Attract, Retain and Motivate Employees
As labor shortages reach new heights and employee turnover as strong as ever, the manufacturing industry is facing a tough challenge: attracting and retaining top talent. The supply chain has proven to leave companies with their hands out empty and the end-consumer very similar when it comes to delivery. In 2020 & 2021, manufacturers identify hiring and labor shortage challenges as their top priority and difficulty. With so much competition for top talent, we are going to break down what employees need most to Continuously Improve your operation’s attractiveness with people-centric technology.
Labor shortages have cost the manufacturing industry billions in missed opportunities this year alone. It is important to attract, retain and motivate employees with a Continuous Improvement culture that empower them to flourish in the production environment.
Attracting Top Talent
Tying together people, technology and results is easier said than done of course, especially when you have so many unique company characteristics in a rapidly changing industry. But, by conforming technology to your Continuous Improvement culture rather than conforming your culture to technology, we’ve seen highly efficient implementation, improved employee engagement with data and new innovations being unlocked to manage operations. Winning over quality candidates is more than just a paycheck, most employees want to feel like they are part of a larger goal or mission to continuously improve. Companies that have continuous improvement tools or technology become a hub for motivated talent and employees that enjoy taking on new challenges.
Retaining a Good Team
Retaining and motivating employees is just as simple as attracting them. Being able to organize results in a meaningful way for employees in break rooms and meeting rooms give workers common goals to connect on. Monitoring data on screens should be replacing those outdated whiteboards by now and employees should be able to directly see results. Human nature is to be critical of ourselves and many times, we want to know exactly how we’re performing. Employees that are empowered with real-time performance results are naturally motivated to do better than they did the day or even hour before. Shifts are able to review other shift performances when they come into work. There is a sense of healthy competition and work ethic throughout your production environment. Morale is higher and employees are excited to show up to work to advance toward their next continuous improvement goal.
Challenging Employees
Lastly, once they are hired and motivated, employees need a challenge. Challenges help workers stay engaged, focused, and clear on short or long-term goals. With technology to empower decision-making, challenges seem to get easier and standards are set higher each time they are consistently achieved. Empowering employees with digital assets help cultures to become more innovative with new ways to improve, too. With technology, it is easier to monitor data for deviations, make real-time production adjustments, take action on errors and set goal lines higher than before. New challenges offer growth and learning, but they ensure that your company is continuously progressing and improving, too.
Closing labor gaps is BluWave’s next continuous improvement goal and it starts with people and culture. People-centric technology and approaches to improvement will help your operation become more attractive for talent and lead you on the journey to operational excellence.
Solutions like BluWave that are tied to a common mission or a goal provide the clarity and focus your team needs and the new challenge that your missing talent wants. Technology is such a large part of every day operations in the 21st Century; paper systems and a lack of transparency throughout your organization can hinder growth and profitability. Talented employees that are looking for the next company to join are always setting their sights on something new and exciting. Employees crave tangible results to tie their work to, they feel more compelled that they are making a difference and they are. Overall, operational morale and performance can be set and sustained at a higher levels when continuous improvement tools are incorporated into their everyday work life.
If you want to learn how to get started with people-centric technologies, please download our ‘5 Steps from Data to Profits’ Whitepaper from our Homepage.