As a mail manager, it's easy to get stuck in the same routine. You feel kind of isolated. Sure, you see other mail managers when you venture out to PCC functions a few times each year. Maybe you discuss some of your issues with others, hoping for refreshing insight. But for the most part, you're not sure how your mail center compares to others.
Do other managers find it tough to recruit dependable staff that will hang around for longer than a year? Are other operations my size allowed to maintain a staff of more than four? Am I really being compensated fairly for my overwhelming workload and the fact that I've saved the company money with new automation? What are other managers earning in comparably sized businesses? These are questions that even when you do get a chance to chat with other managers, you have more tact than to ask. So how do you find these answers?
Thanks to managers who took time to sit down and share details of their operations, you can now determine exactly where you fit in among your peers. This year's Mailing System's Technology Wage & Operations Survey represents more than 550 mail operations that include nearly 7,500 mail employees.
It's easy to see by the great response, mail managers are eager to do their parts for the industry beginning by sharing information needed to create industry standards for benchmarking. It is difficult to determine the status of the industry and identify growth or problem areas if we don't have a starting point from which to measure.
Since it is essential to follow the same trends from year to year in order to measure progress, you'll find the standard issues, such as wages and staff retention, covered in this year's survey. Let's face it; these are the issues most managers want to know more about. But since the industry is also changing so rapidly, we've added new topics, such as the issue of staff training, to follow the more recent changes influencing managers' jobs.
In the first part of the survey results, we cover topics related to staffing and wages. We'll follow up with an in-depth look at the operations side of mailing in the next issue of Mailing Systems Technology.
Productivity Depends on Retainability
Perhaps, one of the biggest challenges mail managers across all business types face is keeping their workers. In today's mail industry, employees aren't working with Mickey Mouse pieces of equipment. Inkjet addressers and high-speed inserters are complicated, highly technical and expensive. You need trained, trustworthy and dependable people to run your equipment. But with nationwide low unemployment and traditionally low wages industry-wide, there's little most mail managers can do to keep their employees from walking out the door.
Fortunately, this year, there's good news for managers. After continuous increases in past surveys, turnover drops this year. Managers report an average turnover of just more than 12%, compared to last year's survey report of 16%. Hopefully, this is a trend we'll see continue in future surveys.
While this is encouraging, it doesn't tell us a lot. There's a world of difference between a small mail center processing 1,500 mailpieces daily and a large center dropping more than 50,000 each day. So we broke it down further by taking size into account. What we find is that larger mail centers, with four or more employees, see an increased turnover of 14% per year, compared to their smaller counterparts, who report turnover of 8%. This is interesting information, but it doesn't help us solve the problem. High-volume mailers can't cut staff to reduce turnover!
Digging deeper into our results, we divided the surveys into two groups, 25% of mail centers with the worst retention and 25% with the best, hoping to identify clues that would allow us to pinpoint what they were doing right or wrong. Not surprisingly, we found the biggest determinant of staff retention to be wage. The 25% of operations experiencing the least turnover pay employees 12% to 14% more than the group with the highest turnover. Within this group, transaction mailers such as insurance companies and utilities paid staff on the low end an average of $8.68/hour and $12.49/hour on the high end and experienced the most success as a whole business group in retaining staff. For the 25% of mailers with the worst retention, they paid, on average, $7.26 on the low end and $11.21 on the high end. In this age of low unemployment, money talks and employees are likely to walk if they don't get it.
Interestingly, factors such as staff training (both general and technical) had little impact on retention. A majority of both groups of managers (the highest retention and lowest retention groups) reported offering some type of training. And for those (upper management) wondering if low staff retention can be blamed on a manager's lack of experience, don't. The survey shows managers of the group with the best retention to have 12 years of experience compared to 11 years on the part of those with the worst retention.
Staff retention is a priority for many mail centers, but the problem isn't isolated to the mail industry. Even the most "employee-friendly" corporations battle with the issue. Numbers released recently by Fortune magazine and reported in the Institute of Management and Administration's Mail Center Management Report show the 100 Best Companies to Work for in America, experience an average turnover of 12.6%, while other companies suffer 26% turnover. This lends to the belief that, perhaps, staff retention is perceived as a greater problem than actually is the case.
What Affects Manager Pay
Salary. It's the burning issue on the minds of nearly every mail center manager. As in years past, the survey shows variables such as company size, mail volume, employees managed, experience and location all determine manager salary. But did you realize your salary may depend on what your staff is being paid, or that the composition of your staff the number of men versus the number of women influences what you take home?
