Whether you poll a trade group or chamber of commerce meeting about the biggest problem they face, the people there – including yourself – will invariably answer the same: workforce.
Attracting people. Retaining people. Despite all the changes in the last 50 years – technological, economic, political, social – workforce issues are consistent. People complained about it in 1975. They will probably do the same in 2075.
Another consistency is the desire for a magic solution, for someone with the answer to getting and keeping excellent employees.
But there is no magic, and there isn’t someone else with all the answers. That someone is you. And while the solution is simple, it isn’t easy, especially for those who have done something the same way for a long time.
So, why is getting people so hard? Why do people leave?
Mainly because there is no real attraction to what you’re offering, nothing special, nothing that makes people want to work at your facility and stay there.
Yes, you may be paying $5 per hour more than the company across town. And while everyone wants to make more money, other things also matter to people spending the better part of their waking hours at work.
Consider the last time you bought a new piece of capital equipment. You undoubtedly spent considerable time studying it before the purchase to make sure it had the capabilities you needed. Then you spent time making sure that everything in the shop – from tooling to material handling – was ready before it was delivered. And when it arrived, you made sure that you had your best people on it so that you’d get the kind of production you were looking for.
Consider the last time you hired someone. Did you spend as much time thinking about that person? Did you prepare the person for the first day? Did you make sure they were fully integrated into the operation once they arrived?
If you didn’t, then there is a workforce problem.
I previously referred to “the company across town.” Odds are, that company has the same machinery that you have. But if it’s more successful, what is the reason? People.
This is not to underestimate the importance of technology, but the true difference between a high-performing company and one that’s so-so is the people who operate that technology and those who consistently work to improve things. If you don’t make the same effort prepping for a new employee as you do for a new machine tool, then that worker will likely walk if there is a better opportunity across town.
You have to create and maintain that better opportunity.
When I hire someone, whether today at AMT or in the first half of my career running shops, I do a few things to help ensure they stick around. One key thing is to assure them that they will have the chance to grow in terms of life skills and technical skills. I can’t guarantee they’ll always have a job, but I can guarantee they’ll improve the whole time they work for us. By giving them that chance, I’ve found fewer leave.
After someone starts, we always make sure that they get cross-functional experience. During their first six months, they’re exposed to different departments. This provides a hands-on understanding of how the company works – and gives them a view of other places within the organization where they might like to work. Perhaps that machinist would like to become a manufacturing engineer.
One of the things I’ve always maintained as important – whether it was in a shop or a place like AMT – is that people understand they have autonomy, authority, and responsibility. You don’t want someone who is going to punch the clock and put their head down for eight hours. You want someone who can make things better and who will put in the effort to do so.
Sometimes that effort to improve something doesn’t work. The consequences can be bad. But you want people to keep trying. If something goes wrong, I encourage them to learn from their mistakes. Did I ever reprimand people? Certainly – if they did something that was careless or ignorant, and we all know the difference between an honestly failed effort and one done without forethought.
Over the past several years, I’ve visited shops in Europe and Asia to see how work gets done. And one of the conclusions I’ve reached is that if the people have the space or freedom to improve or innovate, it is done in a highly structured, regimented manner. This is not at all optimal.
Here in the United States, one of the things that puts the best companies ahead of the also-rans is not only do they attract the best people because they are perceived as being cool, but they keep valuable employees because the company encourages continuous improvement and provides opportunities. Again, the difference between the place paying $5 more and one that people talk about positively is that the latter is recognized for empowering its employees.
Creativity is part of the genius of America, and all of us should do what we can to facilitate that in the people we work with every day.
Is there a workforce problem? Not if you’re willing to consistently do the work to make sure your people have what they need – technically and culturally – to improve their lives as well as their workplaces.
To read the rest of the Workforce Issue of MT Magazine, click here.
