Purity surveys staff to develop engagement plan
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Brand experience agency, Purity has added a staff survey to support findings in its recent white paper. Earlier this year Purity worked with the University of Manchester on a continuing white paper looking at the levels of engagement between staff and agencies and how this relationship is impacting on the sector. The paper, released this month, shows that experiential and event budget spend continuing to grow – doubling its previous rate of growth* On conclusion is that attracting high calibre field staff has become critical, making ‘employee engagement’ one of the biggest challenges faced by the industry.
The challenge relates to not only attracting high calibre staff but also retaining and developing them.
Traditionally staffing has been secured with a transient workforce with varying degrees of passion and commitment and low levels of loyalty within the sector. Staff are often employed on zero hours contracts and levels of work can fluctuate dramatically.
The question then, according to Purity MD, Rob Quinn, is “How do we, as agencies, working within the experiential marketing industry engender the commitment and engagement from the individuals that work for us?”
To help answer this, Purity conducted a survey of 750 members of their current 1700+ registered staff and held a number of face-to-face interviews that revealed five key things that staff are looking for from their agency:
1. Involvement – being included in as many processes as possible.
2. Communication – understanding the vision and mission of the company.
3. Nurturing – finding the best Event Managers and supporting them.
4. Training – being prepared to develop someone’s potential.
5. Recognition – praising and rewarding good work.
The findings closely mirrored those of the white paper, with the need to nurture and praise staff being one of the key drivers.
“The paper provides an insight into a sector of the industry that is changing very quickly.” Says Quinn. “At Purity we take great pride in our key assets, the field staff who represent us, recognising their engagement is vital in the successful delivery of projects and campaigns and we have already invested heavily in employee engagement strategies. For us the investment is paying dividends as the survey also found that 72% of our brand ambassadors were very engaged.”
Quinn summed up, “The white paper highlights that an employee engagement strategy should be a priority for any business if they wish to improve performance. There needs to be a focus on the individual, their wellbeing and job satisfaction. But above all, as the sector continues to grow, agencies have a responsibility to ensure that the changes are managed professionally and with integrity.”
Source: *EventTrack study in 2012 found that brands were expecting their event and experiential marketing budgets to grow by nearly 8%, more than double that of the previous year.
