Managing Human Resources within a manufacturing business can be a challenge. Oftentimes employees are working with heavy machinery where safety is of the utmost importance, and not everyone is always properly trained to do so. Recruiting new talent to join your manufacturing company is a huge obstacle, let alone trying to retain the employees you already have. To discuss these challenges, and more, we sat down with Human Resources expert, Rebecca Mazin. Rebecca owns and operates Recruit Right, a consulting firm which provides human resources solutions for companies of all sizes and industries. Here are her answers* to the type of questions on so many manufacturing employees’ minds.
As a manufacturing business, what is valuable about HR training?
A great benefit to HR training is an increase in employee confidence. These trainings teach them new skills that they can then go and apply to their jobs as well as teach them that they are not alone in the problems they’re facing. This gives them a chance to network with people facing the same issues as them.
Well we’ve done the trainings required by the state, so we should be all set, right?
It’s important to be weary of being too compliance focused. Policy alone cannot be your motivator. While things like payroll, insurance, and paperwork are all important; they are not focused on the day-to-day needs of your employees. You need to concentrate on the culture and people of your company, and not just the paperwork or ticking off boxes.
We’ve received some complaints about a manager who is unfriendly with their colleagues but their output is great. Should we just let them be and hope it passes?
So many businesses keep senior employees who are negative and, at times, toxic to their company culture simply because of the fact that they have been with the company for so long or have strong individual performance. Sometimes these negative employees falsely believe that they are well-respected, when in reality, everyone is afraid of them. When you have a title in a company many employees hesitate to say no to you or question your judgment.
It can be very damaging when a member of your leadership team doesn’t understand the impact the way they talk to people has. When you manage other people, you are a subject of dinner table conversation. You want your employees to go home and say, “I had such a great day, and my manager was so helpful!” As opposed to, “You won’t believe what my manager said to me today.” No matter what, as a manager, you’re going to have an impact on your employees’ lives, so make sure your senior management team is making a positive one!
We also notice so many employees are showing up late or not at all, but we’re afraid to pull them aside out of fear that they’ll quit. What should we do?
So many managers are not counseling employees with attendance issues for fear of losing them, but this is not the right way to approach the issue. When you don’t confront the problem head-on you set a precedent for what behavior is acceptable for your employees. Without talking to the employees who are showing problems with absenteeism this behavior can spread throughout your workforce. You don’t want your inaction to appear as acceptance.
What about the talent shortage in manufacturing? We’re struggling to find ways to recruit new talent.
Labor force participation is down in the US and the average number of hours people are willing to work in a week have also gone down. A new trend is companies hiring who they call “weekend warriors” who work three 12-hour shifts a week as their full-time job. These are the types of positions that more and more workers are looking for. If your company has positions they are struggling to fill, consider shorter work weeks as a way to attract more applicants.
COVID has shifted so many jobs to remote work, but this obviously isn’t an option for manufacturing jobs. Shorter work weeks are a great way to fit employee wants while meeting your company’s needs. Additionally, employers should try to be more open to rehiring former employees. If they left on good terms and made positive contributions to the company, when they come back they can bring over any valuable lessons they’ve learned from their interim jobs back to your company.
How can we best set expectations for our employees’ workplace conduct?
I have never been in a situation where an employee of a client said to me, “we get too much information.” Companies need to be reaching their employees every way possible. This can be through pre-shift meetings, apps specially designed to relay company information, or even hand-written notes. Hand-written thank you notes or calling out exemplary employee performance is a great way to positively reinforce behaviors in your employees.
Make sure your company has checklists of expectations, whether it’s a hard copy or on a tablet, as long as it is readily available for everyone. An employee handbook is imperative; and it’s important that all employees know where they can find it and how it’s updated. Finally, employee coaching should be occurring regularly and not just when there’s a problem.
For the manufacturing industry, it can be such a struggle to communicate with all of our employees. What suggestions do you have?
There are so many ways companies of all sizes can relay necessary information.
If your company is posting information all over one specific wall, information can start to blend together and can become easy to ignore. Make sure your messages are shown where your employees are going to see them. Whether that’s the locker room, break room, cafeteria, or even somewhere as unconventional as the bathroom stalls. The value of a pre-shift meeting is also often overlooked. Realistically these should be happening every single day to effectively communicate necessary information as well as set a positive tone for everyone’s day.
What steps can we take to create a more inclusive workplace?
It starts at the top. I once worked somewhere where the owner and senior went up to each employee every morning, shook their hands, and said hello. Things like that make such an impact. An inclusive culture means leadership is visible and listens to their employees. You can listen to your employees, hear all their complaints, and it doesn’t mean that you have to say yes to everything, but the fact that you’re listening is the most important part.
Over the years there has been more acceptance and acknowledgement of the diversity of our workforce. Workers are coming from all different racial, cultural, religious, gender, or sexual orientation backgrounds and manufacturers should be ready to work with employees of all walks of life. People are also retiring later in life, so we are seeing people of all ages still actively in the workforce. Make sure your team is properly trained to work with individuals who come from different backgrounds than themselves.
Finally, it’s important that your employees understand the impact that their work has on your final product. If you’re making industrial parts, think about what machines those parts will one day end up in and the people who will be using them. It could be an MRI machine that saves someone’s life or a plane that takes people where they need to be. Your employees should understand that their work is valuable and makes an impact on other people’s lives. Senior leadership needs to make sure that helping their employees find meaning in their work is part of the company’s culture. The best companies infuse that into everything they do.
MTEC knows how difficult it is to be a manufacturer. There are so many moving parts to keep track of, and so many factors that determine the success of your business. If you need help assessing your operations and improving your manufacturing processes, reach out to us today! We have the expertise necessary to guide you to a successful future. In addition, if you are interested in this service and setting up a complimentary visit to discuss in further detail, please call Phyllis Levine, Director of Administration, at (845)391-8214 Ext. 3001 or via email to phyllis.levine@hvtdc.org.
*This article and its responses are based on an interview conducted with Rebecca Mazin and are not her words directly.