PrintingNews.com

For several years, now, NAPL's Vice President and Chief Economist Andrew Paparozzi has been emphasizing that structural changes in the printing industry are also changing the industry's staffing requirements.

"Our labor force is being redefined, just as our clients, our competition, and our business models are being redefined," Paparozzi explains. "Printing companies are now hiring database managers, fulfillment directors, Web page designers, marketing directors, and a host of other positions that generally had not been part of a traditional printing organization. This is a reflection of the new activities, and the changing nature of work in our industry."

Graphic communications companies are investing in new technologies to increase efficiencies and support their new service offerings, but even though many have significantly streamlined their production personnel needs through process automation, many others, according to Paparozzi, are sabotaging the return on their technology investments by not capturing enough of the productivity gains they offer.

"Today's intensely competitive business environment demands that printers establish a highly efficient, integrated, and seamless digital workflow with zero tolerance for bottlenecks at any point in the process," he said. "But unless they invest in a skilled and productive workforce that uses these new technologies to their best advantage, the hoped-for improvements won't make it to the bottom line."

These trends are converging to create not only the need for new positions, but also the demand for new skill sets in traditional jobs (including sales representatives); an expanded information technology (IT) staff; and, perhaps most importantly, a new management approach to human resources.

Brave New World

In today's graphic communications companies, the need for technologically savvy employees is not limited to the IT department, but extends to employees throughout the enterprise. In addition, because graphic communications companies, in many cases, must compete economy-wide—not just with other printers—for this new breed of employee, they must sharpen their strategies for recruiting and retaining qualified individuals.

Developing a workforce that meets these new requirements gives rise to a range of challenges. On the surface, these challenges may seem to be merely logistical: Where can I find qualified candidates? What's the best way to recruit them? What do I need to do to retain them? How much should I pay them? How can I develop performance measurements for new positions?

Dig a little deeper, however, and you'll find that these challenges can't be addressed effectively until a company makes a frank assessment of its organizational culture, its attitude toward its employees, and its commitment to doing what it takes to develop a workforce that's relevant to today's new business demands—even when that means replacing traditional practices with new strategies.