Conway is extolling the benefits of employing highly-motivated members of staff

Essex-based Venture Banners has reported a boost in productivity following a decision to only hire long-term unemployed people.

Owner Scott Conway says that not only did he want to 'give something back' to the recession blighted area, he found that people unfortunate enough to find themselves out of work were also more motivated.

“We placed an advert in the job centre and looked at the candidates, and realised the people who would probably benefit us the most with life experience were the long-term unemployed guys,” Conway explains of the scheme, which has already seen three additional members of staff hired.

The firm, which specialises in large-format vinyl and PVC banner printing, has also moved to new 7,5000sq ft site in Whitam, Essex, seen a growth in demand for its services and was in need of more production power.

“We’ve got a lot more capacity, we’re doing a lot more roller banners and are going to be entering the exhibition market, so we’ll be providing trade pop-ups and other exhibition stands,” Venture’s sales director, Scott Conway, told SignLink.

As well as the new site, the firm has also invested in an EFI VUTEk GS3250R to further support market move, as Conway explains: “The printer we have bought is so fast and the quality is so good, we’ll be able to produce pop-ups and exhibition stands at a high quality and very quickly.”

Conway says he hopes to add more members of staff through the scheme in the coming years.