology.
41% intend to expand their use of contractors for specialized work
34% plan to expand their workforce in response to technology integration
Takeaway
Covid accelerated the usage of the tools and technologies needed for efficient remote work and delegation – from video conferencing and communication to project management tools. Many companies are now using the same tools to combat the talent crisis and make outsourcing a part of their business continuity plan. The meetings and events industry has a lot to benefit from leveraging such tools as the infrastructure for communicating with talent. Think about what technologies you can use to help create sustainable short- and long-term talent strategy.
6 - Skills gaps continue to be high, as in-demand skills across jobs change in the next five years.
“A recent study found that the average half-life of a skill is five years, which means that five years from now, the current skills within the workforce will be half as valuable.” - Entrepreneur
According to PwC’s Future of Jobs Report 2020, companies estimate that 40% of workers will need reskilling of six months or less and 94% of business leaders report that they expect employees to pick up new skills on the job.
Upwork’s Freelancing in America survey reported, 59% of freelancers have participated in skills training in the last 6 months vs. 36% of non-freelancers.
Takeaway
Job descriptions are now flexible; talent must continually reskill and upskill to keep up with the changing industry. Training is expensive and time-consuming. Think about what training/upskilling your team regularly needs and instead leverage the skilled freelance workforce – they are already experts in the skillsets you need.
We invest in providing our talent with opportunities to regularly upskill in areas of the business that change fast. For example, live event professionals upskilling in virtual events and event technology.
More than 80% of our talent network has acquired new certifications, attended one of our Platform Playground or Reskill & Revive webinars, or added a new industry skillset to their member profiles since April 2020.
7 - Soft skills will be prioritized over the next five years.
“We all know that the world is changing rapidly and how work gets done is evolving. As a result, how we screen and hire employees and freelancers has changed too. Soft skills — such as empathy, emotional intelligence, kindness, mindfulness, adaptability, integrity, optimism, self-motivation, grit and resilience — have become crucial success factors.” - Forbes
A skills report by Deloitte found 2/3 of all jobs by 2030 will be soft skill-intensive occupations, and hiring employees with more soft skills could increase a company’s overall revenue by over $90,000.
A survey conducted by Upwork found 54% of freelancers say soft skills like communication and people skills are very important to their work.
According to the World Economic Forum’s, Future of Jobs Report, the following are the (increasingly important) soft skills talent must possess in the next five years:
Critical thinking
Analysis
Problem-solving
Self-management (active listening, stress tolerance, resilience, flexibility)
Takeaway
Hire talent for their soft skills and expertise – both are essential for success in the future work landscape. Soft skills have previously been regarded as inferior to hard skills. But the changing work landscape has made interpersonal skills and adaptability crucial in business. Talent that can work well with others and be flexible while solving problems and thinking critically is the new gold standard.
Covid showed us how important soft skills are in the events business. We looked at people’s transferable strengths to place them in the right work positions. For example, we found that meeting planners and on-site staff with strong empathy made great webcast producers.
The Future of Work
How the state of talent will affect the future of work.
8 - The future is freelance.
“71% (of human capital and C-suite leaders in 18 markets) said they planned to shift more roles to “contingent, project or contract to get work done – the highest percentage in the report’s history and a 15-point increase from last year.” - Randstad Sourceright, 2022 Talent Trends Report
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Workforce Statistics, the U.S. freelance workforce is projected to grow to 86.5 million, 50.9% of the entire U.S. workforce, by 2027.
Takeaway:
The workforce has drastically changed and not just as a matter of compliance. It has eliminated barriers for freelancers. Now, there is a stronger focus on skill sets rather than roles. The gravitation to be one’s own boss and focus on passion-driven work is strong and growing among event professionals.
As the gig economy continues to increase in popularity, businesses are pivoting to agile talent strategies. An investment in agile talent solutions is an investment in the future of work.
Let us help you establish agile talent solutions for your organization! Schedule a consultation or request additional information here.