The Connecting Directors 2021 Deathcare Survey netted 399 responses and an incredible amount of information. Your feedback presents an amazing snapshot of the state of deathcare today: who you are, what you’re concerned about, and your plans for the future. It also helps us to know more about what you’d like to see in Connecting Directors. This data is going to help us craft and curate helpful, interesting content that you can use in both your personal and professional lives.
Speaking of useful things … we’re excited to announce the three winners of $100 Amazon gift cards! Of the 195 respondents who supplied names and email addresses, these three readers were randomly selected for prizes:
- Stephanie Pardee
- Michelle Carter
- Scott N. Ellis
Congratulations Stephanie, Michelle, and Scott, and our immense thanks to everyone who participated! Now we’d like to share just a few things we learned from your responses. As we continue to evaluate this feedback, we’ll share even more of our survey results with our readers.
Who you are
Deathcare professionals from 42 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada provided their opinions. The majority — 76%, in fact — work in funeral homes as directors, owners, managers, embalmers, or assistants. Most respondents are Generation X (ages 40 to 55), with the second largest group being Millennials (ages 24 to 39).
The average number of calls our respondents manage is 475, and your average cremation rate is 51%. This cremation rate is only slightly lower than the National Funeral Directors Association’s 2020 projected cremation rate of 56%, but your average call number is much higher than the NFDA’s member average of 113.
Your concerns
We wanted to know more about your biggest frustrations so we can curate content to help you conquer them. The top five concerns revolve around three topics: human resources, self-care, and business growth:
- 33% Recruiting/Retaining Talent
- 32% Compassion Fatigue/General Mental Health
- 25% Rising Cremation Rates
- 24% Educating Family/Public
- 24% Personnel Management/Difficult Coworkers
Are these concerns some with which you can identify? If so, you can look forward to more articles containing practical advice and guidelines you can use to tackle and conquer these challenges.
Thanks again to everyone who participated! Feel free to share your Connecting Directors feedback on Facebook or here in the comments section so we can continue to improve your reading experience.
