60 SECONDS: The Crisis In Finding Workers

Once it was all about equipment. Investing in our people, beyond what was necessary to operate machinery, was an afterthought. We have to remember that no industry—no matter how technologically advanced—prospers without an ample, qualified workforce.

We need new skills across our organizations. And we aren't just competing with other printers for workers with those skills. To attract the type of people we need, we have to promote our industry much more effectively—especially to young people.

We are an industry that is divided in terms of the type of education and training opportunities we stress to our young people and to our employees. We've always trained to develop the technical skills workers needed. Now we have to move in a new direction—preparing our young people and employees for the growing demands of their jobs by cultivating the critical thinking, problem solving, planning, delegation, time management and communication skills required by an industry that is getting more competitive and more complex. According to a recent NAPL study, 73% of the participants reported managers and supervisors need new skills to perform effectively. Department managers must manage people in an empowered environment and operate in a lean world. And they must see the bigger picture versus departmentalization.

In addition, we have to develop young business leaders to take over the positions vacated by the aging population of leaders in our industry. This is at a critical stage. Many organizations depend on the entrepreneur spirit of its leader to continue to run and guide their businesses and have invested little or nothing in developing the next generation of succession.

We don't have to settle. Whether we are recruiting a recent tech school grad to join our production team or an established professional from another industry to join our executive team, we can make a compelling case with facts like these:

• Production personnel in our core lithographic offset segment earn an average of $17.01 per hour, significantly higher than average hourly earnings of $16.68 for all manufacturing, $15.96 for service industries and $12.43 for retailers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• We rank in the top 10 of all manufacturers in employment and are one of the few industries to provide quality, high-paying jobs in all 50 states.
• Our influence is growing as we embrace new ways to help clients communicate. And communication is a growth industry—not a zero-sum game: We communicate this way and that way, not this way or that way.
• We are entrepreneurial, innovative, digital and high tech.

I'm not convinced that our industry really understands the problem entirely. Therefore, I'm afraid that our efforts will continue to be fragmented and the solutions will be incremental. I suggest that we pull resources from a broader constituency of the industry, i.e. service providers, educators, suppliers, associations, consultants and customers and embark on a comprehensive study that clearly tries to define the problems and develops a framework for change.