The Barclays Employers Survey 2014, which questioned 684 UK businesses across all sectors, has revealed that 53% of firms in the media industry will be increasing staffing levels this year (2013: 56%), which is above the national cross sector average (49%). The same survey has also revealed that over a quarter (27%) of media companies will be taking on apprentices in 2014.
Of the media companies which are hiring, 45% are also planning to increase the number of entry level positions (2013: 39%). 16% of media companies will be creating senior management roles (2013: 28%) and 78% plan to create middle management or skilled positions (2013: 91%). Further to this, 48% will take on freelancers or contractors, with 54% of those that are doing so citing this is because of the flexibility they offer the firm, whereas 46% will hire them because of them having a particular skill.
Despite rising living costs, the majority of respondents (68%) also said that wage pressure wasn’t an issue, whereas 26% said it was a concern to some extent and 7% said it was a major concern. However, 44% of media companies surveyed said they would increase wages in the year ahead.
Prior to last week’s falling unemployment announcement, only 17% of survey respondents thought that unemployment levels would fall sufficiently to trigger an interest rate rise this year. Almost a third (32%) thought it would be in 2015 and 35% thought it would be 2016 or later.
Other findings from the media industry:
• 27% think the worst is behind them in terms of the Eurozone crisis, while 22% think the worst is ahead of them and the majority (47%) think it’s neither any worse nor any better.
• 36% said they were more open to employees working from home than they were five years ago.
• 42% said they were more open to flexitime, than they were five years ago.
• 39% said they struggled to get sufficient skilled labour.
Commenting on these findings, Sue Pettican, Relationship Director, Barclays Technology, Media and Telecoms team, said: “When the financial crisis hit, the media industry initially maintained staffing levels, waiting to see how it would play out. In the last few years however, they cut hard and they cut deep, but it’s positive to see that over half of businesses in the sector are increasing staffing levels this year. The recent Bellwether report has shown that marketing budgets are continuing to rise and as other sectors become more optimistic, they will turn to marcomms service providers to help them achieve their goals in 2014.
“The creative industries will remain lean operations but with TV tax relief now in effect, and a rise in the number of productions being commissioned, they will turn to highly qualified freelancers and contractors to meet demand and deliver high quality programming.”
Other national cross sector findings:
• 82% of businesses won’t be creating zero hour contracts this year, although 13% plan to.
• 37% of businesses will be hiring freelancers or contractors next year, with 45% of those doing because they are more flexible and 44% saying that it is because they have a particular skill.
• 71% of businesses still believe sales increases lead to job creation, rather than believing job creation can drives sales, however this is a downward trend over the past four years (2013: 73%, 2012: 77%, 2011: 78%).