How Millennial Flexographers View the Flexographic Industry
Ask a Millennial what he or she thinks of, say, the most recent season of Game of Thrones, and you’ll probably hear one of two general sentiments: It was awesome, amazing, the greatest thing ever, 12/10 stars; or it was absolute trash, ruined the first six seasons, sooooo bad, and is grounds for canceling the show. Without a doubt hyperbolic—a trait they might savor more than protest—Millennials, too, view things in positives and negatives, and that includes the world of flexography.
Specifically, they view the industry as having positive elements, but also several negatives compared to other fields of work. “Interesting” and “innovative” are the words both Millennials and older adults most frequently choose to describe flexography; however, roughly one-quarter of Millennials chose each word, while more than half of veteran employee respondents chose each.
On the less positive side, Millennials are approximately three times more likely than flexographers ages 35 and over to also describe package printing as dirty/low-tech and old-fashioned. They have notable perceptions of its gender, too: One in 10 considers the industry to be “masculine,” compared to one in 20 veteran workers; one in 10 Millennials also considers the industry to be “feminine,” while no veteran workers chose that word to describe it.
Where Do You See Yourself Professionally Three Years from Now?
Asked to compare flexography to other fields of work, Millennials view the industry as having more negatives than positives. On the positive side, Millennials tend to view it as providing more interesting and challenging work, as well as offering more job security. However, there were several aspects which they rated worse or much worse than other fields. These included salary/wages, the people in the field of work, location, values and ethics, social setting/environment, adaptability to change, and career growth opportunities.
Workers ages 35 and older, perhaps unsurprisingly, rated package printing as better than other fields in nearly every category in which they were asked. Topping their responses were “work that is challenging to me,” “work that is interesting to me” and “acceptance of new technologies.” Only two choices were rated as being worse in the package printing industry than elsewhere: flexible work schedules and flexible work locations.
Despite the number of negative aspects that Millennials apply to package printing, they are, by and large, paying a lot of attention to the field. Of Millennials who are employed and no longer students, 84 percent say they are either very or extremely interested in package printing; that compares to 87 percent of 35-and-older respondents asked the same question. Only 3 percent said they are not interested or only somewhat interested.
But how are Millennials coming to these conclusions about package printing; specifically, where are they getting their first introductions to the industry? Just over one-quarter—27 percent—say they were introduced to package printing by an employer or supervisor. The next most-common response was “college course” and was selected by 18 percent. The “other” category was the third most popular response; fill-in responses included “family business,” “conference” and “temp agency.”
More than twice as many non-Millennials said a college course was their first exposure to package printing—it was the No. 1 response, at 44 percent. No other response garnered a significant percent; notably, not a single veteran worker said they had been introduced to the field by a friend or colleague.