A Shift in Return-to-Work Policies: How Trade Show Organizers Are Managing
In September, Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy told workers they must come into the office five days a week starting in January.
This announcement by the tech giant that employs more than 1 million comes on the heels of new data that reveals a majority (83%) of CEOs surveyed globally predict that companies will shift to require a “full” return of employees to in-office work in the next three years, an increase from 64% the prior year. This is according to global tax, audit and advisory services firm KPMG, which reported on the findings of a survey of 1,300 chief executives conducted in July and August.
This has workers across all sectors, including the trade show industry, talking—and wondering how and if it will impact their organization’s policies.
To find out what’s happening in the trade show industry, we asked three HR executives who work for independent trade show organizations about their policies. Here’s what we learned.
Janice Rogers, Corporate Vice President, Human Resources & ESG, Diversified Communications
Context: Diversified Communications (DC) is a global media company that employs more than 400 people in seven offices across five countries. DC offices are located in the Eastern U.S., Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and the UK.
What is your current policy on in-office vs. remote work?
DC US division: We require everyone who works our “regular” hybrid schedule to work in the office two days a week if they live within commuting distance. However, if someone wants to apply to be fully remote, or work less than 2 days a week in the office, even if within commuting distance, we allow them to do that. Our remote staff is made up of Maine-based remotes and remotes across the country.
Pri-Med in Boston requires all Boston-based employees to be in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
DC UK requires all employees to be in the office Monday through Thursday, four days a week. They provide some additional work from home days for people to use as needed. I think this is a more typical schedule for UK based companies, and the employees seem to like it.
DC Australia recently went from requiring employees to be in the office three days a week vs. two.
Did you make any changes to the policy this year?
DC UK and DC Australia changed their policies this year.
Do you foresee any additional shifts to your policy for 2025? Over the next three years?
Maybe in 2025, but I think for the most part, we’ve settled on where each division wants to be.
Macy Fecto, Chief People Officer, Access Intelligence
Context: Access Intelligence is a privately owned B2B media and events organization that employs more than 200 people. It has offices in Rockville, Md.; Arlington, Va.; Norwalk, Conn.; New York and Houston.
What is your current policy on in-office vs. remote work?
Our current policy is that we encourage those who live commutable to an office to come in 2-3 days per week. We have had limited success with this request.
Did you make any changes to the policy this year?
Earlier this year, we asked for everyone to be in the office 1-3 days per week. Prior to that, we were completely flexible and did not require anyone to be in the office, although some chose to be.
Do you foresee any additional shifts to your policy for 2025? Over the next three years?
We are balancing our feeling that everyone is more productive and collaborative if they have time in an office, with the desire to shed some of our larger spaces and save the related facilities costs. We have been trying to focus our hiring on people within a range of one of our two major offices. For 2025, that will not be a mandate, but over the next three years, it is likely to become more of a focus.
Heather Crovo, Vice President Human Resources, Clarion Events Inc.
Context: Headquartered in London, Clarion has a portfolio of events and media brands across a range of vertical markets. Clarion Events employs nearly 2,000 people in 13 countries, with offices in the UK, U.S., Germany, Singapore, China, South Africa, and The Netherlands.
What is your current policy on in-office vs. remote work?
Within the U.S., we have prioritized opening our candidate pool across 30 states to source and retain the best, diverse talent possible. We have offices in three of those states so most of our staff are considered “fully remote.” We require those who live within a commutable distance to an office to come in 1-2 days per week to get facetime with their teams and managers. As time in person is vital to what we do, our in-office requirement is balanced with employee travel to shows, as well as to industry and competitive events. In addition, we encourage teams to get together during planning meetings, team outings, and customer visits. Clarion’s work culture prioritizes trust, belonging, and flexibility – we have found employees and managers to be happy with our current hybrid environment.
For our UK colleagues, most of our workforce are based out of our West London offices and like most businesses in the UK we’ve opted for a three day in the office guideline for hybrid working. For us, hybrid working offers employees a blend of working from different locations, e.g. the office, home, or another suitable environment within the UK.
Did you make any changes to the policy this year?
Globally, we’ve maintained our regional policies for the past several years and it has been working well for us.
Do you foresee any additional shifts to your policy for 2025? Over the next three years?
For both U.S. and the UK policies, we are open to adjusting our policy, but for the foreseeable future, we feel comfortable with the balance we are striking and will continue to do “pulse checks” with our staff and with our management team about how things are going.
