Recruitment agency Alternatives has canvassed 440 junior and senior marketing professionals to find out how their earnings have been affected by the business lockdown.

As of May 5, 70% of respondents said there has been no change to their employment status. 15% have been made redundant or laid off on a short term or permanent basis, and 13% are working reduced hours.

Those at early career stage were impacted more than those at more senior levels, and were more likely to have been laid off on a temporary basis (26%).

Hotel and tourism sectors have been the hardest hit. 29% are on temporary layoff and 25% on reduced hours. 29% of professional and business services and 26% of agency respondents are on reduced hours.

In small companies, 25% have had their working hours reduced and 7% have been made redundant. Conversely, 87% of marketing community respondents working in larger companies have had no change to their employment status.

In Association with

Salary Impacts

60% of respondents in Alternatives survey have had no change in salary, while one in three have had a salary reduction. Some respondents who have not had salary impacted anticipate that bonuses cut or postponed.

Respondents from financial services, utilities and government have not recorded any salary reductions. Those in telco, tech and FMCG are also much less impacted than average.

Those working in small companies of 50 or less employees have been much more impacted. 50% have had their salary reduced, and more than half with cuts of over 20%. By contrast only 17% of those working in large companies have had salary cuts yet.

Half the respondents at director level have had salary reductions, and half of those have taken a cut in excess of 20%.

Nine months ago Alternatives reported that seven out of ten marketing professionals felt secure or very secure in their role. That proportion has not dropped to 53%. The roles seen as offering best security are in the government, financial services, education, agri, FMCG and utilities sectors.

Alternatives founder Sandra Lawler (pictured) commented: “Despite a volatile working environment, with their employment and salaries impacted, marketers are proving resilient and are coping well with the crisis, working from home.

“There are significant upsides to WFH and many will want to continue working in a new and balanced way beyond the crisis. New ways of working are also likely to be embraced, with companies likely to be more open to accessing talent flexibly, to achieve rapidly changing objectives.”