2024 Progress Reports
In 2022, we committed to publishing progress reports twice a year (in June and December) on our progress toward realizing our mission: to create and nurture as many good jobs for creative professionals as possible. Our fifth update, added here on June 21, 2024, shows the dimensions we associate with good jobs and our current status. (See 2023’s reports; see 2022’s reports)
Our June 2024 update reflects the times, that’s for sure, with tech layoffs hitting heavily in the first half of the year and client budgets still tight. Overall, our total jobs number is down, though more of those employees are full-time, continuing a trend from 2023 (85%, up from 67% a full year ago). Accompanying that shift, our benefits utilization is up (80% from 63% last June). Our average pay rate is almost exactly the same it’s been for the last two reports. However, the proportion of our employees who express a wish for more hours from Steyer has dropped to 40% currently, down from 48% in December 2023.
This update bucks a notable trend: professional contentment had been on the rise over the last few reports, but dropped from 90% in December to 73% of respondents rating contentment at a 4 or 5. Some of this may be due to the lower response rate this go-around (19% vs 21% in December), but given the rest of the data and the substance of the comments and feedback we’ve received lately, we think this does reflect a very real shift for our employee base that mirrors the current experience of many workers across the country.
We are already seeing the effects of generative AI tools on the content market. We believe it’s likely that we’re in for yet more change, and we’re experimenting rapidly to adapt and position ourselves for the future. As I shared in a recent Workings, though we can’t change the constraints of a market-based economy, we can continue to communicate early, often, and well with our employees about exactly what they can expect from us and why. Stay tuned for our next report, due in December 2024. And in the mean time, you can always reach me at kreilly@steyer.net.
Image credits:
Photo by Nizzah Khusnunnisa on Unsplash