In April, PPAI’s weekly PromoPolls gauged industry opinions on a wide variety of promotional products and business subjects. The poll, included in every issue of PPB Newslink and on the PPAI Media website, provides an anecdotal snapshot of insights on key issues.

The latest poll questions focused on some of the lessons learned during a year of working during a pandemic, and how industry professionals were handling the transition as vaccines became readily available and business begins returning to a more normal mindset. 

Among the questions was this one: “Which COVID-related U.S. government programs has your company applied for or used?” It found that 50 percent of respondents had taken advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and 20 percent had used both the PPP and Employee Retention Credit programs, while 30 percent said they hadn’t used either. The poll also asked readers how they really felt about using Zoom for meetings. Maybe not surprisingly, almost half, 48 percent, said they tolerated them for now but preferred to meet in person; 30 percent loved them for their productivity and 22 percent said they found them exhausting.

A strong majority (78 percent) of respondents answered yes to the question, “Have you gotten or do you plan to get the COVID vaccination?” while 20 percent said no and two percent were unsure. Looking ahead to the rest of 2021, to the question, ”Do you anticipate changing jobs/employers in 2021?” 41 percent said maybe, 24 percent said they definitely were and 35 percent said they definitely were not.

To see all the polls’ findings and participate in the current poll, visit pubs.ppai.org/polls. Suggest questions to be considered for future polls by emailing TinaF@ppai.org.

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James Khattak is news editor of PPB.