Posted on Monday, December 20, 2021
2021 has without a doubt been a year unlike any other for DC Site Services and the event and festival industry as a whole. Ordinarily a festival season would follow months of careful planning, scheduling, and preparation. However, this season kicked off amidst much uncertainty as to whether planned events would go ahead, with many events and festivals forced to cancel in the early part of the year due to a lack of government backed insurance and a general atmosphere of anxiety over the circumstances.
Come July, once restrictions were lifted, this ultimately thrust us all into the festival season after a year of being locked away amidst a rapidly changing environment, with those events that were able to go ahead often being given the all-clear with very little notice or chance to prepare. What’s more, with many events rescheduled from the early part of the summer to later in the year and with only a small window between the government giving the green light to go ahead and the festival season launching, we were left with the prospect of, at short notice, condensing six months’ worth of Events & Festivals into essentially three. We not only succeeded in doing this, but the overwhelming feedback from event organisers has been among the most positive we’ve ever received at DC Site Services.
None of this would have been possible without our crew. We would of course like to thank everyone who worked with DC Site Services this year, whether you were with us for the whole stretch or just one show, and we would like to say a very sincere thank you to those who really dug deep with us and helped us to power through what has undeniably been our hardest, but arguably most successful season yet. Namely, our dedicated Operations, office and stores team, and our committed job leads and team leaders. Even a handful of managers from years gone by briefly returned to help.
Despite circumstances beyond our control that made an already fast-paced and at times demanding business even more challenging (a lack of infrastructure and supply chain issues following the pandemic, lengthy accreditation and Covid-secure protocols at many events, feeling the knock-on effect of Brexit and an unprecedented nationwide staffing shortage) we’re proud to finally be able to sit back and reflect on what an achievement it is to still be operating as a successful Event & Festival contractor after the chaos of the past two years, as well as the hope that the hard work of 2021 has laid the groundwork for bigger and better things in the future.
Notwithstanding the issues faced with recruitment throughout the industry this year, in 2021 DC Site Services has seen a significant drop in our use of staffing partners and an increase in our own recruitment, not to mention a much welcome upsurge of winter event work. DC Site Services usually falls dormant in the winter months, planning for the summer ahead with a few Christmas events along the way. This year however, we are pleased to have consistent winter work throughout November and December, through to the New Year!
With all this under our belts, we focus now on what lays ahead. By now you may have seen our statement in regards to an increase in pay which surpasses the upcoming rise of minimum wage, in addition to an invitation to complete a staff survey. For your chance to help implement the changes you’d like to see, and to be entered into a prize draw to win an Amazon voucher, make sure you complete your survey by the new year. The winner of the prize draw will then be announced in the New Year. We’ll also be launching a recruitment drive in early 2022 to bring in more team leaders and job leads for the season ahead, so keep an eye on your emails for more news and updates!
We will eventually take a break, closing our doors from the 24th of December to the 4th of January. For now, we would like to say thank you for all your hard work this year and thank you to the crew who continue to work through the winter.
Happy Holidays and here’s to a successful 2022.
All at DC Site Services.
