What would you pay? What employees are worth.

[ikarasu]

As everyone can see, labor rates vary by state... Let alone country


There's way too many variables, including that of the employee.

We start employees at a fair / market rate. Then the good employees move on up fast, while the useless ones get cost of living raises and nothing else.


We have a general production guy who works his ass off, never complains and will take on any job - when he's done his job he looks for more work, and is always willing to help - he went from a base $15 to $25 an hour within 2 years.

Then we've had a new CNC guy who sick every Friday or Monday (I shit you not, he's been employed for over a year now and hes done a full week once... A few "half" Fridays or Mondays, and the rest are he's too sick to come in ) He won't be getting anything but a small percent, cost of living increase. He makes less than the general labor does....



Knowledge / ability is only one piece of the puzzle. Location is another.... As well as attitude... There's way too many variables to get a sense of what you should be paid based on what others are.

 

[CC-CMYK]

Hi all.
I would like to see what an average wage is for installers out there.

Im an installer at a sign shop in a small community on the coast of British Columbia. I've been in the sign business close to 30 years. In fact, I have a plotter, that still works, and runs on Windows 95!

Over the years my employer has googled sign install wages and has informed me that I must be the highest paid sign installer in the world.
So Im wondering what you guys/girls would pay for an installer with 30 years experience.

I've been with this same company now for 12 years. I am in charge of ALL installs and fabrication. I am in charge of all the printing, laminating and cutting.
I deal with customers, take their orders, delegate design jobs to one of two designers who work with me. I quote on jobs, arrange install times and organize all jobs in, and out of the shop.
Im in charge of all inventory, ordering and receiving. I keep the shop extremely clean, neat and organized, and I even clean the bathroom.

Because we are in such a small town community, there are a limited number, if any, installers in the area.

My boss recently needed some time off and has been basically absent for the last 6-8 months. My two designers (one works remotely and the other is in house and also the front end girl) kept the business going and running successfully.

Im not trying to float my own boat, but to all employers out there.....What Would You Pay???

Looking forward to all responses!

Old Sign Guy

We pay our employee $20 an hour for production and $35 for installation. They’ve been with us for over a year. If they wanted full time they could easily make 50k. I and my partner pay ourselves $30k each. I’d gladly pay our employee more if I can take time off.

 

[bigcrazyal]

Hi all.
I would like to see what an average wage is for installers out there.

Im an installer at a sign shop in a small community on the coast of British Columbia. I've been in the sign business close to 30 years. In fact, I have a plotter, that still works, and runs on Windows 95!

Over the years my employer has googled sign install wages and has informed me that I must be the highest paid sign installer in the world.
So Im wondering what you guys/girls would pay for an installer with 30 years experience.

I've been with this same company now for 12 years. I am in charge of ALL installs and fabrication. I am in charge of all the printing, laminating and cutting.
I deal with customers, take their orders, delegate design jobs to one of two designers who work with me. I quote on jobs, arrange install times and organize all jobs in, and out of the shop.
Im in charge of all inventory, ordering and receiving. I keep the shop extremely clean, neat and organized, and I even clean the bathroom.

Because we are in such a small town community, there are a limited number, if any, installers in the area.

My boss recently needed some time off and has been basically absent for the last 6-8 months. My two designers (one works remotely and the other is in house and also the front end girl) kept the business going and running successfully.

Im not trying to float my own boat, but to all employers out there.....What Would You Pay???

Looking forward to all responses!

Old Sign Guy

Sounds to me like you do all the work. Maybe you should just open your own shop.

 

[jimbug72]

This thread has depressed me even further about my wages. I keep looking up along the top edge of this deep rut I'm existing in and wondering how scary it will be if I climb over the edge and jump out...

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

You won't progress finically without taking risk. Employees that stay comfortable in their job are robbing themselves of better opportunities. I see it all the time with family members and friends. They stick with a job that I know they could do better, because they are comfortable and can't think outside their box. One of my brother in laws has changed jobs several times over the last year and he is now doing something he loves and makes decent coin at. All the others too afraid of change are stuck in the same slave salary and can't progress. They make enough to cover rent and groceries so no reason to change things right?

