Number of employees

[Jillcpf]

Could someone give me some realistic numbers in regards to how many employees are needed in how large a shop.
What I am hoping for is a comparison of employees to either incoming orders or business volume in dollars.
Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[framechick]

A guideline I have heard is an employee for ever $150,000 gross sales annually.

 

[RevBev]

Seems like an uninterrupted framer ought to be able to produce 8-12 routine pieces a day. If also doing customer service, maybe cut that in half.

 

[Jim Miller]

That's something like asking how many apple-pickers it takes to harvest the apples in an orchard.

The efficiency of any shop depends on the layout, the flow of work, the number of frames, the size and complexity of each frame, the tools and equipment available, and -- of course -- the number and speed and skill of the framers.

Whatever answers you get would have to be carefully qualified, and probably would not help you determine how many framers should be running around your shop.

As I see it, there are two factors to consider:
1. Make a fair profit.
2. Get the work done right.

If you satisfy those criteria, you *will* have the right number of framers in your shop.

 

[Bob Carter]

Jim-Great advice. I'll tell you how we start the staffing process. We begin with the minimum numbers of employees to staff the store from a scheduling point of view. As business grows, it's easier to add extra employees; first part-time, then graduate to full time as volume dictates.

The two criteria we feel most important: complete coverage so we have at least 1 framer in store every hour the store is open, as well as at least one designer. Peak times require more. Scheduling 40hr employees often means some overlap. The second factor is to keep our payroll to 25% or less of sales for the store. Larger busier stores, it's very easy. Smaller stores are more difficult. You just have to have bodies in the stores.

Experience gives the advantage of knowing what is normally needed. For the record, I often err on too many people than too few. You just never know when an impatient client with that mega-bucks order comes in and the only designer is busy. Most clients that walk out don't always come back-they go somewhere else. We also train framers to have some counter experience to help in a pinch.One of those cross-training things.

 

[Audrey Levins]

Although I am not an owner (As most faithful Grumblers know by now...

) I think I have some advice here that would prove helpful.

Framing has fast and slow seasons, ups and downs, just like any other business; right now my boss is experiencing what he considers a "slow period." Which means I'm short on hours this week, which is the main reason that I'm sitting here at home on a Friday night Grumbling. I can't afford to do anything else.

When sales slow down, most of the managers/owners I've had cut employee hours first and always. It's the biggest chunk of "non-profitable" cash, and it's the easiest. Just slash a few framers' hours, and BAM, you're back on top again. Everybody wants seasoned professionals working for them full-time when they're busy, and everybody wants, at the same time, for these people to just kind of "go away" when sales are down. I don't get bonuses or raises when sales are really good, so why should I get shafted when they're down? I depend on that shop, the same way the owner does, to make my rent; I think a lot of shop-owners find this easy to forget. Other businesses manage to budget over a year-long period for employee hours; for some reason, a lot of framers don't.

You can't have it both ways; if you want a full-time, dedicated framer who is damn good at it when you need him to be, you can't expect to keep him when you decide to cut his hours. You may keep him for awhile....but you've destroyed his morale when you decide to make your bottom line look better by taking away half his income for a month or so.....and then expect him to come running back when sales go back up again and you've got more orders than you can handle.

So when you DO decide you need your first employee, or another employee, because things are looking good and you're making money, remember that they expect something from you the same way you do from them. Nothing works in a vacuum.

A good framer is never easy to find. If you find one, remember that you'll only get out of that person as much dedication as you give.

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I don't care what color your sofa is.