TV Industry Wants More WFH Flexibility Post-Pandemic

NAB Amplify 

After the immediate rush to keep communication channels open using the fastest and most easy to adopt video conference technologies, employers are now getting to grips with a fundamentally altered working landscape. These are structural questions about what constitutes the best way to work as a team going underpinned by anecdotal and qualitative studies indicating that people want a much more balanced home and office work life.

https://amplify.nabshow.com/articles/tv-industry-wants-more-wfh-flexibility-post-pandemic/

The sudden increase in remote working has driven forward the demand for a seamless working experience, regardless of location. Employees don’t want to only work from home (WFH). A WeWork and brightspot study, “How to build a flexible real estate portfolio of the future,” showed that 90% of employees say they want to be in an office at least once a week.

Futuresource Consulting research suggests that with many people find limitations with WFH (lack of space and privacy, to name a couple) and expects hybrid experiences to emerge.

A new report suggests that only 9% of TV industry staffers want to return full time to the office.

The TellyCast/WorkShare Consulting Content Industry Monitor found that the vast majority of TV industry office workers are looking forward to a balance of working environments post-pandemic.

Nearly half of all respondents preferred either three days per week (26%) or two days a week (21%) back in their regular pre-pandemic office space.

Despite the majority (60%) saying that work longer hours at home, nearly a third (30%) found they were more productive at home, perhaps without having to commute or contend so much with office politics.

Stress levels were quite high though with 55% of TV execs reporting an increase in stress during the pandemic. Perhaps this is understandable given the situation and lack of certainty about so many things, including jobs, but another contributing factor was video calling — a sizeable 43% found video meetings went on too long.

The TellyCast/WorkShare report does though suggest the industry will emerge strongly from the impact of the last twelve months. The vast majority (81%) said they thought their own company was doing enough to support staff, although this figure dropped to 64% when it came to national government efforts. A notable 77% were confident or extremely confident of maintaining their job within the next six months — during which time many state furlough programs will come to an end.

More than half (53%) of respondents think the content industry will witness a “roaring twenties” effect as society gets back to normal, but the major blight on this landscape is the lack of representation of Asian, Black and other minority ethnic people within the TV industry.

Eighty-three percent of executives pointed out a lack of diverse representation in the industry with 66% blaming the lack of a level playing field.