Re: Technician Wages

["David" <daknutsen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"James B" <Denco2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:33a2f333-990d-4b0b-be24-c3b9f52bd269@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Apr 16, 7:56 pm, "David" <daknut...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>> Hello everyone. I am an installation supervisor for a large midwest
>> security company and I have some question.s First, are there any other
>> managers or supervisors here that are having problems hiring experienced
>> techs? If there are, is it due mostly to wages?
>> The reason I ask is I have been looking to add technicians to my staff
>> but
>> I am stymied by the wage scale that my company has put together. They
>> tell
>> me that it is compaetitive but when I make an offer to a prospective
>> tech,
>> they either decline or quite often, just don't respond. I have been
>> hiring
>> tech assistants in hopes that someday they will become more but I need
>> some
>> techs that can hit the ground running.
>> That having been said, I am going into an operations managers meeting
>> next
>> Tuesday and although I have compiled statistics from the Bureau of Labor
>> as
>> well as others, I could use some real hard evidence that we are in fact
>> not
>> competitve. What I would like to know is how long you have been in the
>> busines, where you are located and what you make an hour. According to my
>> bosses, we are in line with other SNA partners.
>> I made a promise to the other techs when I was promoted to this posistion
>> that I would not forget where I came from and would fight for them to my
>> fullest capacity. I am asking for your help, not for me, but for my
>> technicians and their families.
>> Thank you for any help you can give me.
> David Knutsen

>David,

>        This sounds famillar to me, I also do the hiring for our
> company and it is exremely competitive.  I have had other companies
> approach my techs on jobsites and offer them more money then we can
> pay.  It seems all the skilled technicians already have a job, and
> there are not enogh "techs" to go around.

>     How large is the company you work for?  The size of the company
> seems to have a lot to do with the amount they pay their techs.

> James

James:

 In my branch alone, we have about 29 techs. We run the gamut from basic
guard service to access control and offsite video monitoring. We also have
our own central station. All totaled, we have well over 3500 employees. We
have pretty good benefits, insurance, 401k, the techs get a truck to drive
to and from work which has a gas card in it and we take care of all
maintenance. They supply their own hand tools and drills but we supply the
pipe benders, fish tapes large masonry drills, push pull rods, etc. There
are two installation teams in our branch, one is residential and small
commercial. Mine is mid to large commercial. My team does a lot of high
profile jobs such as access, cctv, fire and burg sometimes all four or a
combination of them on the same job. I'm really getting tired of hiring
people with no experience and having to take years to bring them up to the
point where they can tackle these jobs on their own. I was hoping that I
could get some good information to take to the gm meeting so I could start
making some decent offers to people.
 Thanks for your input.
David