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Funeral Trends – New Report Shows Value of Staff
Funeral Trends
New Report Shows Value of Funeral Staff
AFDA has released the second Funeral Industry Trends Report, part of an ongoing research project commissioned by AFDA and conducted by McCrindle Research, to understand the trends shaping the funeral industry.
Funeral Industry Trends Report
The valuable contribution of the Australian funeral industry and its staff
June 2022
Working in the funeral industry
‘Funeral organisations are inter-generational workplaces’
Generation Z Generation Y Generation X Baby boomers Builders
7% 23% 38% 32% 2%
Nine in ten funeral organisations are small or medium businesses
Top three funeral industry roles 44%
Administrator
Day-to-day activities
Which of the following activities do you engage in during an average work day?
1
2
3
4
5
Administration
Comforting grieving families
Liaising with funeral service providers
65%
56%
56%
Arranging a funeral
55%
Conducting transfers
50% 41% 40%
Funeral director Funeral arranger
What do you most enjoy about working in the funeral industry?
1
2
3
4
5
Helping families and loved ones during a difficult time
87%
Feeling like I am making a positive difference for people
84%
Working with my colleagues
68%
Variety in my role
62%
Guiding people through the grieving process
56%
Unique to this report, in addition to key trends, is an exploration of the valuable contribution of the Australian funeral industry and its staff based largely on data gathered by McCrindle Research through a monthly online survey of AFDA Members.
The online survey garnered information about 7,069 funerals conducted between August 2021 and January 2022. Additional insights were gathered through a separate survey of 133 staff members of AFDA Member organisations.
Social researcher Mark McCrindle says the report has an important story to tell. The funeral industry and its staff play an essential role in helping people through what is often one of the most difficult times of their lives.
The report found 91% of funeral industry staff in Australia find working in the funeral industry extremely or very rewarding. Further key findings of the report were:
• 87% of funeral industry staff enjoy helping families and loved ones during a difficult time
• 84% of funeral industry staff feel like they are making a positive difference for people
• Providing comfort to grieving families accounts for a sizeable portion of their day-to-day work life (56%)
• 80% of funeral industry staff believe they are making an extremely or very positive impact in their local community.
Significant impacts of COVID-19 COVID-19 and its associated restrictions were also included, providing crucial insights into the ways in which the pandemic affected the funeral industry and its staff. The need to impose restrictions on grieving families was the biggest challenge for funeral industry staff, in contrast to the prepandemic approach to caring for loved ones of the deceased. Research data included in the report points to funeral restrictions contributing to the ‘silent pandemic of grief’.
Key challenges experienced by the funeral industry and its staff because of COVID-19 were:
• 81% of funeral industry staff found imposing restrictions on funeral attendees the biggest challenge
• Dealing with families who are under high levels of stress and anxiety (65%)
• Cancelling and rescheduling funerals due to lockdowns and restrictions (56%).
AFDA CEO, Dale Gilson said the funeral industry continues to play an essential role in guiding Australians through grief and loss, perhaps now more than ever.
“Funeral industry workers are frontline. Every person who dies needs to be transferred, and even with depleted staffing levels, everyone has a funeral of some kind. Those staff who remain, and are not in isolation, or have COVID-19 themselves, are absorbing additional workloads above the norm.”
The report also explores changes and trends in how people farewell their loved ones. 44% of funerals were livestreamed in August 2021 to January 2022, compared to 36% in February 2021 to July 2021, indicating that even as restrictions ease, the pandemic has accelerated trends in the funeral industry.
Copies of the report were mailed to all AFDA Members in July. If you missed your copy or would like additional copies please email admin@afda.org.au or contact AFDA National Office.
