Employee Retention and new applicants

[TaraW]

So what does your company do to keep your best employees? Are there incentives you have come up with, bonuses, extra paid days off in addition to raises? Is it always just about the money for them?

We seem over and over to have a hard time keep certain positions filled ( installer, painter) these people seem flighty moody and the ones that have the easiest time just walking away. then to later find out they just left due to the money, and maybe less effort needed at the new job.

While others stay ( plastic dept., fabricators, designers-Art dept.) but we maybe hear the whispers of I haven't had a raise in so so amount of time, but never said directly to us.

Grudges held when new equipment or other items are purchased, to help control inventory or expand our install capabilities.

How long do you go between raises? There does get to be a point where you have almost capped out an employees pay and wont be able to sell that in the next sign, or am I wrong in my thinking there?


And what is with some of the new crowd applying?? You mention a Drivers license IS required for an installer and they don't have one and apply.

Need electrical experience, worked at BK , GED , and has never done anything requiring effort, applies for installer.

Has had 11 jobs in 8 years.... what makes me think you will stay in the job I give you?


*sigh* I just don't get it

 

[rjssigns]

Trend is everyone looking for the high paying job where they don't have to be responsible for anything, can be on their phone all day, and show up whenever they want.
Yes, I'm painting with broad strokes, but go out and talk to your clients. Same issues you're experiencing.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

So what does your company do to keep your best employees? Are there incentives you have come up with, bonuses, extra paid days off in addition to raises? Is it always just about the money for them?

We seem over and over to have a hard time keep certain positions filled ( installer, painter) these people seem flighty moody and the ones that have the easiest time just walking away. then to later find out they just left due to the money, and maybe less effort needed at the new job.

While others stay ( plastic dept., fabricators, designers-Art dept.) but we maybe hear the whispers of I haven't had a raise in so so amount of time, but never said directly to us.

Grudges held when new equipment or other items are purchased, to help control inventory or expand our install capabilities.

How long do you go between raises? There does get to be a point where you have almost capped out an employees pay and wont be able to sell that in the next sign, or am I wrong in my thinking there?


And what is with some of the new crowd applying?? You mention a Drivers license IS required for an installer and they don't have one and apply.

Need electrical experience, worked at BK , GED , and has never done anything requiring effort, applies for installer.

Has had 11 jobs in 8 years.... what makes me think you will stay in the job I give you?


*sigh* I just don't get it

Why I decided not to hire a new employee and started being more selective about the jobs I do accept.

 

[Marlene]

Pay people a good wage, treat them like people and listen to them.

 

[rjssigns]

Many businesses in my area are turning to temp agencies for new hires. If the newb isn't good at their job it is simple to get rid of them.

 

[ikarasu]

You should give raises every year.

Inflation is a couple percent every year... So if you don't give a raise, every year your employee is making less. Every company I've worked at gave 4-5% every year... Its not much, maybe 25-50 cents an hour .Then every few years... The good people usually asked for a bigger raise, sometimes I've got $1, others I've got as much as $4 because I took on more responsibility.

But... You should give a small bump every year to keep up with inflation / cost of living. Then pay based on skill... If someone is on their phone an hour a day, give them bare minimum raise, while someone who works their ass off gets double the bare minimum.

It'll incentivize employees to work harder and not good off, and will likelly keep even the average employees around due to the small increases .


In the past 20 years working... I think there was one year I didn't get at least a 25 cent an hour raise though, due to a recession. I think most places in Canada are like that... Not sure up in America.

 

[equippaint]

There was a recent thread on this same subject. All I can add to it is good luck. Many people are short sighted and will ditch you for a quarter more no matter what you do. Especially now when the market is tight. When it cycles back down these same people will be trying to land back where they started at. In all fairness, some also leave to find a better overall workplace and right now is a good time to do that also. Those are the ones that you need to focus on. Just let the money jumpers go, you will never win with them.

 

[Solventinkjet]

It's a trend that's happening in all industries. Tons of available workers and tons of job openings but no one is qualified for the jobs. Part of it is University is pushed on kids as the only option and trade schools get demonized as the lesser option for stupid kids. Part of it is the cost of education in the first place. The college degree market is flooded so you also have a bunch of people with degrees who can't get a job so these uneducated people are now competing for the same jobs as the educated ones. So what you get is a bunch of unqualified people who can't find a job just applying for anything they see and hope they are given a chance. We really need to let kids know that trade school is not only cheaper but can land you a high paying job instead of telling them it's where the failures go.

 

[equippaint]

You should give raises every year.

Inflation is a couple percent every year... So if you don't give a raise, every year your employee is making less. Every company I've worked at gave 4-5% every year... Its not much, maybe 25-50 cents an hour .Then every few years... The good people usually asked for a bigger raise, sometimes I've got $1, others I've got as much as $4 because I took on more responsibility.

But... You should give a small bump every year to keep up with inflation / cost of living. Then pay based on skill... If someone is on their phone an hour a day, give them bare minimum raise, while someone who works their *** off gets double the bare minimum.

