State Of Employment Poll & Review May 18 – 24

The past few weeks of our weekly employment status polls, which track both orchestra administrators and musicians, have generated some intriguing trends and this week was no exception.

Weekly Report

For whatever reason, the overall number of replies from all three stakeholder groups increased this week, especially from respondents identifying as an administrator.

Administrators continued their trend toward a larger ratio working reduced hours/pay and those who are laid off or furloughed. This was the second consecutive week where there were more admins indicated they were still working, but at reduced hours and pay compared to those working and being paid at my regular full time or part time status.

There was a similar shift among salaried musicians this week, with a larger ratio indicating they were being paid at reduced salary than those being paid regular salary and benefits.

Per service musicians also experienced an uptick in overall responses There were a number of summer festivals that announced cancellations this past week and who each group decided to handle musician pay could be a reason behind the spike in those indicating being paid the full amount for any services that were cancelled,

You can track the per week and cumulative totals along with all of the stakeholder charts at the Orchestra Stakeholder Employment Status During Coronavirus Shutdowns Google Sheet.

This Week’s Poll

• For staffers and managers, the questions are straightforward. Music directors (employee or independent contractor status) and staff conductor positions should respond as an administrator.
• For musicians, questions are specialized for salary and per-service level musicians. While there are certainly musicians that fall between those groups, I’m asking that you use your best judgement to select answers that best represent your current work status.
• Each weekly poll will allow you to submit one reply. Having said that, it is important for each respondent to return the following week in order to confirm or update your status with a new reply. Doing so will provide an even clearer sense of how things change from week to week.

If you have not yet submitted a response this week, please take a moment to submit your status below. The more submissions we have, the better the data represents current conditions. To that end, we’ll be collecting results through Sunday for this week’s totals so if you have yet to submit a response, please take a moment to do so.

Likewise, submitting a response each week goes a long way toward tracking major changes in status. So, thank you in advance for taking part and encouraging your friends and colleagues to do the same.

This Survey has expired.