Like it or not, businesses these days are in a phase called “The Great Resignation.” Employees that once could be counted on to do the work for companies have moved on to other pursuits. Some switched jobs, some started their own businesses, and some found positions in other industries. Despite the unemployment rate being at 3.5%, most companies in the printing industry are continually looking for the next great staff member.

The problem isn’t that there aren’t any available employees for the open slots in your company. Instead, the problem is that they don’t want to work for you.

Yes. You.

There are workers out there. However, the employment pool has learned that they can be a little pickier regarding who to work for these days.

The question you should be asking yourself is, “How do I make my company more attractive to potential and current employees?” This article aims to give you a few ideas on how to attract good employees.

What’s It Like?

Let’s start with the obvious question: What is it like to work in your company right now? Not from your owner or management perspective, but the viewpoint of the workforce.

Survey your current staff members. On a scale of 1 – 10, with a 10 being best, rate your company on these points — 10 questions for a total of 100 points. Grade it out like a school paper. Anything over a 90 average equals an “A.”

  1. Total compensation
  2. Enjoyment and job satisfaction
  3. Meaningfulness of work
  4. Help with career development and training
  5. Active listening from company leaders
  6. Safety and workplace environment
  7. Support and empathy
  8. Company flexibility
  9. Clarity of expectations for work
  10. Company management

What did your employees say in the survey?

If you are having trouble recruiting new employees, you may also have difficulty retaining them once they’re hired. Assess your current situation and see if you can discover some hidden truths that may have been holding you back in your recruiting process.

Your company doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Word gets out in the community regarding any of those 10 points listed. If your company tends to rate lower, it may have a negative reputation. Higher scores may indicate a more popular opinion, which is something you can build on.

Higher scores could also indicate better employee retention, meaning you don’t have to hunt for new hires to replace ones leaving.

Look at the Top Four

The top four points on that list are what matter most to prospective employees: pay, job satisfaction, meaningful work, career trajectory.

In your local area, are you known for those points?

With inflation at 9.1%, worker pay has to be at the top of the list. Where do you stand? Are you 10% to 20% more than similar companies in your area?

But workers are always interested in other ideas than money. People want to do work that matters. They want to be listened to and taken seriously. Workers want training and not to get stuck with a dead-end job.

What is your stance on these points? Do they show up in your job ad when you post? Is it present on your social media feed or website?

Create an Employee Value Proposition

Do you have an EVP (employee value proposition)?

An EVP is the specific benefits your employees receive in exchange for the time, skills, talent, and experience they bring to your business. Similar to a customer-centric value proposition, it is how your employees see and value your shop as an employer.

It answers the question, “Why would anyone want to work for you?”

Here’s a hint: It is more than just the money.

What Makes a Good Company to Work For?

Let me ask you this: What makes a good company to work for these days? Look at the 10 points from the survey mentioned above. If you want to make your company more attractive to prospective employees, consider how these factors affect your overall hiring strategy:

  • Compensation
  • Enjoyment and job satisfaction

As labor is the most significant expenditure for most businesses, raising prices so you can keep your labor force intact is something that should have already happened for your business. Of course, this feeds the inflation cycle, but it is necessary to remain profitable and solvent.

Some discussion questions for your shop:

  • What is the starting wage at any fast food, grocery, or department store in your area?
  • When your competition is hiring, what pay range are they posting for the advertised positions?
  • What was the total amount of labor you spent last year? Increase that by 9.1% or even 10%. How much per unit of work should you increase your prices to cover that cost?
  • What automation or labor-saving tools are out there that could significantly impact your shop to decrease labor? This could be equipment, but software counts too.

Doing a pay audit in your area may uncover some hard-to-hear truths about where you need to be compensation-wise. People quit for many reasons.

Don’t let money be one of them if you can help it.

Benefits

Besides pay, what are you offering your employees as part of the package to work in your company? Healthcare? A 401(k) match? More earned paid days off? Bonuses?

Let’s face it, in the current labor market, many open positions are undervalued. Decent pay is table stakes. What else are you adding that makes your shop attractive?

Do you have a referral program for new sales or even new employees?

Your goal is to keep your current employees healthy and happy. What matters to them? Have you asked?

Here are some beneficial ideas to get your EVP conversation started:

  • Health insurance options – Even if you can’t sign up for a program, could you offer help with an earmarked payment?
  • Paid time off (PTO) – Is everyone at your company the same, or do you have levels based on criteria and positions?
  • Flexible and remote working – Can people make their own hours? What would it take? For admin, art, sales, or other positions not tied to production, could they work remotely?
  • Disability insurance or life insurance – Could you help with this?
  • Retirement plans
  • Access to financial planning and education – Can you level up your staff with knowledge?
  • Employee purchases – Our industry has access to wholesale accounts for some fantastic apparel. Can your team take advantage of that?
  • Memberships – Can you negotiate free gym memberships or other perks with your customer base for your employees?
  • Snacks, food, drinks, monthly lunches – A full pantry can keep people happy.

