In its recently commissioned second annual survey of manufacturing workers, Epicor asked 600 factory or plant employees in the United States about their work experience and their companies’ adoption of technology into day-to-day operations.
The results painted a picture of tempered optimism as an overriding message from the front lines emerged: Manufacturing workers clearly prefer technology-driven, sustainable work environments. That’s a real positive given the unprecedented challenges that manufacturers are facing – from incessant supply chain disruptions and rising energy costs to wars in Europe and the Middle East.
What’s more, U.S. manufacturing could need as many as 3.8 million new employees by 2033 – and up to 1.9 million of those jobs could go unfilled if manufacturers aren’t able to address skills gaps and worker shortages, according to a recent report from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.
In many instances, Epicor’s survey found that manufacturing workers are more eager to embrace digital transformation than their employers. Eighty-three percent said they worked more efficiently using new tools and technologies – perhaps a harbinger of a future in which highly skilled manufacturing workers and advanced technologies can productively coexist.
Also, many manufacturers are eager to seize the forefront of emerging innovation. Still, several respondents indicated that the transition is going slowly – a delay that could have implications for businesses and their employees. Clearly, there are still opportunities for improvement. Consider the following stats:
- Only 39 percent of employees characterized their company as being “very modern.”
- Less than half of those surveyed – 49 percent – said their company was eager to embrace new technology.
- The percentage of respondents from large companies who said their company is investing in new technology “more than ever” dropped from 54 percent last year to 46 percent this year.
- Seventy percent said their company is making upskilling a priority – but there’s a yellow flag in the 10-point slip relative to last year’s findings.
- Forty-five percent said morale at their current company is high. That’s a drop from 52 percent in last year’s survey. Meanwhile, low morale rose from 7 percent to 16 percent.
In general, the team at Epicor has heard countless anecdotal stories that support our survey’s findings about flagging morale. Savvy manufacturing leaders understand the hard costs and negative cultural repercussions that go along with replacing workers who leave in the first six months or a year.
So, what’s the remedy? It’s widely agreed that this isn’t something technology can solve, so many manufacturing leaders are turning to a variety of time-tested leadership practices to forge closer connections with their essential workers.
Open lines of communication
HP founders Bill Hewlitt and Dave Packard are widely acknowledged for popularizing the now legendary practice of “Management by Walking Around.” MBNA is just what it sounds like – senior leaders meeting employees where they are, physically and mentally.
VEM Tooling owner Marc Weinmann has embedded this philosophy into his company’s operations.
“My top management is on the floor regularly to work and communicate with the teams,” Weinmann recently said, “to walk by, to stop and to understand their day-to-day issues.”
Weinmann offers an inspiring blueprint that other manufacturing leaders would do well to emulate.
“It’s critical to be present,” he says. “The workers on the floor know what works best and what doesn’t and what makes them unhappy. At VEM Tooling, anybody and everybody can talk to the boss at any time. We have suggestion boxes in every factory, and I’ve pledged to get back to everyone within 48 hours with a clear answer on every issue and every suggestion. And if I walk into a factory and see closed doors, I’m not happy. As a leader, you have to be present and encourage open lines of communication.”
Listening to frontline workers and taking action on their feedback is critical to good morale. Seventy-three percent of workers who feel like their voice is heard at work say that leads to them being empowered to do their best work, according to 2017 Salesforce research.
Salary strides
In addition, leaders can improve morale improving pay or bonus structures. Pay is generally a top request on how to increase morale and retention as hard-working employees want to be fairly compensated and valued for the time and skills they bring to their company. Improving pay or bonuses is a top suggestion here – and manufacturing leaders may need to look at their financial structure to accomplish that.
Offering flexible work schedules is another strategy that works. Frontline factory workers can’t necessarily work from home, but those Epicor surveyed aren’t looking for radical autonomy in their schedules. Most simply want flexible start and end times, which may be a straightforward way for manufacturing leaders to increase happiness and morale. Ultimately, according to a 2021 Gartner report, 43 percent of workers say flexible work hours are the reason for their greater productivity.
Management and upskilling
There are great supervisors and bad supervisors in every organization. But bad supervisors – those who demonstrate poor communication, favoritism and lack of empathy – can tank morale and increase turnover. Manufacturing leaders should identify these counterproductive behaviors and invest in leadership training to improve leaders’ management skills.
Manufacturing leaders should invest in upskilling, technology and sustainability. One way to improve morale, engagement and retention is by providing workers with the right tools and training. This includes offering upskilling opportunities so that they can be masters of new technology and grow their careers – and 71 percent of upskilled workers said their overall satisfaction with their jobs has increased.
Considering that over half of Epicor’s survey respondents would take a pay cut to work for a more sustainable factory, leaders should prioritize sustainability efforts as well to retain workers.
Finally, manufacturing leaders should invest in new technology so that workers see them keeping up with the quickly evolving tech world they see around them every day.
Giving employees permission to fail is also good practice. It’s a time of tremendous change for manufacturers and their essential workers, and change can be hard. Mistakes will be made. And so it’s critical that manufacturing leadership not just accept this reality, but embrace it. Weinmann summed it up perfectly: “Work hard, be creative, but also don’t be afraid of mistakes. It’s from mistakes that we learn the most.”
Adapting to tech evolutions
When employees arrive for work, they expect the same level of technology that surrounds them outside of work. Yet the perception among employees that their workplace is “very modern” has decreased from last year’s survey from 48 percent to 39 percent. The reality is that many workers still lack access to advanced technology on the factory floor or in the manufacturing plant – and this can impact their day-to-day productivity and accomplishments.
It’s up to savvy organizations to create a more modern factory by moving to the cloud, digitizing documents, adopting an ERP to digitally manage the organization, creating a plan for data management and finding use cases for the various emerging technologies respondents named that their factories or plants are using – big data (41 percent), 3-D printing (39 percent), robotics or artificial intelligence (37 percent) and augmented reality (36 percent).
We know that running a successful manufacturing business requires technology, strategy and efficiency as well as involved, challenged and skilled workers.
When manufacturing leaders prepare the workforce for the future by investing in technology and sustainability, upskilling employees and supporting feedback initiatives, they will build a solid foundation of worker engagement, morale and empowerment upon which their business can thrive and grow.
