Newsletter
September 2023
Copier Careers® is the only recruiting firm exclusively dedicated to the Copier and Office Solutions Channel™. With over 30 years of experience, Copier Careers connects employers and job seekers, providing valuable insights, career opportunities, and unmatched support in the industry. Whether you’re an employer, employee or job seeker, Copier Careers is here for you!
Workplace Unhappiness: How to Cope
Pew Research Center’s most recent survey reports only half of US workers are very or highly satisfied with their jobs in 2023. Notably, respondents said they were most satisfied in their relationships with co-workers and supervisors. But their lowest satisfaction was in their pay and opportunities for promotion.
Good news for employers
The factors most bringing down employee satisfaction (and retention) are within your control. Bonus: Improving these factors also helps attract new employees!
Compensation. Many companies have allowed wages to stagnate since 2008, especially in service positions. That past austerity makes compensation leveling more challenging now. Try starting here:
- Take a long-time employee’s salary in 2008 and enter it into an inflation calculator. Compare the results to their current compensation. If their compensation is lower or the same, you have to adjust for inflation and their increased value from 15 years of experience and company knowledge.
- Try a few salary estimate tools but use them with a grain of salt. They offer rough estimates and often miss the nuance of industry-specific roles.
- If the numbers rankle, try calculating (if you can) the cost of missed opportunities, cascading burnout, increased turnover, inferior service, department brain drain and other problems if you lose your experienced employees.
Career Path. Your employees are not cogs in a machine – they are complete people who will continue to grow and mature. If you don’t give them somewhere to go, they will leave.
- It’s time to go over (or develop) your company’s career progression plan and improve both your vertical and horizontal career paths.
- You can’t (and shouldn’t) promote every successful sales rep or tech to management. But you should recognize and reward employees’ increasing experience and value over the years.
Good news for employees
If your company can’t compensate you fairly or create an attractive career path, you have options!
Advocate and negotiate. If you like most aspects of your work, it’s worth fighting to improve the rest! Take ownership of the problems you can control and bring the ones you can’t to a trusted leader.
- For compensation, use a few tools to get a clearer picture of your value and needs: inflation calculator, cost of living calculator, salary calculator, salary estimate tool (use with a grain of salt), etc.
- For your career path, ask yourself what you want to be doing in five years – is it more of the same? More skilled problem-solving? More flexibility and autonomy? Management? Something completely different?
Move on. Is your company too riddled with problems to fix? Were your negotiations rejected? You have many other options!
- Make a list of what you want and what you don’t want – start looking for opportunities that meet those needs.
- Dust off your resume.
- Keep an eye out for good signs and red flags.
- Follow our recruiting advice!
- Browse our job board or submit your resume to start working with our recruiters.
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Our Monthly Poll
Monthly Poll
Take the September 2023 Poll
What's satisfying about your current job? (select all)
- My coworkers (17%, 42 Votes)
- My manager/supervisor (14%, 34 Votes)
- My benefits (13%, 32 Votes)
- My day-to-day tasks (12%, 31 Votes)
- My compensation (12%, 31 Votes)
- My commute (10%, 26 Votes)
- My training, learning & development options (7%, 17 Votes)
- I’m not satisfied by my current job (6%, 14 Votes)
- My feedback from management (5%, 12 Votes)
- My career path options (3%, 8 Votes)
- I’m currently unemployed (1%, 2 Votes)

Poll Results
August 2023
What’s your biggest brag in interviews?
- Your proven problem solving skills (31%, 25 Votes)
- Your years of experience (26%, 21 Votes)
- Your leadership skills (14%, 11 Votes)
- Your numbers (quota, callback rate, P&L, etc.) (11%, 9 Votes)
- Your team player attitude (10%, 8 Votes)
- Your certifications (5%, 4 Votes)
- Your ability to learn (2%, 2 Votes)
- Other (comment below!) (1%, 1 Votes)

Featured Comments:
- “All of the above.”
- “My values. At the end of the day, that’s who I am and how I lead. Making sure there’s a solid fit in values (employee/employer) is paramount to success. That said, I feel like a majority of candidates compromise their values to get the job and it becomes a tough relationship effecting work/live balance, retention efforts for the company, and overall teamwork needed to take care of customers.”
- “Most thankful for Copier Careers for this information it is most informative for my self personally please keep it coming.” (Aw, thanks!)
- “Sure, dealers want bodies. But they would rather have bodies who can deliver results. It isn’t about how many certifications you have (many are book smart but not hands-on smart). And dealers don’t want people who look pretty on a resume. Dealers want bodies that can work with customers and problem solve without having to call their manager every service call, for advise. There is still an ‘aptitude’ to this trade that many forget is needed. Step up to the pay window, dealers!”
- “Definitely solving problems and years of experience. I am planning to re-enter the workforce (our industry) after four years off and am re-writing my resume to show the problem-solving that I was very well known for in leasing and maintenance management and leadership.”
SEPTEMBER 2023
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