You guys complaining about where you're at have only 1 person to blame. So many people here are telling him to start his own business. That's because we did it and found our road to success, but not everyone is ballsy enough or has the discipline to run their own business.. but you don't have to go to that extreme. You are a rented mule... go find the person that will pay you and treat you the best. And don't put yourself in a box of the sign industry. Many other industries out there.

You only have a limited amount of time on this earth, don't sell it to someone that pays you nothing. I sell it to the highest bidder. You won't find the highest bidder without going out there and getting those bids.

 

[Gino]

Ever have a job seeker come to you and talk, discuss salaries and look at his./her/its portfolio and find yourself thinking to yourself.......... why has this person changed jobs so many times ?? Is he over-qualified ?? Is he just never happy ?? Does he have some mental problems ?? What's wrong with this person ?? Don't think I'll take a chance.

The shoe fits on both sides of the fence.... or as you call it a, 'box'.

 

[JBurton]

Y'all do this for money? My main benefit is the look on my kids faces when I roll up in the pickup line in the big ole bucket truck!

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Y'all do this for money? My main benefit is the look on my kids faces when I roll up in the pickup line in the big ole bucket truck!

My daughter HATES when I do it. She said it's not normal and embarrassing. The kids and teachers like it, everyone except my 11 year old.

 

[Boudica]

My daughter HATES when I do it. She said it's not normal and embarrassing. The kids and teachers like it, everyone except my 11 year old.

That sounds about right.

 

[Gino]

Somehow, I don't doubt that.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Money means nothing if you don't like your job or where you work. I don't see anything wrong with being content making enough to pay your bills and going home at the end of the happy and stress free.

 

[JBurton]

My daughter HATES when I do it

Mine is 9, about to move up from elementary to intermediate, I imagine she'll stop thinking it's fun about then...

 

[rydods]

Money means nothing if you don't like your job or where you work. I don't see anything wrong with being content making enough to pay your bills and going home at the end of the happy and stress free.

I hired someone off of indeed a couple of years ago. He had worked a few jobs over the last 5 years or so, a couple of them were foundry type jobs that sucked but paid well with benefits. This guy has 3 kids all under 6 years old and he definitely started off making less here and still does. We also don't provide benefits currently.

The last 2 Christmas party's his wife cornered mine and told her how much he appreciates and loves his job. It's something different every day, he gets weekends and nights off to spend with his family no swing shifts, he's allowed to go to his kids school concerts and it's not nearly as dangerous as some of his other jobs.

You can absolutely tell how much he appreciates it here. If I had 1 more of this guy, my business would be complete. He's received a dollar raise at least a couple of times each year so far and I still feel like I'm shorting him. He's on time everyday and he's always progressing never going backwards.

I hear all of the stories of terrible workers, no one wants to work, everyone is lazy. But it's workers like this that make me realize that when you have a good thing, you hold onto it. I think looking into adding a benefit package and bringing wages up a bit might be beneficial for all of us.

 

[mfatty500]

Sounds like it's time to pony up and keep your good employee from leaving.

 

[Boudica]

I hired someone off of indeed a couple of years ago. He had worked a few jobs over the last 5 years or so, a couple of them were foundry type jobs that sucked but paid well with benefits. This guy has 3 kids all under 6 years old and he definitely started off making less here and still does. We also don't provide benefits currently.

The last 2 Christmas party's his wife cornered mine and told her how much he appreciates and loves his job. It's something different every day, he gets weekends and nights off to spend with his family no swing shifts, he's allowed to go to his kids school concerts and it's not nearly as dangerous as some of his other jobs.

You can absolutely tell how much he appreciates it here. If I had 1 more of this guy, my business would be complete. He's received a dollar raise at least a couple of times each year so far and I still feel like I'm shorting him. He's on time everyday and he's always progressing never going backwards.

