Work/Life: kids — the results

You may remember that toward the end of last year, as part of our Work/Life series, we posted a survey asking you about motion life with kids and/or the prospect of kids. Well, we finally we got ’round to cataloguing the results. I know it’s taken a long time to post, but there have been babies to bath and nappies to change. Q.E.D. . . .

Firstly, a massive thank you to all who took time to complete the survey. A massive 2,236 of you managed to do so. Show this to your employers, your producers, your clients and your other halves. I’m pretty sure this is the first survey of its kind and there’s a heck of a lot that we can all learn from this, thanks to you!

As we’re beginners with this survey business, we went about a couple of things the wrong way. Primarily we assumed that everyone with kids had a partner, which is obviously not the case. So apologies for any toes we may have stepped on there.

Here’s a brief digest of some of the key stats for those of you who can’t be bothered hacking through the pie charts:

— 63% of the respondents didn’t (at the time of responding) have kids!

— Unsurprisingly, having kids takes its toll on extra-curricular creative projects. Nonetheless, 40% of mographers with kids still find time outside work to do motion things. Kudos!

— Once kids are on the scene, most motion workers try and get some kind of grip on their hours, but late working is still a regular part of professional life for most.

— We seem to have great partners who by and large tolerate long hours, although patience thins once kids are around.

— And 50% of those with kids said that having kids has made them think about leaving the industry.

Yes, you read that last stat right.

I love this industry and the chance it sometimes gives us to be boundlessly creative at work. The great people, the swerving, cartwheeling ideas we collaborate upon. I firmly believe that the combination of design and motion can in the right circumstances offer up something akin to creative nirvana. But there is something rotten here too. An industry so maladjusted that it renders itself potentially unsuitable for 50% of its workers who take on parental responsibility has one heck of a lot of soul-searching to do. But could this survey prompt employers to strike up a dialogue with staff who have kids or who want kids, to find out how to make it work better for all involved? Well, that’s up to you now, isn’t it? You have the icebreaker — it’s right here.