The expected seasonal rush as consumers flock to buy personalised items for Christmas has led to one of the country’s top print businesses making a unique offer to other companies in the industry.
The festive season is always a busy time of year for the Precision Proco Group, with all of it sites working seven days a week, 24 hours a day from mid-November to early January to meet customer demand.
And because of this year’s unprecedented circumstances, the company is expecting more orders than ever before, resulting in the launch of its Print Out to Help Out scheme to take on staff temporarily from other companies.
While the festive season is hectic for printers dealing with consumer orders, business print is much quieter at this time of year and companies which specialise in this area may find they have staff with less work than normal or may have to furlough them.
Precision Proco is hoping its new plan will not only give it the manpower it needs at a number of sites but will also help other printers by taking on their staff from 15 November to 15 January.
“Because families may not be able to be together at Christmas, we anticipate that there will be more orders than ever for personalised items such as photo books and calendars,” said Gary Peeling, CEO of Precision Proco.
“We already run at full capacity at this time of year and with the possibility of staff falling victim of the track and trace system and perhaps having to isolate, we can’t afford to be without the people we need to keep everything going.”
The company is looking to have a pool of around 30-40 people who can be called on to work at its Dagenham, Sheffield and South Normanton sites and is now hoping that other printing businesses in those areas may have staff they can spare for the required period.
The aim is to sub-contract skilled staff, who will receive their contracted rate including holiday contributions for the time they work, with the option for flexible shifts.
“We would reassure everyone that we are not wanting to take their staff and will “return” them at the end of the contract under non-solicitation agreements,” said Gary.
“It just seems a solution that will have benefits for everyone – it will give us the additional people we need and at the same time would hopefully help out printing companies who specialise in B2B products and would normally be quiet during the run-up to Christmas.”
The company is looking for people with a variety of skills including HP Indigo S3 and S4 operators, guillotine operators, finishers with folding, saddle stitching (horizon stitch liner), and thermal laminating experience.
At the same time, there will also be vacancies for those with experience in case making and PUR binding along with goods in operatives.
“We hope the Print Out to Help Out scheme will be a great solution which will be of mutual benefit to us and to other colleagues in the industry,” said Gary.
Further information on the scheme for anyone interested in finding out more or wanting to take part is available at https://precisionprocogroup.co.uk/
