Butts In the Seats: A couple weeks ago Aubrey Bergauer hosted a LinkedIn conversation with Karen Freeman from Advisory Board for the Arts (ABA) to discuss what mattered most to arts professionals as they sought jobs in the arts. Freeman discussed a survey ABA conducted where they asked people to prioritize between different situations in order to drill down to what really mattered. An example Freeman gives is would you rather have great pay, but so-so benefits or a lower pay rate but with better benefits.
2 comments:
This study really emphasized for me the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in artistic and professional spaces. Too often, organizations or even media creators place low value on diversity, claiming there is not an audience for it and they will be more successful without worrying about these things. However, time and time again it is proven that diversity is a big – if not the biggest – priority, especially among younger generations, and will actually help a business/ project far more than hurt it. Generation Z, as shown in this study, place a much higher value than previous generations on diversity and inclusion. It’s also interesting to see how important positive workplace culture and mental health are to employees, although this seems pretty obvious. While pay is important and people should be paid fairly, people are less and less willing to put up with bad situations simply for the money. Employers would do well to consider this.
There are some super interesting insights that this article is pointing out. The conclusion stated that 63% of respondents would take a worse paying job for a better work culture. That goes along with the theory that the more frustrating or annoying your work is - the more you have to pay people to keep them around. I really liked the comment that all these respondents view their own arts organizations with the Lake Wobegon view that they are all above average. It’s not a huge surprise that benefits and money are big drivers on whether or not people like a job. It seems that most people believe that they have middle of the road healthcare. Advancement was one of the things that was somewhat of an issue for people which is difficult because in a smaller arts organization - it’s difficult to start as a carpenter and work your way up to artistic director.
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