My bosses can’t tell me how to live… Can they?

The economic outlook remains gloomy. Many employers are still laying off. The staff who is left is working, work longer hours than ever before. More work = less personal time. While personal time diminishes, is personal choice also diminishing? Workplace rules & laws are getting stricter all the time. They are covering more and more of what used to be looked at as personal choices.

These factors contribute to the blurring lines between work life and personal life.

Lets look at some numbers:

Nearly all companies have an IT policy preventing employees from using the companies’ resources for personal online use. In spite of these bans a study released October 14th of this year, shows that 50% of workers say they will shop while at work this holiday season. 10% of these workers will spend at least 30 hours shopping online. Company policies vary, but consequences for violations can be harsh.

Concerned about your rights to privacy in your company computer? Your safest bet is to assume you don’t have any and don’t look for federal government protection. Federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) states an employer-provided computer system is the property of the employer. California allows for some minor adjustments. In general employees can expect very little electronic privacy on company owned computer equipment. Don’t risk termination or disciplinary action; limit your personal computer use to your personal time. Make sure you are familiar with your company’s IT policy. Ask you HR department to provide you with your company’s policy if you are unsure.

Employers don’t stop with company owned computer equipment. Some employers are now attempting to ban obesity in the workplace.  The numbers behind this decision are staggering. Employers with a BMI greater then 40 (18.5 to 24.9 BMI is normal) had 11.7 workers comp claims per 100 workers, compared to 5.8 claims per 100 for normal BMI employees.

Injuries aren’t the only costs. Health benefit costs to employers has SKYROCKETED due to employees with obesity related conditions. The average health spending for the 15 most expensive obesity -related condition climbed 55 percent form 97-05.

Think you are protected against your employer’s decisions regarding obesity? Think again. Discrimination laws very narrowly define protected classes of workers. Only Michigan and DC protect overweight workers. To many employers’ credit, they are working with health care companies to design programs to help employees lose weight. Initiatives include gym memberships, discounted weight loss programs and more mundane solutions such as serving fruit at morning meeting rather than pastries.

Employers aren’t the only ones pushing change in personal choices at work. Many states & localities have a ban on smoking in the workplace. American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation says that currently 71% of the US population lives under a smoking ban of some kind. Many of these bans are administered by OSHA. Employers: ignore enforcement at your own peril.

Are the positions these employers and enforcement agencies taking too paternalistic? These statutes that have been challenged in court, and the courts are upholding the employers decisions. Whatever your personal opinion of these “intrusive” rulings, your employer is still within his/her rights to make these personal choices for you.

Are Web and Offset skills like Strippers to Digital prepress in the 90’s

More and more as I speak with offset and web press operators I find myself asking if they have exposure to digital printers. Its not just me thinking that things are going more in that direct, but that it is what my clients are asking me to provide them. What this reminds me of is the way it went for strippers in the 1990’s.

During the 90’s there was a fundamental shift in printing firms on how prepress was done. No longer were companies using traditional strippers, they were installing digital prepress systems. While the traditional stripers had a lot of critical experience such as understanding color separation and the capabilities of the printing presses, they were no longer needed unless they also had digital prepress skills, both software and hardware. This change had very telling effects on the prepress positions. First, those that did not want to learn new skills were no longer able to find work and when they did, it was at substantially lower payrates. Those that did make the effort and invested in themselves to learn the new skill sets were able to stay in the industry as digital prepress people. At first those with traditional and new skill sets were in the biggest demand. As time has gone by digital prepress workers no longer need the skills of the traditional strippers and people with just digital prepress skills have all the tools for the modern prepress jobs.

