Commercial Integrator + Security Sales - January/February 2025 - 12

AV AS A BUSINESS
Talent Recruitment: Stats You Need to Know
When competing for new hires and to retain top talent, it helps to know how your compensation
and benefi ts stack up against the competition. By Tom LeBlanc
THE NUMBER ONE business
challenge for most integration
companies centers on fi nding, hiring and
retaining much-needed talent. The annual
CI+SSI and NSCA State of the Industry
Report verifi es that fact year in and year
out. There are a lot of reasons that talent is
such a big obstacle for the integration
industry. This is not an eff ort to oversimply
the challenge, but one small part of an
integration company's eff orts to attract
and retain talent should be knowing
industry-specifi c compensation and
benefi ts metrics.
That's why, every two years, NSCA
updates its Compensation & Benefi ts
Report. And we just released the most
recent version. The research, based on
data gathered from 100 systems integrators
across North America, tracks
and benchmarks compensation and
benefi ts data for a variety of key positions
within the industry, including technical,
non-technical and C-suite roles.
Survey Collected Information
Commercial integration fi rms of all sizes
and across all regions responded to a
survey that collected information about
company background, staffi ng levels,
employee benefi ts, compensation, travel
reimbursement and salary increases. The
goal of the report is to arm integration
company leaders with valuable benchmarks
to help them understand how the
compensation and benefi ts that they
off er across various positions stack up
against what other integration companies
off er - broken down by company size and
geographic region.
It's a tool that NSCA member companies
can use to help them attract and
retain staff members.
Leaders can use the report to pinpoint
wage trends, identify potential compensation
discrepancies, consider the costs of
adding to their existing benefi ts package
integration company leaders wrestle with
this factor, NSCA provides some insight on
what competitors are off ering.
Among respondents, the trend is
moving to fewer staff members working
remote or hybrid. In a diff erent NSCA
survey - the 2023 Financial Analysis of
the Industry survey - companies were
asked about hybrid work. In that, 62.6%
of companies said they would have 0% to
25% staff as remote or hybrid.
The new Compensation and Benefi ts
The newly released Compensation and
Benefi ts Report is available for free to
NSCA member company leaders.
and determine appropriate wage levels
for employees.
The Compensation & Benefi ts Report
also presents metrics about the following:
■ Staffi ng levels (number of full-time
and part-time employees)
■ Benefi ts off ered and associated costs,
including health insurance, dental
insurance, life insurance, vision
plans, disability, retirement and
bonuses
■ Compensation for positions ranging
from the C-suite to HR, accounting,
installation, design, purchasing,
marketing and project management
■ Bonuses for sales, administrative and
project-management professionals
■ Business travel reimbursement (mileage,
cell phones, expense accounts,
per diems, etc.)
How Integration Companies
Approach Hybrid-Work Options
Beyond salary and traditional benefi ts, the
report provides data on how integration
companies approach hybrid-work options.
Anecdotally, remote-work and hybridwork
options appear to be increasingly
signifi cant for employment seekers. As
12 Commercial Integrator+Security Sales & Integration | January/February 2025
Report shows similar results by employee
category. All position categories outlined
in the report have 50% or more companies
stating they will be 0% to 25% hybrid.
Many integration companies are poised
for growth this year. The solutions that
integrators off er customers across all
vertical markets are more relevant than
ever. An impediment to success, however,
is oſt en the ability to fi nd and retain the
talent to support that growth.
Of course, this data on integration
company industry standards for compensation
and benefi ts won't solve all talent
challenges.
But it's the most industry-specifi c and
reliable compensation and benefi ts data
that we're aware of, and it does help to
know what you're up against. CI
TOM LeBLANC is executive director of the
National Systems Contractors Association
(NSCA). To learn more about becoming an
NSCA member, visit NSCA.org.
Owners and executives at
integration companies can
request a report, which is free
for members and which nonmembers
can purchase. Due to
the sensitive nature of the data in
the report, all requests are vetted
by NSCA before access is granted.
NSCA

http://www.NSCA.org

Commercial Integrator + Security Sales - January/February 2025

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