I hear all of the stories of terrible workers, no one wants to work, everyone is lazy. But it's workers like this that make me realize that when you have a good thing, you hold onto it. I think looking into adding a benefit package and bringing wages up a bit might be beneficial for all of us.

I knew there had to be other rockstar employees out there like me! This is very similar to my situation. Keep a great employee happy, and your business will thrive.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

I like to gripe but our employees are great. You always get the one bad apple that spoils the bunch but all in all, I haven't really experienced the whole people don't want to work thing. Maybe they don't want to work 80 hours 7 days a week but that doesn't mean they don't hustle. It does make a good talking point but it's really not reality.

 

[JBurton]

I like to gripe but our employees are great. You always get the one bad apple that spoils the bunch but all in all, I haven't really experienced the whole people don't want to work thing. Maybe they don't want to work 80 hours 7 days a week but that doesn't mean they don't hustle. It does make a good talking point but it's really not reality.

So I gotta ask, when was the last time you interviewed or hired a new guy? I'm like you, my core guys are a family, 'newest' old employee has been here 5 years, up to 25 years, and while they still find ways to p*ss me off, they all do their jobs without being asked twice.
We've been struggling to fill just one spot for a shop hand to help our fabricator, ideally someone to apprentice under him but I'd take a strong back that shows up just to move heavy stuff. My recent hires that didn't work out for this position include: a panhandler (who left at lunch and didn't come back until the next morning, his reason was "I needed to make money"), a kid who went back to a previous employer because he wanted something more mindless and repetitive to make his day shorter (painting), a guy from a sign shop in PA that refused to sweep and clean up during down time, a recovering drug addict (best guy in a while, fell off the wagon.), a guy with tons of sign experience who couldn't handle being told what to do by a women (I didn't realize how common this was), and I think that's it for the past 4 months.

 

[Shred_signs]

You only have a limited amount of time on this earth, don't sell it to someone that pays you nothing. I sell it to the highest bidder. You won't find the highest bidder without going out there and getting those bids.

This. This. This. I have made it clear every where that I have worked in the last 9 years that my son is THE priority and that I have other sources of income, so you can't hold my time hostage.

ALTHOUGH, My favorite is when you're passed/denied for a raise, so you leave. Then they call you 3 months later groveling, after the new "cheaper" guy was fired because he can't cut it.
"Sorry, it was $18 like we diuscussed, but now I'm at $20. Could of had it for +$3/hr, abut now it's +$8 to get me to come back."

EDIT: I didn't go back, but that shop calls me for install work quite regularly and now my "hourly" breakdown is 3x-4x more than what they were paying me... Make it make sense.

 

[Shred_signs]

, a guy with tons of sign experience who couldn't handle being told what to do by a women (I didn't realize how common this was), and I think that's it for the past 4 months.

or older employees that can't take direction from someone younger than them... I run into this more often than the sexism.

Not my company: Used to co-manage a floor of about 40-50 LFC employees, both of us were younger than many of our staffs own kids. About 10 of the old heads were hit with the Furlow during COVID, because they would gate keep knowledge from new hires, and would blatantly bullshit us when we would try to gather the knowledge as well, so that we could train the new hires ourselves. At the same time they would complain about never being able to take time off because they were always needed to get the work out, it was their own stubbornness cost them their job.

"You asked for help, so we hired help, and now you won't train the help you asked for, because you fear they are going to take your job?
They took your job by your own doing." - is what i wanted to say but I wasn't the one who made the cut.

 

[Stacey K]

Nothing I hated more than some old bag who refused to teach me how to do something just so she could be "top dog". I remember at "Karen's" retirement party...I overheard her telling people about how I didn't know how to use an adding machine correctly. I couldn't add stuff up then go back for that number to add it to the next series by pressing some series of buttons then staple the 2 papers to another paper and add up the numbers and staple it again. She said I would never hack it if I couldn't figure out that adding machine. The first day she was gone I set up a spreadsheet with 2 columns and 3 formulas in Excel and never looked back.