INDUSTRY TRENDS:

Question 1.

This past December, Sign Builder Illustrated sent out a survey to select readership related to hiring practices and employee management at their sign shops. We received feedback from 160 respondents, and while there are no overwhelmingly definitive trends that can be observed (bar an answer or two), we think it is still important to share these unscientific results so you can see how your shop stacks up with others.

In fact, some of the following answers could possibly be something new you haven’t thought about that can be applied at your shop.

Question 2.

The largest amount of our respondents identified as having 2-5 employees at their shop (35 percent) followed closely by 6-14 employees (30 percent) then 15-40 employees (20.6 percent).

Large scale shops 41+ employees tabulated 7.5 percent, while one-person shops trailed at 6.8 percent.

The shops were described (in descending order) as independent, family-owned at 68.1 percent, independent, non-family-owned at 18.1 percent, and franchise at 13.8 percent.

Overwhelmingly shops identified as full-service (78.1 percent), with the next-closest category being vinyl/ graphics specialist (17.5 percent).

Meanwhile 84.3 percent of respondents said that they work with thirdparty providers to help complete jobs. A majority of them planned to continue using these resources over the next twelve months, while 5 percent indicated that they would like to cut back and bring some of this work in-house. One percent of respondents said that they were not using thirdparty resources but would like to start doing so in 2023.

Good news: More than 67 percent of survey respondents say they plan to hire more employees at their shop in the next twelve months, which brings us up to our first analysis.

Question 1. What do you feel has been your best method in attracting talented employees to your shop?

Responses appeared evenly distributed here (see opposite page), making it difficult to declare a clear number-one choice from our readers. Networking/ referrals led the pack at 28.5 percent followed by friends/family members at 19.6 percent.

Could Web have finally overtaken print (at least when it comes to hiring)? Website job board (17.7 percent) out- performed classified ad (10.1 percent). Interestingly intern/apprenticeship tallied just 4.4 percent. Is this a lost art form at shops today? Or is the need to replace workers more urgent now?

Question 2. What types of jobs would you like to bring onboard?

Respondents were permitted to answer as many of the provided choices as they would like. It should be no surprise that Fabrication was the most sought after (71.0 percent) followed by installation (68.2 percent). Sales (56.1 percent) remains a strongly desired skill, but it feels like design (45.8 percent) should increase even more going forward, especially as shops turn to colleges and vocational schools for finding workers.

Concerningly, 17 percent indicated that they were looking to reduce the number of employees over the next twelve months. This is a response that probably deserves an expanded dive down the rabbit hole with more intense statistical breakdowns. Increasing employee cost (16 percent) and economic recession fears (14 percent) led this outlook from those answering this. Six percent of respondents indicated plans to outsource work to third parties while 2 percent said they were going to be closing up shop and leaving the industry altogether.

Question 3.

Next let’s take a look at how shop owners are managing their employees and see if there are any takeaways you have in common at your operations.

Question 3. What do you feel is the “most” challenging aspect to managing employees at your shop?

Internal communication led this pack of varied responses at 27.2 percent. Salary expectations finished second at 21.5 percent. Pay attention to retaining your employees (15.8 percent). Is addressing work/life balance (13.9 percent) one method to do so?

Question 4. What is your “best” solution for keeping employees happy? It should be no surprise that competitive salary would lead the way here at 51.6 percent. One thing I’ve read in trends studies and articles is that lots of today’s younger workers ap- sign industry? Well flexible schedule/vacation registered 31 percent of answers. ists thinking about full-service?

Question 4.

Obviously some shops are one-person (5.7 percent), making this question

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• Insights from digital signage experts on what you can do to capitalize on this fast-growing market segment.

• Advice on how to fully leverage your existing assets and expertise to retain and attract clients seeking digital signage solutions.