Microcosm of Change ­—Michelson

With a shrinking pool of skilled workers and up-and-coming managers, we must be portrayed to those entering the work force as ‘equal opportunity’ employers. Despite all of the current industry consolidation resulting in plant closures and layoffs among existing workers, there still is a dire shortage of young people being drawn to careers in printing and its allied industries. We can’t rely on good people to fall into our industry by fate or happenstance, as so often seems to be the case. As such, it’s critical to dispel any myths about the graphic arts being a grungy, physical labor-intensive profession. Increasingly, printers require computer-literate production staff, database experts, programmers, Web designers, and professional managers and marketers to lead the cross-media charge. We need to put as much thought and emphasis into developing our human resources as we do in making capital expenditure decisions. In reality, the cost of making wrong personnel or equipment decisions can have the same negative impact on the bottom line.