Traditional offset and web press operators are now in a very similar situation. Those segments of the industry are shrinking and with that comes fewer jobs. Those that are relectant to increase their computer skills and spend time learning about the new digital equipment will find themselves with fewer and fewer job options. While I do feel at this time that having both offset/web skills and digital print skills will be valuable in some situations, it seems that a digital printer doesnt need to rely only on an ink on paper back ground. Many digital prepress operators are able to run the digital printers at this point. In fact most firms will ask for someone  with offset backgrounds OR prepress backgrounds to be trained on a digital printer.

If you are an offset or web press operator and pondering your career moving forward, please heed the lessons of strippers in the 1990’s. Look at gaining better computer skills and seeking opportunities to get your hands on digital printers. Do this while your current skills can still keep you employed. This way you will be positioning yourself for your future, as it is likely you may need both skills sets to finish out your career.

Where does Print fit in?

Three bits of data caught my attention last week. They had a very large impact on where the state of the Printing Industry is today. While it is unclear to me whether or not printing will remain in the realm of printers in 50 years, it is clear that the change from trade to an automated business process is well underway.

In regards to the lose of the trade side of things and the reality that printing is a business process is clear as major non printers are now able to more readily jump into the printing business. From the office super stories to the UPS stories we see many large corporations offering print services. Digital printers are a lot easier to work with from a business stand point than offset and web printers. Again, its not a craft/trade any more.

What I find very interesting is that the combined profits off all printers is less than half the worth of Steve Jobs.  Steve Jobs wealth: CLICK HERE

Printers profits: CLICK HERE

One just has to see the rate of iPhone adoption to help understand why Apple and Steve Jobs have been able to generate such wealth.iPhone Adoption: CLICK HERE

The fact that a tremendous amount of marketing dollars are shifting the web and even smart phone advertising is forcing print to figure out where it fits in the advertising mash-up. What I would love to see if a very powerful advertising push from the print industry explaining its value and how it is an intricate piece to the grand scheme of things.

* The craft is gone

* Non printers more easily offering print

* More marketing going to the Internet and Smart Phones.

Challenging times or sure.

Q3 Survey Analysis – July 2009

Another quarter, this one shows an increasing number of establishments becoming profitable! I understand June was as usual an iffy month for many but not as bad as expected. Seems like all the positive talk and the increase in the stock markets just maybe having a positive impact. With GDP contracting for 4 consecutive quarters, the saying only the strong survive has an entirely new meaning. More than strength is required, foresight and a solid conservative bent are also needed. I suspect that keeping EQUITY within a company, enabling it to weather tough times, will have an entirely reinforced band of supporters. The practice of distributions to owners at all costs being the loser.
The first draft of the GDP numbers came out indicating the contraction was 1% in the 2nd quarter. The second and third drafts will likely show that is a conservative number. The latter part of July appears to be showing promise however!
Lets get into the numbers-
Profitability: 59% profitable definitely an improvement from the 53% profitable we reported last survey. We suspect intelligent cost cutting and controls have had an impact- those that use labor and other resources wisely win in this environment. The question regarding business increasing or decreasing over the last two weeks reflects the Independence Day holiday. From our vantage point, we suspect the reduction in sales was normal or less than normal – a positive.
One sign companies are very cautious is the caution in sales expectations- with a 4% drop in the numbers of companies expecting sales to increase this coming quarter. Time will tell if we are at the bottom or even starting the recovery of this recession, but one sign that is positive is the hiring expectations of companies has increased. Considering also the source of this hiring is referrals from internal staff, we suspect rehires are happening as demand warrants.

With all the talk on health care federally, we see for the first time in several surveys a reduction in concern for healthcare costs (in several cases we are hearing of reduced premiums per worker this renewal season!). Base pay, workers comp and state requirements all show hefty increase in concerns. When will the powers that be understand to DECREASE costs in labor will INCREASE hiring rates? Seems very simple for most to understand.
For additional results please download the survey results provided-

We have enclosed the entire Survey results below, if you have questions or would like to see additional areas explored please let me know.

daver@semperllc.com Semper

Click here to view the Survey, PDF Format (http://www.semperllc.com/index.cfm?page=president)

The more noise social media creates the more clarity print provides.

