PRESS MANUFACTURER
“Yes, stress is an increasing problem for all of us. Recognising and managing stress is now a critically important management/HR skill. The key thing is recognising it early, as the more deep-rooted it becomes, the solution can be exponentially more complicated. For individuals, identifying one’s stress ’drivers’ and engineering them out of the working environment can reduce the evening’s alcohol intake. Of course, in print manufacturing, the key to managing stress is to have predic­table JDF integrated processes.”
Jim Todd
Sales director
Heidelberg

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B1 COMMERCIAL PRINTER
“I think we’re work­ing in a stressful environment, especially with all the overcapacity in the marketplace. Corporate social responsibility is at the heart of our business and communication with the workforce is a key part of this. We do have our stress, but I think we cope with these better by encouraging people to be honest. We try to deal with issues before they get out of hand. I think stress levels are rising in the industry, but I’d like to think if we manage them properly, we won’t suffer the absenteeism and financial costs suffered elsewhere.”
Kevin O’Donnell
Operations director
Polar Print Group

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DIGITAL PRINTER
“No, we have not seen any increase and we have few stress-related issues. This is because we police stress quite strictly – we have all our managers trained to look out for it and we try to pre-empt stress and work to a policy. If people are happy in their work environment they will be more productive – if you can support them then you retain your staff. In general, many things are done at the last minute and the world works much quicker than it used to.”
Gurdev Singh
Managing director
Howitt Group

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PRINT MANAGER
“Everyone expects everything a lot quicker now than they ever have before. Our industry is going through perpetual change, and that can be a significant cause of stress. However, in terms of our organisation, I don’t see any difference between now and 12 months ago. We expect the best out of our people, but we’re also there to support them. We’re working with a company called Egostream to help our staff with their develop­ment by aligning their personal goals with our business goals.”
Jason Cromack
Chief executive
AccessPlus