By Ed Avis
Joel Newell, president of Digital Prints & Imaging in Santa Rosa, California, has been trying to fill an open position for the past few months. Despite increasing wages twice in the past year and offering flexible time off, he’s had no luck filling the job.
“About one-fourth of the people we offer job interviews to ghost us,” Newell says. “The last person we offered a position to ghosted us.”
Newell’s struggle to fill his vacancy is common in the reprographics field these days. In the APDSP survey, about 32 percent of respondents said they are “Very concerned” about finding and retaining employees, and another 50 percent said they are “Somewhat concerned” about that issue.
Of course, staffing problems are common everywhere these days. The current unemployment rate is 4.2 percent, down a full percentage point from just four months ago. So many companies have openings that pay rates are climbing steadily. In fact, average wages in October 2021 were nearly 10 percent higher than October 2020.
How are companies responding? Raising pay is a natural way to attract and retain staff, but creative companies are going beyond that. Here are four tips from experts:
1) When you post your jobs online, remember that you need to “sell” the position to potential employees. In the old days, help-wanted ads could simply list qualifications and skills needed; these days ads need to explain why someone would want to join your company. List the key benefits, including “soft” aspects such as a good team atmosphere and family-friendly culture, and be clear about opportunities to advance or learn new skills.
2) Consider partnering with high schools or community colleges to establish an internship program. Few students have heard of reprographics, so launching an internship program connected to the graphic arts program at your local schools could introduce the field to students and foster future employees.
3) Make sure current employees are happy. Survey your employees about why they like working there and what could be done to improve the working environment. This will make them feel like you care – which helps retention – and may reveal things you need to fix.
4) Use your current employees as recruiters. Once you’ve completed step 3 and your workplace is running well, encourage your employees to recommend good potential new staff by initiating a generous referral program – such as one that pays a bonus upon hiring and AGAIN when the new hire reaches six months.
Despite his open position, Newell is optimistic about 2022.
“In the last six months sales in our color department have been improving,” Newell says. “We anticipate about a 5 to 10 percent increase for 2022.”
All the more reason to fill that opening!