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In a VML Intelligence survey, nearly three-quarters of respondents said that work comes second to the rest of their lives and an even higher percent (76 percent) said they would not accept a job that was highly stressful.
The event planner role continues to be listed among the most-stressful jobs, as high as top three in the most stressful jobs in the world for 2023 on one list. This is in sharp contrast to “Well ambition,” a trend highlighted in the recently published “The Future 100: 2024” report from VML Intelligence, the futurism, research, and innovation unit of global creative agency VML. Wellness and ambition used to be seen as being at cross purposes with one another, but wellness — as opposed to “hustle and grind” — has now become an aspiration, according to the report.
In the VML survey, nearly three-quarters of respondents said that work comes second to the rest of their lives and an even higher percent (76 percent) said they would not accept a job that was highly stressful. Sounds like they will steer clear of the business events industry.
VML gave a few examples of how companies can work around the issues of stress and burnout. Some are extremely generous — like U.S. consulting firm Sapro, which launched a policy offering staff breaks of one to three months at half pay and full benefits, no questions asked.
In the deadline-driven industry of events, making such wellness breaks widely accessible does not seem operationally feasible. But the report also includes a few suggestions that could work, such as offering “support by promoting permission to rest, underlining the value of proper downtime, while employers should embed meaningful support for mental health into the employee experience.”
One entry point into the business events industry for those seeking a healthy work/life balance could be part-time or freelance work, which Tracy Judge, founder of Soundings, a marketplace of freelance workers specializing in meetings, events, hospitality, and nonprofits/associations talked about with Convene several years ago. “The hardest roles are the coordinator-like positions, like registration managers, and entry-level roles. But younger talent — they want this flexibility and they want this freedom,” Judge said. “So, the ability for us to hire on younger talent in these roles — they need to be employees but still be able to give them flexibility — and then give our customers the flexibility of giving someone 20 hours a week, is helping the whole ecosystem.”
Another report, Deloitte’s 2023 Global Human Capital Trends, addressed the talent challenge as we explore the future of work, saying, “Organizations and workers will need to learn to navigate this new world together — cocreating new rules, new boundaries, and a new relationship.” Some of the discussions that I’ve had last year with event professionals show the way forward: A new leadership model and greater empathy is required for us to become a more human-centered — and less stressed-out — industry.
Magdalina Atanassova is digital media editor of Convene.