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How the recession affected packaging professionals

Since mid-2001, packagers report heavier workload and fewer company perks such as travel and attendance at shows. Some took pay and benefits cuts, too.

Chart 1
Chart 1

If packaging departments within companies were only modestly affected by the recession in the United States since mid-2001, the same isn’t true for packaging professionals. Although the results were far from unanimous, many reported changes in the ways they performed their jobs, some changes in compensation, and often a heavier workload.

That last result seems to confirm what the survey results showed regarding packaging projects (see packworld.com/go/c055). Most survey respondents said the number of packaging projects in their companies stayed the same over the last year or had increased. All of these results come from an online survey conducted on Packworld.com during the month of June 2002.

Although participants reported that much of packaging at their companies was unaffected by the recession, the companies often were imposing changes in the ways they wanted their packaging people to conduct business (Chart 1). About 18% of all respondents said their companies had not made any of the specified changes in their work-related functions, but the remainder reported a wide variety of cutbacks, prominently to travel and expenses. That’s not surprising in the aftermath of last fall’s terrorism.

However, the companies were also limiting the abilities of packaging professionals to attend expositions and conferences, even down to reductions in professional memberships.

Mixed results on compensation

If the vast majority of survey participants’ companies had required packagers to cut back on professional perks, the same wasn’t true when the survey asked about pay and benefits (Chart 2). More than a third of all respondents said they had experienced no changes in compensation or benefits, whereas another 17% said they had received pay increases.

Only about a third of respondents reported that they had experienced a pay reduction, pay freeze, or a reduction in bonus or other benefits. This relatively positive response was also borne out in the comments participants made when asked what they most liked or disliked about their jobs.

The majority of these comments were quite positive. “What I really like is that the package provides the product with a conduit into commerce and a ‘silent sales value.’ That’s how I know my work matters!” said a packaging executive at a major household products manufacturer.

This concept was reinforced by a management executive at a small company in the food business: “I like to see finished packages in stores and know that I helped develop it.” A packaging executive for a large beverage company said: “The most satisfaction I get from my job is seeing someone in a store purchasing a product in a package that I developed from the ground up. That consumer does not have the slightest clue what battles were fought to bring that item to the store.”

A marketing executive for a small nonfood consumer products maker said she “loves to find new materials to use.” That’s similar to a packaging executive for a large greeting card company: “I like the fast pace, and working with a variety of packaging materials makes the time pass faster and keeps things interesting.”

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