The 2026 HR Playbook for Packaging and Labels

When we’re talking about packaging and label printing and converting, equipment advances often get the spotlight. But the people running that equipment — or anywhere else in the operation — are what really makes businesses tick.

We spoke with Adriane Harrison, vice president of human relations consulting at PRINTING United Alliance, to give printers and converters insight into how to best manage their people in 2026.

Packaging Impressions: What’s the biggest workforce change you expect in 2026?

Adriane Harrison: In the supply and demand of jobs versus workers, there have been fewer workers and more jobs to fill, and I think that is shifting. In 2026, we’re going to see a balancing of availability of workers and of jobs. In the supply and demand, it has favored the workers for the last few years. I think the balance is moving back toward a greater number of job seekers to fill empty positions.

PKI: Why? Are there fewer open jobs or more workers?

AH: It’s a mixture of both. The economy is in flux, in part due to the tariff situation. Some businesses are constricting, some are expanding, so there are going to be fewer job openings to fill.

I also think turnover is reduced. Whenever there is an unstable economy, people are less willing to leave their jobs. There’ll be fewer jobs to fill, because people are going to stay in their positions.

The third reason is that, while the number of people that are in the workforce for manufacturing-type positions and skilled workforce is not gigantic, I do think it’s going to grow. People are not choosing to attend four-year universities now as much as in the past because of the amount of debt they incur, and because of fewer job opportunities. It’s not as favorable toward college graduates as it used to be, and it might encourage more people to consider careers that do not require going to college. I think more kids coming out of high school and vocational schools are going to choose to forgo a four-year university education and maybe look at other employment options. Printing and packaging will be one of the places that we hope they look.

I also think people who have college degrees and are working in white-collar positions are pivoting to sectors they may not have previously considered. There are more people looking for work, and the unemployment rate is inching up. That will help people who are looking for skilled labor to fill positions, because some people may look toward manufacturing work versus continuing to beat down doors and wear out shoe leather looking for positions in the white-collar world.

PKI: How should converters shape onboarding to ensure long-term employee success?

AH: The first and most important thing is to create relationships. Rather than have an employee come in and bury them with paperwork, make sure that you connect with them on a human level, and definitely introduce them to people.

If you don’t have a formal mentoring program, consider adding that so you can give each new employee a mentor who will help them learn not just their role at the company, not just the skills that they need for that role, but also to have a person to talk with about how they feel about their job and somebody to check in on them.

It’s really important to show employees what their role is in the cog within the wheel. If you have a new employee, they probably don’t know about packaging. It’s important to introduce them to the entire process so they understand that their role is important. It gives them a sense of ownership, but it also helps them understand that other people rely on them. Even if it’s somebody that’s three steps distant in the process of creating the package, the new employee will be important to that person and the process of creating the product.

PKI: What emerging HR practices should packaging and label providers pay attention to?

AH: It depends on how many people you need to plug into positions at your company, where you are located geographically, and how deep the pool of candidates that you can choose from is in your area. So, you may really want to look at automation as a way to solve problems.

There are fewer and fewer babies being born in the United States. There are fewer and fewer immigrants coming to the United States, and our workforce numbers are declining. I don’t anticipate a turnaround. For that reason, I think automation is a really good solution to a long-term problem of trying to fill positions.

If you have people in positions that can be automated, you may want to train them and transition them to other non-automated positions, which would allow you to incorporate automation but not lose that worker. This is a “moving chess pieces around the board” type of situation.

Also important is recognizing that human resources is fraught with potential problems related to regulatory compliance. If you do not have a payroll provider that gives you important regulatory guidance, and you are a member of the Alliance, you can utilize my services. It is also important to have a relationship with a local labor and employment attorney.

It’s important to get your compliance ducks in a row. We are in an administration now that, I think, is friendly toward employers, but certain aspects remain complicated, including I-9 compliance. Companies that have a high number of immigrants in their workforce are more likely than others to be audited by the federal government. Even checking just one box wrong can cause problems, so I-9 compliance is important and is something that companies should focus on.

PKI: Do you see AI and automation as having a large impact on hiring and retention?

AH: I think AI is going to affect every aspect of our companies. We are not currently an industry where AI is going to replace too many workers, but it is going to help us with efficiency. So, this imbalance of not having enough people to fill jobs is going to be helped by AI as well as automation, because AI is built into these automated systems.