Mail managers continue to be financially rewarded for their elevated status in the business world. The survey shows women earning 11.5% more than they did two years ago. Male managers have also leaped up the pay scale, but at a slightly slower rate (10% since 1997). The difference in pay between men and women managers has narrowed from 4% in 1997 to 3% this year.
As in the past, managers working in the transaction mail businesses (insurance, financial, utilities, health and communications) continue to out-earn their peers, bringing home $40,300 this year. Mail managers working in education fall to the bottom of the pay scale, making $33,800. A whopping 35% separates wages of low-volume (less than 50,000 mailpieces per month) mail center managers and high-volume (greater than one million mailpieces monthly).
Managers who incorporate technology into their operations personally reap the financial benefits. Companies are happy to pass the added savings they realize on to those who earn them. That explains the 12% difference dividing managers who use automated software from those that don't. Not only do they make more, but they are climbing the pay scale at a faster rate. The survey shows those who use automated software made 4% more than last year: those who didn't remained at the same wage level.
Managers who display the savvy to consider and take advantage of money-saving options such as drop shipping, outsourcing and other automated equipment continue to be rewarded for their efforts. Those who broadened their options by considering not necessarily implementing facilities management were paid 12% more. But with technology available that allows mail processing at higher speeds and lower costs, companies definitely see the value in keeping mail services in-house. Mangers who outsourced less than 24% of their total volume were paid 9% more than those outsourcing more than 75% of their mail load.
If your company is willing to offer competitive wages to staff, you're likely to see a dramatic effect in your pocketbook. Companies obviously value good staff and managers and can benefit tremendously from this philosophy. Companies that paid staff more than the industry average, paid managers 25% more than companies that paid employees less than the industry average. The message here is take good care of your staff and you will reap the benefits.
In addition, staff composition can affect your pay. Those who supervised more men than women were compensated at a higher level. While this practice may mirror our society at large, the mailing industry could break new ground and work towards gender equity in all aspects.
Mail Sees Healthy Growth Rate
Industry-wide growth remains strong, but steady this year. The survey finds mail centers expanding at a rate of 9.2%, down slightly from last year's rate of 9.6%. The strongest growth can be seen in lettershops, while government and other nonprofit operations experienced another year of cuts.
As a whole, the average mail center staff continues to grow steadily each year, despite time-saving advances in technology. In 1997, the survey reports an average staff size of 13, this increases to 14 in 1998 and tops out at 15 this year. Staff size is proportional to mail volume. Mail centers processing less than 50,000 mailpieces monthly indicate an average staff of four. Staff size climbs to 10 for those handling 50,000 to 299,999 mailpieces each month. High-volume operations processing an average of four million mailpieces monthly have a staff of nearly 72 people.
Women Increase in Numbers
The gap continues to narrow between men and women in mail management. The survey shows the breakdown to be 57% male, 43% female. While its closer than last year's · numbers 62% men, 38% women there's still more work to be done. It will be interesting to see if the increase in percentage of female employees overall will affect the male/female management ratio in the future, since our industry traditionally promotes from within.
As for full-time mail staff, women now make up 50% of the mail center workforce. That's up from last year's results that showed a workforce of 49% women, 51% men. Like last year, women continue to outnumber men in part-time mail positions, with 62% of part-time mail staff being female. Of the more than 7,000 mail center staff represented in this survey, nearly 14% are part-time.
Women may be gaining in numbers in the mail center, but their pay remains to lag behind. On average, men earn over 20. more than women on the low end of the pay scale and 30. more on the high end of the scale. Management may be more willing to hire women in the mail center, but as of yet, they won't pay them the same as men. As an industry, this is an issue we need to address and work together to change.
As for overall staff wages, they varied from an average low of $7.92 to an average high of $11.69, up less than 3% from last year. Lettershops paid the lowest starting wages, 20% less than transaction mailers.
Stay Abreast of Industry Stats
Hopefully, with the industry information presented in this survey, you'll have a better understanding of the variables that influence industry trends. Use this information to improve your mail center.
While it may seem like you have little control over your situation, the survey results identify areas where you can take the initiative to advance yourself. Push for automation software. It will save postage and directly impact the company's bottom line, which is shown to reflect positively on the manager's salary. Fight for higher staff wages because it curbs turnover and proves positive for your bottom line. Don't develop a narrow-minded management style, but consider all options for additional technology and alternative services; you'll be rewarded for the extra effort.
For more information on this survey and additional results and exact figures not mentioned here, visit the Mailing Systems Technology Web site at www.rbpub.com.