Enjoyment and Job Satisfaction

What is it like to work in your shop every day? Does it feel like drudgery, or does it feel like we’re part of something special?

The difference between the two is your company culture. This makes up a significant part of your EVP. People want to feel like they are on the winning team and that their thoughts and activities matter. Workplace enjoyment and job satisfaction matter.

Company culture is simply the attitudes and behaviors of your staff. This is 100% leadership and management driven.

Employees want to belong to a place that values their effort, skill, talent, and labor. When you have a fully engaged workforce that loves what they do, they want to bring others into that environment and will recruit for you.

Here are some thoughts on hiring these days as part of your EVP:

  • Offer a bonus to current employees who bring in solid candidates. When the new hire reaches their 90-day mark, they get $250 or $500.
  • Market your business to potential staff members like you would new customers. Go after them. Don’t sit and wait.
  • Have an online form on your website. Make it easy to apply. Not everyone has a resume, but you can have fields for what you want to know.
  • Use social media to spread the word. Have your current employees invite them in for an interview or talk about what it is like to work there.
  • Show off your company culture. People want to find a place to belong and a job with like-minded people.
  • Write specific job descriptions and show the pay range.
  • Talk about your training program. Even better, have someone that is recently trained talk about your training program.
  • Have you looked through your folder of past candidates recently? Is there anyone that could fill the role?

Meaningfulness of Work

Now more than ever, employees want to feel that their effort means something to something larger than themselves. This could be directly related to the work that they do all day or something that the company supports, like a non-profit organization.

Is there an overarching emotional connection and a sense of pride that stems from working for the company? As much as the company’s ownership might use slogans or company mottos to profess a particular value, the one source of truth that matters is what the individual employees think and feel.

Either there is a connection between the company and the employee, or there isn’t. Knowing where you stand on this is a good thing.

  • Talk to your staff more and obtain feedback and ideas on what is important to them. Don’t assume.
  • If you are trying to align with a social purpose, ensure it fits with the business. For example, a veteran-owned company that prioritizes hiring veterans may want to celebrate and participate in veteran-themed non-profit organizations and philanthropies.
  • Have the employees decide on what to support. Rather than be top-down, change your motivation to be bottom-up for decisions that matter to the staff.
  • Be transparent with goals, numbers, and other ideas to staff members.

Help with Career Development and Training

Lastly, and probably most importantly, this industry needs more support and training for employees.

Finding a veteran staffer with years of experience that wants to come work for you is akin to discovering a unicorn in your backyard. It just isn’t going to happen.

Instead, a better move is to find employees with the attitude and behaviors you want and teach them the skills they need to succeed. It is a “grow your own” plan. This also includes cross training current employees to develop new skills in other departments.

When you post that you have an open position at your company, are you championing your job development and skills program? “We will train you!” goes a long way. Even better is to have current employees on a video outlining how they have found a career and been nurtured at the company.

Illustrate what it means to them to be four levels up from the starting position they were hired for, and now they can buy a car, house, or send a kid to college.

But you can’t just talk about it. You actually have to create the training program. Here are some thoughts:

  • If you don’t have people with the skill that can train, sign up for classes or bring in experts with the knowledge.
  • Schedule time for training like it is an order that has to be produced.
  • Limit training sessions to 30-minute windows.
  • As part of their job descriptions, the person should demonstrate new skills to advance to the next level role. Length of service should not matter for compensation increases. Instead, base it on daily performance and new skills acquired.
  • Keep track of training with a master spreadsheet or software.
  • Build a video library of “how-to” tasks for everything in your shop and make them private YouTube videos. Make QR codes for some of the videos and post them next to different things in your shop for quick refresher lessons. (Example: how to fill the dip tank or mix ink.)

One of your leadership team’s main focuses is elevating staff performance. This happens with planning, setting aside time, and organization. Use a calendar.

Your next screen-printing press or embroidery machine operator should already work for you. Just get them trained up.

Stepping Up for Hiring

There is a lot of pressure on the industry to find new workers. That probably won’t diminish anytime soon.

In the past two years, there has been a foundational shift in how people view their relationships with their jobs and employers. For shops that are growing, they can’t simply reshuffle the workforce to fill an open position. They can, however, cross-train someone for a more significant role and hire the replacement for a position that requires less training and skill.

While production teams need to be present, other roles could be filled if there is some flexibility. Does an artist, customer service representative, or salesperson need to work in the office? Some roles can be filled quicker if there is more flexible hiring and working strategy for the position.

Overall, you may have better success if you address your employee value proposition in the same way you view marketing to customers.

What’s the answer to the question, “Why would anyone want to work for you?”

Consider how you can creatively answer that question. Can you depict your shop’s culture, purpose, and values in an authentic and engaging way? You may need to do something differently if you want a different result than what hasn’t worked previously.