More than ever, the door is open to new employees at H.J. Holtz & Son.
With increasing demand for painting, carpentry and wallpaper services, Rick Holtz, company president of H.J. Holtz & Son, says he is reaching out to prospective employees as much as prospective customers.
“We need to keep at [hiring] consistently,” Holtz says, noting that the greatest pressure is in the carpentry division, which has expanded dramatically over the last two years.
“We have many stand-alone carpentry jobs now – custom fireplace wraparounds, shelving, you name it,” he says. “What happens is that we go in for a painting or wallpapering job and realize carpentry repairs are necessary, and that just adds to the load.”
Holtz said good workers can come from a variety of backgrounds so long as they are open to learning new skills.
“We need people who aren’t scared to make mistakes,” he says. “We all learn by making mistakes, and we have an atmosphere where we understand that. We put people on teams so they get to know one another and learn from one another. Our craftspeople are always learning.”
As a third-generation company that has added roughly 20 new employees in the past decade, Holtz & Son has established management practices and systems that ensure regular, sustained work. That’s not always possible with smaller firms, Holtz says.
“So many small painting companies don’t have the structure to provide consistent employment,” he notes. “That means workers don’t know what they’re going to do from one day to the next. Or even if they’ll have work from one day to another. We’re not winging it; our teams know what’s coming weeks in advance.”
Steady work means a steady paycheck, and the company also offers access to health insurance and a Simple IRA. Additionally, Holtz & Son has an employee profit-sharing program. When a certain profit level is reached – which has happened every year for the past 6 years – employees receive a portion of the proceeds.
“We have a team atmosphere with goals and direction,” Holtz says. “There’s also the opportunity to have a career path, to change jobs and advance within the company.”
Holtz points to Travis Gibson, who began as a painter a decade ago and is now an estimator, and Shane Legano, who began as a painter, became a wallpaper hanger, and is now lead wallpaper hanger, as just two examples of people within the firm who have taken advantage of in-house opportunities.
“At a lot of painting companies, you’re going to be a painter,” he says. “You might run a job once or twice, but then you have to leave to have a bigger role. That’s not the case here.”
In the end, Holtz says, his goal is to helm a business that succeeds both financially and personally.
“We are a family company, and we all have to make adjustments when necessary,” he says. “We have to be flexible, because we all have demands on our time. We are a company willing to invest in people who want to succeed.”