Thank you to everyone who contributed to the COVID-19 Pilates Industry Impact Survey. We collected over 500 responses to the questions and a wealth of additional information was shared in all the comment boxes.
The PAA Executive are working with Government Ministers, Health Ministers and Business Ministers towards a return to work for professional Pilates Instructors and have engaged the services of an Advocacy consultant to help target the message to government.
The information contained in your responses provides a powerful tool for us to educate those in charge about the realities of the Pilates industry in Australia.
Here is a just small insight into some of the statistics gathered:
70% of teachers are down to 10 hours per week or less since shutdown, and 13% are working 11 – 20 hours per week. This is a reversal of pre shutdown hours, which saw only 17% of instructors working 10 hours or less.
This drop in hours is reflected in income with 50% of responding instructors currently earning less than 10% of their pre shutdown income.
Interestingly, 7 respondents (1.3%) are earning more than before COVID-19
65% of respondents intend to claim Jobkeeper and 10% Jobseeker, which means 25% are claiming neither.
In terms of delivery, 60% of individual instructors and 81% of the businesses responding have now moved to online delivery. We noted some people are struggling with the move to online & if you gave your contact details we will be reaching out to you to see if we can offer any assistance.
Business stream questions
Of the respondents for the business focused questions 65% were sole traders and 27% identified as companies.
67% of businesses answering have had no new clients since shutdown.
As expected, business revenue has been severely affected with 54% of respondents experiencing a 70 – 100% drop in revenue. A further 37% have dropped between 30 – 70%.
Business costs have increased for all who answered, with software subscriptions such as Zoom being the most common additional expense for 76% of you and new technology or hardware e.g. webcam, camera, large screen, lighting, the second most common new expense for 53%.
31% of respondents are now spending more on marketing, and unsurprisingly, 65% of businesses are finding that their cleaning product spend has also increased.
Another hidden cost; 60% of businesses say that their admin time has increased with over half of these saying the increase is significant.
It is a concern to us that only 46% of respondents have managed to negotiate reduced rent costs. We are currently looking at ways of helping members to manage these stressful negotiations & will be in touch regarding this if you left your details.
To end on a more positive note, there’s evidence that new skills and challenges have been embraced by many as 83% of those moving online state that virtual and live streamed Pilates sessions are new offerings for them. Up to 36% are now delivering pre-recorded sessions and video tips and hints for the first time as well.
And looking to the future, over 40% of individual instructors and 50% of business respondents state that they will continue with these new delivery models in addition to their existing business once we are allowed to return to studios.
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