General Managers Network Connections

How well do you know the linen, uniform and facility service wage trends where you work? What data have you used to gauge wages for the industry for your metropolitan area, county, or state? You can receive industry-specific  data during this General Managers’ Network Connections event—if you enter a contest then that can reward you with cash for accurately quantifying your local trends.

You get your shot at a contestant slot by completing the online registration form for this virtual event and participating Dec. 9. Contestants will be asked about how wages have shifted according to the data TRSA accessed for their business locations. The closer a contestant’s response to these numbers, the more likely the contestant wins cash, as points are scored relative to other contestants doing the same regarding their local markets.

The number of contestants selected depends on how many registrants enter their data on the registration form.

Your first step in getting into the game is to input into the Connections online registration form the metropolitan area, county and state for a location where your company operates, so you can be asked during the event about the industry’s wage trends for any or all of these geographies as they apply to the location. If your company operates in multiple locations, you’ll need to pick one when you register.

Event registration is due Friday, November 28 for your shot at being a contestant.

The Connections roundtable will begin with this competition. The rest of the hour will be a moderated discussion among participants examining issues that may include:

• Sources for benchmarking local markets’ prevailing wages
• Payback from higher wages in avoiding employee turnover and the resulting high costs of recruitment, training and lost productivity
• Whether increased wages attract better talent
• From production workers to drivers to office staff, competition with direct competitors and other industries for labor going into 2026
• Managing internal wage equity (fairness between different roles or tenure levels) to keep existing staff motivated and prevent internal resentment
• Goals for spending on labor: percent of revenue, other metrics
• Importance of insurance coverage vis-à-vis wages
• Effectiveness in employee retention from other other cash benefits (commissions, signing bonuses, incentives for recruiting other new employees, OT potential, stepped increases)
• Promoting non-cash, non-monetary benefits of your employment (flexible scheduling, training/education, recognition programs)