It'll incentivize employees to work harder and not good off, and will likelly keep even the average employees around due to the small increases .


In the past 20 years working... I think there was one year I didn't get at least a 25 cent an hour raise though, due to a recession. I think most places in Canada are like that... Not sure up in America.

Not to start an argument but why give any raise to the guy that's not working hard or stays on the phone all day? Every job I have ever had I worked my butt off with no expectation of getting paid more. If I did that was great but to me as an employee and now an employer it is always in my head that I have to provide value by growing my skills, cover my pay and provide a profit. I always assumed that hard work was expected and that was the bare minimum required to keep your job.
We give raises based a little on work effort but it is more on initiative. If a person hired as general labor takes the initiative and learns how to paint or some other aspect of our business then they get bumped up. I will gladly teach anyone, that wants to learn, anything in the scope of our business.

 

[AF]

If you are involved with your business, you will know who the key employees are and if you choose to abuse them then they will leave.

In my local market, there is a pay ceiling for certain job classifications. Decades-experience journeymen-level workers can’t get raises because they are capped. But the unskilled and untrained green guys are being poached like crazy and now earn what a journeyman earns because of job hopping. These unskilled laborers have no clue what they are doing but employer demand has allowed this behavior. So employers are paying top dollar for unqualified laborers and the workload on the handful of experienced guys had gone up as they have to train these guys (who don’t want to learn), and they have to pick up the slack of the new guys. So the journeyman are burned out because they can’t get a raise and disgruntled because the boss has no problem giving raises to the most ineffective employees just to have bodies on the crew. I sum it up to poor business management. 20 guys paid top dollar but can’t produce a finished product is a huge payroll and will cause you to go out of business real fast. Contrast that with paying a bit more to retain and attract the experienced talent with the promise of not bogging them down with hordes of green guys and see what happens. The skilled guys will come to you and with a fraction of the payroll you will get much more production with fewer problems. New guys deserve a chance to start out but they need to show desire to improve, actively learn and should be paid according to their skill.

 

[Bigdawg]

Not to start an argument but why give any raise to the guy that's not working hard or stays on the phone all day? Every job I have ever had I worked my butt off with no expectation of getting paid more. If I did that was great but to me as an employee and now an employer it is always in my head that I have to provide value by growing my skills, cover my pay and provide a profit. I always assumed that hard work was expected and that was the bare minimum required to keep your job.
We give raises based a little on work effort but it is more on initiative. If a person hired as general labor takes the initiative and learns how to paint or some other aspect of our business then they get bumped up. I will gladly teach anyone, that wants to learn, anything in the scope of our business.

You give raises to keep their pay at the same level since the cost of living increases. As someone else mentioned, if you aren't at least giving COL raises, your employee is making less and less each year. If they are that bad of a worker that they put in no effort and are on their phone all day, get rid of them.

If you aren't giving regular raises, that is incentive enough for an employee to start looking elsewhere... and sharing with others in the business that unless you do more than you were hired for, this isn't a long-term employment scenario.

Having said all that, I've been both employer and employee (which I am now - my preference). I'm pretty well topped out in pay, but my company does other things that show they appreciate me and they treat me as a valuable asset instead of another piece of equipment that can easily be replaced. I'm lucky - I work for a company that I love which inspires me to do even more. I'm not sure how I would feel if there were never any raises.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

You give raises to keep their pay at the same level since the cost of living increases. As someone else mentioned, if you aren't at least giving COL raises, your employee is making less and less each year. If they are that bad of a worker that they put in no effort and are on their phone all day, get rid of them.

If you aren't giving regular raises, that is incentive enough for an employee to start looking elsewhere... and sharing with others in the business that unless you do more than you were hired for, this isn't a long-term employment scenario.

Having said all that, I've been both employer and employee (which I am now - my preference). I'm pretty well topped out in pay, but my company does other things that show they appreciate me and they treat me as a valuable asset instead of another piece of equipment that can easily be replaced. I'm lucky - I work for a company that I love which inspires me to do even more. I'm not sure how I would feel if there were never any raises.

Not to mention that all the time invested in training an employee (even a bad one) is wasted the second they walk out the door. At a certain point, you have to let a bad employee go, but having mediocre employees leave just means you're potentially back in the same boat. You either end up with another mediocre employee (most likely), you get someone worse (pretty likely), or you get a really good employee (unlikely).

 

[equippaint]

You give raises to keep their pay at the same level since the cost of living increases. As someone else mentioned, if you aren't at least giving COL raises, your employee is making less and less each year. If they are that bad of a worker that they put in no effort and are on their phone all day, get rid of them.

If you aren't giving regular raises, that is incentive enough for an employee to start looking elsewhere... and sharing with others in the business that unless you do more than you were hired for, this isn't a long-term employment scenario.

Having said all that, I've been both employer and employee (which I am now - my preference). I'm pretty well topped out in pay, but my company does other things that show they appreciate me and they treat me as a valuable asset instead of another piece of equipment that can easily be replaced. I'm lucky - I work for a company that I love which inspires me to do even more. I'm not sure how I would feel if there were never any raises.

