3 Tips for Employee Retention in the Manufacturing Industry

It’s particularly difficult to retain skilled manufacturing employees with a shortage of available labor. If you want to improve in this area, read these three tips for employee retention in the manufacturing industry.

Advocate for Safety

Maintaining safety is a unique concern for manufacturing workers. There are short-term and long-term negative health outcomes to address. At about 85 decibels for extended periods, permanent hearing loss develops. In many industrial settings, noise levels meet or exceed this volume. Also, noisy environments can lead to psychological issues and related cardiovascular stress. In order to reduce excess noise’s symptoms, industrial facilities can implement one of several effective soundproofing solutions, such as installing mass loaded vinyl. Besides these bigger fixes, companies should also provide employees appropriate hearing protection. If these interventions allow your employees to avoid these harmful health effects, your employees are more likely to continue their work with you.

Give Feedback

Employees in a manufacturing plant may feel like their supervisors don’t see their work. This can lead them to feel unappreciated while also limiting valuable communication between supervisor and supervisee. To mitigate this, give your team constructive feedback and have positive interactions with everyone. You want them to feel their company’s investment in their growth, both in the near and far future. Meanwhile, make sure to praise your employees. If they feel like their bosses are only interested in their work when they make mistakes, they won’t feel valued. Praising them dispels this feeling.

Promote & Train Supervisors

Another tip for employee retention in manufacturing is to promote from within and intentionally train your supervisors. So many people stay or leave a job because of their experience with supervisors. By promoting your own workers to these positions, you reward quality employees for their work and retain them. At the same time, these promotions are opportunities for training effective supervisors. Instilling values like empathy and bravery, teaching them how to motivate, and giving them an in-depth understanding of employee processes will go a long way towards keeping their subordinates. As you go about promoting and training, keep in mind that not every great worker is a great leader. Look for existing qualities you can develop further when considering people for the job.