Are Print Buyer Layoffs Affecting Your Company?
Print Buyers Online.com Weekly Quick Poll Results
March 3, 2009 Below are the results of our recent Quick Poll survey, which encourages our print buyer and supplier members to share their thoughts on issues that affect our industry.
Print Buyers Poll:
Has your company downsized in the last six months due to the economy?
Yes — 67%
No — 33%
Print Suppliers Poll:
In the last six months, have you lost any of your print buyer contacts due to downsizing at your customers' businesses?
Yes — 90%
No — 10%
Comments from survey participants:
"A hiring freeze, not replacing staff that had left, along with the restriction on using freelancers, has caused the current staff to juggle a tighter workflow. It's a challenge to meet the ever changing daily requests, and clear communication is key. We really push for more organized requests coming in, so that we are not just in 'reaction' mode. But it's tough." Laura Hardy, VP, Production Director, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
"Luckily not in the Marketing department, though."
"Doing OK so far."
"Tightening of Budgets, which means more competitive estimates are needed for projects."
"And I was one of the one's downsized."
"Have had two company-wide layoffs in last 6 months; if economy doesn't turnaround soon there'll probably be more."
"My company has downsized considerably over the past year, and has reduced its workforce by over 20%. All creative and copywriting is now outsourced. The majority (80%) of our print spend has been reallocated to web/SEO/SEM efforts."
"Unfortunately we have, and I expect more cuts in this area as company's downsize marketing and PR efforts." Larry Clark, Corporate Account Manager, Professional Duplicating, Inc.