Received a “Thank You” card in the mail last week that excited me. Please check out the brief video I made in regards to it.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

My excitement spilled over into adding it as a discussion point I had with varies print industry people. Many of them also agreed it had some potential. As Social Media (SM) grows it becomes harder and harder to keep up with and filter out the noise that it generates. In fact at this point the noise of SM is at a roar level. That simple Thank You card coupled with SM had a very profound impact and most importantly, it made me LOOK at the website and possibly become a buyer on that site.

Sitting in Dallas last week with Joe Polanco from PIA-MidAmerica helped further expand on this SM noise. By the time we finished 2 beers and a nice conversation the tag line “The more noise social media creates the more clarity print provides” had been formed.

Dont get me wrong I am a huge fan of SM and think it is an extremely valuable tool in many ways. It is the combining of the two that I find interesting. It is similar to how I look at things like Google AdWords. The first few results in a search doesnt mean legitimacy in my mind, it can also mean someone that is good at getting top rankings for key words, but otherwise not having much value. Thus as many people do, I look at the paid for advertising as a solid option.

The coupling of the two mediums is a strong fit. What better way to filter out the noise than to receive a card in response to something connected with on SM. In fact it is a barrier of entry as the printed piece costs a small amount of money to send and thus acts a good filter from spammers and others that just use free communication tools aggressively, but have a product that has no value or limited value.

Better filters will certainly come soon for SM and like all things the adaptation of the new tools will need to be assessed and relooking at the value proposition of print will need to happen.

Brian

The case for “Why using flexible staffing makes sense”.

Read an interesting article on one of What They Think’s blog sites about a new NAPL report. In the report, NAPL states that the decline of the print industry productivity in the first quarter of 2009 is 14.2%. What is strange to me is that payroll hours are only down 4%. I think this illustrates how important Flexible Staffing, like that which Semper offers, is a critical component to any printer’s strategy. With productive declining more rapidly than payroll, printers have still not right sized their head count the appropriate levels. Having a solid relationship with a staffing firm that can provide highly skilled printing personnel to your organization can offer areas of cost saving most companies need today. Firms like Semper not only provide highly skill people that can be relied upon, but offer key things like benefits to its flexible workers.

I recently spoke with management of a large global print focused firm and confirmed that they are still operating under a 70% internal staff, 30% flexible staff model. That this ratio has had a very significant role in helping them stay profitable during this unexpectedly long recession. Mind you, this type of strategy is not just used by large organizations, many sized firms use Semper for very similar reasons.

Please find a link to the What They Think posting I have referred to in this email message: http://blogs.whattheythink.com/printing-office

Semper Survey Q2 Results

Semper Survey Q2 Results:

I believe those that have survived thus far have sighed in relief, but it is clear we have some tough times ahead- so much for an Obama Bounce! It would seem contrary to the March statements from the politicos about things getting better, most of us have not seen anything of the sort. In fact, we would estimate 15% or more of establishments in existence January 08 are no longer around. Even the very solid, well-run companies are experiencing severe financial issues. The longer this “contraction” lasts the more harm it is causing. The plus side is those that survive will enjoy a much less competitive market. The first draft of the GDP numbers came out indicating the contraction was 6.2 in the first quarter. The second and third drafts will likely show that is a conservative number; even with the two week busy period many indicate happened in January. An area I would like to look at in this summary is the question that looks at your concerns. The answers to this area have changed so significantly over the last two years and even in the last few quarters. The largest area of concern is now the OTHER area. Upon investigation, OTHER is not several types of concerns but rather the need for a new category to be added – The economy. Ninety percent of the respondents who chose OTHER to question 8 indicate the current economic contraction is their primary concern. Looking back over the last four surveys this constituency has been i ncreasing to the point we will now add a new category “Economy” to this area. As you can imagine the shift from profitable to unprofitable was rather striking and the most severe since we started the survey. 52% say they were profitable this past quarter and 47 % indicate they lost monies- a huge shift. The question regarding business the last two weeks seems to indicate some improvement with 38% indicating some improvement and 42% staying the same. We noticed a 2 and a half week increase starting early April but a fall off as the month ended (hopefully short term). The full-time hiring situation still seems tough with the vast majority staying the same or laying off. We have been privy to many different and creative types of hiring arrangements being used: furloughs, reduced work weeks, reduced pay rates, using the unemployment office’s Work Share program and utilizing Flex staffers after heavy lay offs. We have enclosed the entire Survey results below; if you have questions or would like to see additional areas explored please let me know.

