The Right People in the Right Seats
From time to time here at shopVOX, we like bringing our readers content that’s a little different.
Today, we have a subject you might not have heard of before:
- having the right people in the right seats.
This is an issue of staffing, a subject that’s quite relevant in the labor economy of today.
We care about this at shopVOX because we know that a strong sign business that makes use of our sign shop software needs the right staffing to be able to grow and prosper; if you don’t have the people in place, there isn’t much else you can accomplish.
If you’ve been having trouble with staffing and keeping employees happy in your sign shop, you won’t want to miss this post. Let’s get into it.
A Perfect Example
We like to scan the sign shop forums pretty frequently at shopVOX because we want to know what real shop owners out there are saying and what problems they are having. That’s because, if we are able to provide answers and solutions here on the blog, we will.
We recently came across a forum question that asked for advice on finding the right employees and then keeping them long-term. This shop owner said he would hire employees who would stay just a few weeks and then leave.
Given how expensive it is to hire and onboard new employees, what is the solution here? How can sign shop owners make sure the right people are in the right seats?
The Right Seats
Our approach to ongoing staffing problems in the sign industry is this: get the right people in the right seats.
Now, what exactly does that mean?
You have to set clear duties and responsibilities for each employee so they know what is expected of them, and those duties must be within the employee’s stated role.
If you set impossible goals for your employees, especially when those goals don’t align with the employee’s position, you can expect high turnover at your shop.
So, if you have a salesperson also working on graphic design, following up on estimates, and performing some light vinyl work, that’s a problem. It’s a problem that, unfortunately, we see in many sign shops today.
The issue compounds from there, though. When shops can’t keep employees long-term, those unattended duties have to go to employees whose job isn’t related to those tasks at all. Those employees then become unhappy themselves.
Now, note that we aren’t talking about versatility here. Versatility is different from wearing two hats or too many hats. People really prefer to do one thing and one thing well rather than having their hands in many projects that they don’t actually care about that much.
What happens after that? Employees essentially become destined to fail, and they leave when they are dissatisfied.
What retaining employees comes down to, is making sure everyone is doing what they’re good at and what makes them happy.
Wrapping Things Up
As we mentioned, this issue arose from a question from one user on a sign shop forum we follow, but we know that this shop owner isn’t the only one experiencing staffing issues.
The truth is that getting the right people in the right seats is essential no matter what kind of economy we’re in. But with the labor shortages of recent months in the United States, the situation is a bit more dire.
At shopVOX, we like to advise shop owners however we can because, at the end of the day, sign software is going to help your shop only if you have the personnel to run everything.
Your shop might not be able to correct larger issues of labor in today’s economic climate, but when you as the shop owner take measured steps to get the right people in the right seats and show them you appreciate them, you greatly increase your chances of retaining those employees for the long term.
If you would like to learn more sign shop business tips for improving your sign shop, you can check out the rest of the shopVOX blog. We’ve been writing about issues relating to sign shops for years, and we hope you find what you need.
Please reach out to us today if you’d like to know more about how our sign software can help your shop to flourish!