Most recruitment costs are easy to measure. Advertising spend, agency fees, and onboarding expenses all sit neatly on a spreadsheet. Because these figures are visible, they often dominate decision making.
What many print and packaging businesses still underestimate is the far greater cost of not recruiting. Leaving a role open for months can quietly drain revenue, stretch teams, and damage customer relationships. In specialist areas such as flexo printing, carton packaging, labels, structural design, and technical sales, the financial impact can easily reach tens or even hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The effects begin almost immediately and rarely stop when the new hire walks through the door. Productivity takes time to recover, particularly in technical manufacturing environments where experience matters.
So how should businesses assess the real damage?
An open vacancy can reduce revenue, increase operational costs, and trigger a range of indirect consequences that are harder to quantify but equally serious.
Direct Financial Impact
Start with the most obvious example: a machine operator vacancy.
If a press or finishing line sits idle, the lost output is measurable. Most companies will try to avoid that scenario by using overtime or temporary labour, but this introduces new costs. Fatigue can lead to more errors, higher waste levels, and quality issues. Temporary staff may lack the familiarity needed to maintain efficiency.
Automation has improved productivity across the sector, but it has also increased the need for skilled operators who understand workflow software, colour management, and increasingly complex equipment. When those people are missing, performance suffers.
Sales roles carry an even clearer financial risk. If a packaging sales professional holds a £600,000 annual target, that equates to roughly £50,000 per month in potential revenue. Against figures like that, the cost of working with a specialist recruiter begins to look modest.
Revenue generation is not evenly distributed throughout the year, and sales cycles in print can be long. Opportunities are built through relationships, samples, quotations, and production trials. When a salesperson leaves, deals already in progress often stall. Prospects may drift toward competitors. A replacement will need months to rebuild momentum.
In reality, the cost of a vacant sales role usually extends well beyond the period the position is unfilled.
What About Indirect Roles?
Calculating the cost of vacancies in estimating, planning, customer service, or pre-press is less straightforward, but the impact is no less real. Delayed quotations, slower artwork approvals, and communication gaps all affect the customer experience.
Some simple methods can help create a reasonable estimate:
Average revenue per employee Divide company turnover by headcount to understand the revenue contribution per person. Multiply this by the length of the vacancy to indicate potential loss.
Salary multiplier Many workforce studies suggest an employee generates value of up to three times their salary. While the business may temporarily save on wages, it is simultaneously losing the value that person would have created.
If colleagues absorb the workload, leaders sometimes assume the business has avoided both lost revenue and extra cost. In truth, this usually means one of two things: either the organisation was operating below capacity before the vacancy, or other priorities are now being neglected.
The Hidden Ripple Effects
The softer costs of a prolonged vacancy often create the greatest long-term damage.
Team performance Employees cannot indefinitely manage their own responsibilities alongside additional work. Tasks are delayed, shortcuts appear, and mistakes become more common. In print and packaging, where margins are tight, increased waste alone can erode profitability.
Morale Short bursts of teamwork can energise a department, but sustained pressure leads to fatigue and frustration. Productivity drops, absence rises, and engagement fades. In a competitive labour market, this is exactly when recruiters start receiving calls from your employees.
Management effectiveness Managers frequently step in to plug operational gaps. While doing so, they spend less time leading, planning, and improving the business. Decision making becomes reactive rather than strategic.
External reputation Customers are quick to notice slipping service levels. Late deliveries, inconsistent quality, or slower response times weaken confidence. Buyers today have plenty of alternatives and are more willing than ever to review supplier relationships.
Competitors also pay attention. A visible hiring struggle can signal vulnerability, creating the perfect opportunity for them to approach your accounts.
Recruitment and retention There is another risk that many leaders overlook. The longer a vacancy remains open, the more candidates begin to wonder why. Is the salary uncompetitive? Is the culture poor? Is the business unstable?
This perception can shrink your talent pool and prolong the hiring process further.
Internally, employees may start asking similar questions. If workloads keep rising and new hires are not appearing, some will decide to explore their options. One vacancy can quickly become several.
A Recruitment Perspective for the Year
The print and packaging sector continues to face a structural skills shortage, particularly in technical production, estimating, and client-facing roles. Forward-thinking businesses are responding by treating recruitment as part of workforce planning rather than a last-minute reaction.
Maintaining an ongoing relationship with a specialist recruiter provides valuable insight into salary benchmarks, candidate expectations, and regional talent availability. It also shortens hiring timelines when roles do open.
Speed matters. Strong candidates rarely stay on the market for long.
Employer brand matters too. Companies known for investing in training, embracing new technology, offering clear progression, and supporting flexible working are attracting the strongest applicants.
A Practical Summary
Vacancy costs begin immediately and often continue months after a hire starts.
The longer a role remains unfilled, the greater the operational and cultural impact.
