Great employees are out there, but how do you find them? Here Jim Kyger, Assistant Vice President of Human Relations, shares valuable tips from a revealing new HR survey. In May, PIA’s HR Department conducted an ad hoc HR Trends survey on common questions from PIA members.  Recruiting sourcing for various types of positions (production, sales, management/administrative, and IT).  Employee referrals and on-line job banks were deemed by survey participants as the top sources for each category above.  Employee referrals have long been a successful recruiting tool for printers.  The incentive for the referral typically varies from the company to company. I have seen some members offer a higher incentive for hard-to-find positions.  The incentive can vary from a few hundred dollars to even $1,000.  Some firms vary the payout, such as half at time of hire and half six months later.  Where do employees find these referrals?  Friends at previous employers, family members, and friends and neighbors are often cited.  A word of caution however; a company employee referral policy should state that the prospective employee should be someone that your current employee knows.  You don’t want to get into a situation where an employee is recruiting for you and is misrepresenting the company or get the firm into trouble with EEO laws or friendly competitors nearby. On-line job banks were cited as the most effective source of recruiting for management/administrative and IT employees.  Fortunately, there are lots of job banks available.  While cost is a consideration, effectiveness should be your primary concern.  A job bank geared to the printing industry is probably going to be your most effective source.   Most PIA affiliates offer local job banks. Plus, Printing Industries of America offers a national Job Bank for members at a discount. Use this link to access and get the discount.    See Jim when he presents Identifying New and Qualified Employees for a Changing Printing Industry at GRAPH EXPO 15, September 13–16, in...

This post was contributed by Jim Kyger, Assistant Vice President, Human Relations, Printing Industries of America. In this installment, Jim discusses the role of 401(k) plans in your business. Two interesting studies were released in May analyzing various statistics of 401(k) plans in 2014. First, Financial Engines reported that as many as 25 percent of employees are not taking full advantage of their company’s match to the 401(k) plan. They calculated that these employees are, on average, missing out on $1,336 a year of “free” employer money. Calculated over 20 years, this equates to $42,855 (including investment gains). Second, Aon Hewitt reported that 2014 average 401(k) balances increased by 10.2 percent ($100,320).  Plus, Aon Hewitt found that 401(k) participation increased to 79 percent, the highest rate since the company began tracking in 2002. On a side note, printers who won in PIA’s 2014 Best Workplace in the Americas program had an average employee contribution of 6.1 percent. Tip: Want to get your 401(k) metrics up? Is your firm having trouble passing non-discrimination testing?   Run an article in your company’s employee newsletter with your average and cumulative employer match “left on the table.” If your average employee 401(k) balance is not $100,000, then challenge your employees to do something about it—it’s their retirement after all. Plus, compare your participation rate to the national average (according to Aon Hewitt). When your employees retire, they will thank you. For additional HR resources, news, and more, visit...

This post was contributed by Jim Kyger, Assistant Vice President, Human Relations, Printing Industries of America. In this installment, Jim discusses the role of 401(k) plans in your business. Two interesting studies were released in May analyzing various statistics of 401(k) plans in 2014. First, Financial Engines reported that as many as 25 percent of employees are not taking full advantage of their company’s match to the 401(k) plan. They calculated that these employees are, on average, missing out on $1,336 a year of “free” employer money. Calculated over 20 years, this equates to $42,855 (including investment gains). Second, Aon Hewitt reported that 2014 average 401(k) balances increased by 10.2 percent ($100,320).  Plus, Aon Hewitt found that 401(k) participation increased to 79 percent, the highest rate since the company began tracking in 2002. On a side note, printers who won in PIA’s 2014 Best Workplace in the Americas program had an average employee contribution of 6.1 percent. Tip: Want to get your 401(k) metrics up? Is your firm having trouble passing non-discrimination testing?   Run an article in your company’s employee newsletter with your average and cumulative employer match “left on the table.” If your average employee 401(k) balance is not $100,000, then challenge your employees to do something about it—it’s their retirement after all. Plus, compare your participation rate to the national average (according to Aon Hewitt). When your employees retire, they will thank you. For additional HR resources, news, and more, visit...