Let’s take HR for instance. Let’s say you have 100 employees. That is a lot of people, and it’s hard to keep track of all the responsibilities that are required to manage that. But if you incorporate some of these AI assistants into your HR systems, then maybe you get by with one HR person. If you have a warehouse and fulfillment system, but you don’t have enough people, there are AI assistants and automated assistants that will help with filling these roles.

PKI: Hiring seems to be stabilizing, but retention is increasingly a pain point. What’s the most effective thing companies can do to keep the people they already have?

AH: Retention is highly affected by your competition for the workforce in your area. Things within your control are what you can focus on to keep your people happy. If you don’t know why they’re not happy, you need to ask. You need feedback to understand why people are leaving. If people quit and you’re on decent terms with them, ask those people in an exit interview, “Why is it that you’re choosing to leave?” Companies can also conduct anonymous surveys to ask their employees what things are good within the company, and what things they think could be improved. Take these responses seriously, and act on the ones you are able to change.

In general, the things that will keep people at a company are relationships with teams and good managers. Managers need to know more than the technical aspects of the job; the human aspects are just as or maybe more important. It’s very important when you are considering your managers’ skills to make sure that they have training in communication skills and in how to create trust with their teams.

This also applies to executives. If you have people who run the company that are great at business and not very good at people, then it would be helpful to have some professional coaching. It is imperative that the people who work at the company have trust in their leadership. Creating a high trust organization is key to retention. When an executive says something, they need to follow through with it. Executives need to honor obligations, and following through is respectful to the employees.

PKI: What trends are you seeing around flexible scheduling — e.g., shifts aligned with school hours — and how do these work in practice?

AH: In a post-COVID world, there have been more opportunities for people to work at least part of their schedule remotely. Hybrid was introduced and has been maintained at least partially.

A significant part of the workforce are caregivers. Often caregivers are women, and often they have school-age children. The school day can define availability for their workday. There is an opportunity to attract more workers if you can structure your shift schedule around the school day — to provide an option for caregivers to be available for either getting the children to school in the morning, or being home after school.

I’ve talked for years about shifting to a four-day, 10-hour workweek. One way to accommodate caregivers is to split that 10-hour workday into two five-hour shifts. This schedule also allows for scheduled overtime on Fridays that does not go later into the evenings or on weekends when caregiving coverage is difficult. People would work overtime without needing to pay somebody after hours or on weekends to watch their children or an elderly parent or ailing partner.

I do not think this is a trend yet. I ask that question at conferences and increasingly more people raise their hand that they have switched to a 4/10 schedule. Not enough, though, to rise to the level of a trend.

I do think companies are more willing to try and create a schedule for accommodating people with unique requests, but in the production side of the business, people need to be there at the same time. For employees in the front office or prepress or design who can do some of the work from home, companies may be willing to accommodate people. But on the production floor, possibly not as much.

PKI: If you could offer one future-proofing recommendation for workforce strategy in 2026, what would it be?

AH: I don’t know if there’s any way to future-proof entirely because everything changes so quickly. The very best way to protect the availability of candidates for your workforce is to establish ongoing relationships with local institutions that can provide a pipeline of workers. That would include high schools, vocational schools, community colleges, community centers, and afterschool programs for young adults. We need to find our workers young so that they can become aware of the printing industry. They don’t even know printing exists. They need to know about the industry at age 16, so that at age 18, when they decide what they want to do after high school, printing is an option.

Also, become involved in the community. Do charitable work. Invite high school students who are in a business class or a vocational program to tour your printing facility. Sponsor local youth sports teams; sponsor local events. Be the employer in that community that everybody knows about and speaks well of. That’s going to help create these pipelines and may help future-proof at least the availability of your future workforce.

PKI: Is there anything else printed packaging and label manufacturers should keep in mind?

AH: All job descriptions should be updated and made sure that they accurately reflect the role that you’re hiring. Also, make sure these job descriptions are compliant with all regulations where the company is located. This means federal compliance, but also state or your local rules.

It’s also good to create a career development plan for your employees so they see their role as something that they can grow in, either in skills or move to a higher-level role. Show them how their pay could eventually increase. It is helpful to create pay range bands to show how far their compensation can grow with the company.

Gen Z is the main incoming workforce now, and they care a lot about pay transparency. They really want to know: “What’s my earning potential? What’s my career potential? What skills am I going to learn?” They don’t want to just take a job. They want to know that they are in a company where they can grow.