Don't get me wrong, we do give regular raises. I don't expect people do be forced into doing more than they were hired for either. Our business is somewhat unique so finding people that do this work is uncommon. In 10 years I've only had 2 people with prior experience. People are usually hired in as shop labor and progress up into other areas. We try and keep up our bench strength in the painting side of things by training. Hiring people that are content holding a sander all day every day doesn't do us much good in the long run.
If we hired a graphic designer then it would obviously be different but general help with weeding and application Id expect them to be able to master other things also at some point in time.

 

[equippaint]

Not to mention that all the time invested in training an employee (even a bad one) is wasted the second they walk out the door. At a certain point, you have to let a bad employee go, but having mediocre employees leave just means you're potentially back in the same boat. You either end up with another mediocre employee (most likely), you get someone worse (pretty likely), or you get a really good employee (unlikely).

The point being missed here is that money is not a good motivator. If your workplace sucks, boss is an a-hole, you're micro managed and you have zero outlook for the future then it doesn't matter what you pay. I do my best to let everyone provide input on things, flexibility, a fairly relaxed work environment etc. Study after study says autonomy is the #1 most important factor in a job yet for some reason everyone only wants to focus on money. You don't retain good happy employees with money but you can hold them hostage with it. I want employees to stay because we are good people to work for.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

The point being missed here is that money is not a good motivator. If your workplace sucks, boss is an a-hole, you're micro managed and you have zero outlook for the future then it doesn't matter what you pay. I do my best to let everyone provide input on things, flexibility, a fairly relaxed work environment etc. Study after study says autonomy is the #1 most important factor in a job yet for some reason everyone only wants to focus on money. You don't retain good happy employees with money but you can hold them hostage with it. I want employees to stay because we are good people to work for.

I absolutely 100% agree with you. I don't think money is the most important factor, but you have to at least keep up with the other companies around you. At a certain point, everybody has to make the decision between job satisfaction and paying their bills. If you can at least alleviate one of the issues, money, you can work on keeping your employees happy.

It's the opposite side of the coin. Don't hold your employees hostage with money, I agree. But you also can't expect them to put food on the table with warm, fuzzy feelings.

(Disclaimer: I know you already said you give good raises, I was using the abstract "you" and not referring to you specifically, equippaint.)

 

[Gene@mpls]

I have always tried to make this a fun place to work, pizza at noon on Fridays, treat people like... you would like your boss to treat you. I try to always have something that is interesting for the employees to play with like a 3D printer they can use [the customers like it too, shows we love technology and what we do, and do well. If someone is crabby or dissatisfied they can slow everyone else's output to nothing, get rid of them. Happy people work for you, unhappy people work against you. You can teach someone to make signs, you cannot change a bad personality. And pay them what they are worth to you, if you don't get a paycheck once in a while... so be it. We are in it for the long haul.

THE DAYS I KEEP MY GRATITUDE
HIGHER THAN MY EXPECTATIONS...
WELL, I HAVE REALLY GOOD DAYS.
Ray Wylie Hubbard

 

[billsines]

This is why automation is the way to go. More machines and the least amount of people possible.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

This is why automation is the way to go. More machines and the least amount of people possible.

Automation is only good for a very small portion of the population in the long term. That's an entirely different (and difficult) subject.

 

[billsines]

Automation is only good for a very small portion of the population in the long term. That's an entirely different (and difficult) subject.

I don't disagree. But if your shop is set up for it, automate the parts that can be automated. I have some great workers that I would put out of a job if I executed some of my engineering plans. But I am going to wait until they leave, then I will put a machine in to replace them. We like to take care of our workers too. We aren't the highest paying people on the block, but people that work here say it's the best place they've ever worked. People who are in their 60s and have worked a lot of places. So we're pretty proud of that. Pizza tomorrow for a worker that is leaving. Bonuses, paid fridays off if possible, pay raise twice a year, big christmas party with bonuses, etc etc, plus a good working environment. Flexibility for doc appts, etc. So we try to treat them very well, but also as we expand we look to machinery before labor pool.

 

[DerbyCitySignGuy]

I don't disagree. But if your shop is set up for it, automate the parts that can be automated. I have some great workers that I would put out of a job if I executed some of my engineering plans. But I am going to wait until they leave, then I will put a machine in to replace them. We like to take care of our workers too. We aren't the highest paying people on the block, but people that work here say it's the best place they've ever worked. People who are in their 60s and have worked a lot of places. So we're pretty proud of that. Pizza tomorrow for a worker that is leaving. Bonuses, paid fridays off if possible, pay raise twice a year, big christmas party with bonuses, etc etc, plus a good working environment. Flexibility for doc appts, etc. So we try to treat them very well, but also as we expand we look to machinery before labor pool.

Sounds like you're doing it right. I honestly have no problem with automating certain aspects of a facility. Especially when it's something that can free up an employee to do other things.

The good news is that (at least for now) the sign industry is fairly well insulated from automation, as quite a lot of stuff is still done the old fashioned way.