Healthcare Packaging conducted an e-mail survey in late February in which 21% of the 213 respondents reported layoffs at their company. Another 17% said layoffs at their company did affect the packaging team. Publisher Jim Chrzan's story on page 10 also reports that 44% of respondents were concerned about losing their job. Given the grim news reported in the media virtually every day, is there hope for healthcare packaging professionals to weather this economic storm?
History offers an affirmative response. “Recession hasn't stopped people from getting sick and needing healthcare,” said a March 2 investment trend article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.
Our job survey also offered hope: Although 44% noted job security concerns, 56% of respondents were not worried about job security. An overwhelming 93% of respondents were confident that their company's management was taking the right steps to make it through the economic storm. And 5.6% said their company was actually looking to fill packaging positions.
No doubt, we're all challenged in today's economy. As one survey respondent said, navigating through the economic storm will be “touchy for efficient organizations, deadly for noneffective organizations.”
Reducing costs is an understandable tack taken by many organizations in lean times. An insightful approach to thriving in difficult times is reported by Priority Metrics in the story on page 10. It says that great companies focus on growing their business during recessionary times by “ramping up promotions, accelerating new product introductions, and increasing their market visibility” rather than “going on the defensive—cutting back costs, downsizing marketing efforts, and eliminating new product development efforts in a misguided effort to survive. Market leaders see recessions as opportunities to do more than just survive—to grow.”
History offers an affirmative response. “Recession hasn't stopped people from getting sick and needing healthcare,” said a March 2 investment trend article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel newspaper.
Our job survey also offered hope: Although 44% noted job security concerns, 56% of respondents were not worried about job security. An overwhelming 93% of respondents were confident that their company's management was taking the right steps to make it through the economic storm. And 5.6% said their company was actually looking to fill packaging positions.
No doubt, we're all challenged in today's economy. As one survey respondent said, navigating through the economic storm will be “touchy for efficient organizations, deadly for noneffective organizations.”
Reducing costs is an understandable tack taken by many organizations in lean times. An insightful approach to thriving in difficult times is reported by Priority Metrics in the story on page 10. It says that great companies focus on growing their business during recessionary times by “ramping up promotions, accelerating new product introductions, and increasing their market visibility” rather than “going on the defensive—cutting back costs, downsizing marketing efforts, and eliminating new product development efforts in a misguided effort to survive. Market leaders see recessions as opportunities to do more than just survive—to grow.”