View Survey Results: CLICK HERE

Dave Regan CEO daver@semperllc.com

Thank You

Staffing is a leading indicator

Saving monies and being lean are on everyones radar of late. With labor being such a large component of costs what is your competition doing
to keep costs low? How do the industry leaders gain competitive advantage in this area?

Did you know flex staffing s a “leading indicator? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_Indicators#Types_of_Indicators)

Have you ever noticed how orders tend to come in clumped together? Like cars at a toll booth or a pocket of traffic on a highway?

How can you use these observations and tips to your companies advantage???

Email me your questions and I would be  more then happy to respond  Always@semperllc.com

Dave Regan 

CEO

Semper

Semper’s quarterly printing industry survey results.

Hi, Thanks to all of you who participated. Please find the results of the survey.

Q1 Survey Analysis – January 2009

Thank You again for your responses – this was the first time we posted on twitter and other Social Networks and the response was trebled.

Let us get right to it- WOW. Glad the fourth quarter is over, but the first could be just as interesting.

The highlights: 

Profitability seems to have increased again- clearly this indicates the cost cutting measures and the reduced costs of raw materials and fuel are helping.

The question regarding how you find employees was interesting. Notice that many more of you are using online resources like printworkers.com or Gain’s job bank than help wanted ads in newspapers. I wonder about the reasoning behind that fact, considering the parallel decision our clients must face between print and new media expenditures.

The hiring section – the Staying the same percentage is continually dropping, with laying off increasing but hiring actually started to show an increase. This would indicate that companies top lines are still being squeezed; they lay off but then find they are unable to meet demand when it comes in. So they have to rehire- A shameless plug but this is a classic temp staffing utilization situation.

Again, we suspect the GDP numbers to be released on Jan 30th 09 will have to be revised even in six weeks lower than even the shocking contraction they first indicated. We are glad to see many of you understood the severity of the situation and took the steps needed to reduce costs last quarter.  All the doom and gloom from Davos aside, we feel that the upturn will start sooner than later. The speed of its improvement is the question. It seems that most responded that business was stable  the last two weeks and expected things to stay the same for the quarter. Lets hope we start to see improvement top line wise shortly there after.

The number one concern of respondents was the economy and it’s impact on clients budgets followed by predatory competition for those budgets. The Fed calls that deflation. Let us all hope that trend and fear is fleeting.

We have enclosed the entire Survey results below, if you have questions or would like to see additional areas explored please let me know.

daver@semperllc.com

Survey Charts: CLICK HERE

Twitter Backgrounds

There are many Twitter clients out there that help you stream line your Twitter experiences. Yet at the expense of seeing the many wonderfully designed backgrounds people do. Here are a few cool ones that help give Twitter a better visual feel.

http://twitter.com/PrintWorkers

http://twitter.com/Semperllc

http://twitter.com/aGEEKspot

http://twitter.com/CustomTwit

http://twitter.com/eddiebreen

 

The richness the backgrounds add is well worth viewing Twitter using the actual Twitter site.

 

The two things I would like to see added in the near future.

 

1) Ability to add links within your background

2) The various Twitter apps allowing full view of backgrounds.

 

My $.02 Twitter view point