What factors make a company a top place to work? This is an important question considering the average time an employee stays in a job is only about 4.5 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To employers this means more time and resources spent toward recruiting and training new employees. People leave jobs for a number of reasons, including poor management practices (“I can’t get along with my boss”) and lack of motivation and engagement. But there are also many practices you can implement to make them want to work for your company and be a more satisfied, productive employee. We’ve compiled key stats from the print and graphic arts industry’s top workplaces. Based on data provided by the 2014 winners of the Best Workplace in the Americas program, we can say that 69.6% recognize employees and have an average voluntary turnover rate of just over 7%. Take a look at the infographic below and see how your company compares. And if you think you have a great place to work, consider entering the 2015 Best Workplace in the Americas program. Download the infographic, HR Secrets from the Industry’s Top...

What factors make a company a top place to work? This is an important question considering the average time an employee stays in a job is only about 4.5 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. To employers this means more time and resources spent toward recruiting and training new employees. People leave jobs for a number of reasons, including poor management practices (“I can’t get along with my boss”) and lack of motivation and engagement. But there are also many practices you can implement to make them want to work for your company and be a more satisfied, productive employee. We’ve compiled key stats from the print and graphic arts industry’s top workplaces. Based on data provided by the 2014 winners of the Best Workplace in the Americas program, we can say that 69.6% recognize employees and have an average voluntary turnover rate of just over 7%. Take a look at the infographic below and see how your company compares. And if you think you have a great place to work, consider entering the 2015 Best Workplace in the Americas program. Download the infographic, HR Secrets from the Industry’s Top...

This post was contributed by Ricardo Roman, VP of Strategic Alliances and Caliper Sports, Caliper. For more information about the National Buying Program with Caliper, visit www.printing.org/caliper. Managers and leaders share many similar qualities, but the performance of a manager carries far fewer risks than the performance of a leader. In addition, there seems to be a difference in the underlying motivational characteristics of these two groups. In a recent Caliper study, more than 300 presidents and chief executive officers told us what they considered to be the most important—and the most difficult aspects—of being a leader. Among the choices we asked them to rank were: Creating the right vision Getting people to embrace that vision Maintaining momentum (motivating, influencing, and persuading others) Managing change (strategic planning, problem solving) Surrounding oneself with the right people Developing staff (coaching, managing performance, transforming teams) Delegating authority Surrounding oneself with the right people was selected 41% of the time, second only to creating the right vision, as one of the most critical parts of leadership. Surrounding oneself with the right people was also selected as one of the three most difficult aspects of being an effective leader, just behind maintaining momentum and developing staff. These chief executives said there are three main factors that keep most managers from becoming leaders: not understanding others well enough, not solving problems quickly enough, and not taking necessary risks. We also asked the perennial question, is leadership predominantly something you are born with or that you develop through experience? These same chief executives told us they felt they were born with 40 percent of their leadership ability and developed the remaining 60 percent through experience.  What are the personality qualities that account for this 40 percent of innate leadership ability? When we assessed the personality strengths of these chief executives, we found they were adept at influencing and directing others, skillful at building relationships, and masterful at solving problems and making decisions. In essence, these leaders are extremely bright, assertive, driven to persuade, empathic, and resilient. Having a need to get things accomplished, they are willing to take risks. They are also moderately sociable, demonstrating a healthy level of skepticism, and are motivated to come up with new ideas. Identifying and developing future leaders is one of the most important challenges facing chief executives today. Yet most organizations have a tendency to suffocate potential leaders. Certainly a hallmark of an effective leader is to create a vision for the company’s future. Essential to that vision is: recognizing the potential in future leaders, mentoring, coaching and developing them, giving them responsibility early, and realizing that a very different type of leader may be needed for tomorrow than...