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Diversity within the Sign & Display Industry
Diversity within the Sign & Display Industry
A recent magazine article (Brenda Hodgson, December 2015 issue) discussed the success of women in the sign and display industry. A Fespa, Cologne 2015 panel also discussed diversity within the sign & printing industry – exploring ways in which women and young people can be valuable assets to a company.
It could be argued that the sign & display industry is perceived to be a male-dominated culture and of course, this is not necessarily a bad thing! But is the industry really sexist? It may be a sector that women simply haven’t considered before because of this preconception.
Although the use of signs & displays may be centuries old, our industry is clearly progressing with the times. Scantily clad women now rarely parade exhibitions to attract visitors. Effective, long-term marketing communications are much more focused on value and excellent customer service. Overall every business wants to provide the best customer experience possible.
With more and more apprenticeships becoming available and increasing interest in vocational training, young people are now much more able to gain access to our industry. These schemes benefit both the employer and the trainee and allow for greater age diversity, particularly in production areas where practical skills and experience are highly valued, and where historically young people may have felt excluded.
Both women and young people make up a number of the highly valued team at Signwaves. It is widely thought that women in the sign and display industry tend to be in more marketing / communication roles. Signwaves employs around 85 people, of which 39 are women. Every team includes at least one woman. 7 of these women occupy management roles in a variety of disciplines – Accounts, Purchasing, Inventory, Production Planning, as well as Sales and Marketing. 12% of all Signwaves employees are under the age of 25 and are employed across all departments. They also employ apprentices.
The most important thing to consider is that regardless of age and gender, everyone in a business is working towards the same goal, customer satisfaction. This is true across our industry and beyond. Although diversity is a very positive thing which can create a more innovative environment, recruitment should always be based on individual merit.
Do you have any comments about women and young people in the sign & display industry? Feel free to discuss.
FESPA TV : Diversity in the Sign Industry: Women and Young People
Hosted by: James Matthews-Paul
$this->BBvideo_pass(‘$8’, ‘$4’, ‘$7’)For further information:
Signwaves Ltd
Lefevre Way
Gapton Hall Industrial
Great Yarmouth
Norfolk
NR31 0NW
01493 419300
01493 419333
enquiries@signwaves.co.uk
https://www.signwaves.co.uk/.
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