Competition for Skilled Labor
Attracting and retaining a workforce is one of the key factors that ensure development of any sector. Attracting and retaining of a workforce in the manufacturing sector is dependent on factors such as the working conditions and the relationship between employees in the organisation. The ability of a firm in the manufacturing sector to attract and retain a workforce ensures increased productivity thus higher returns(Padula, Comper, Sparer, & Dennerlein, 2017). Firms in the manufacturing sector are working towards attracting and retaining productive employees as a strategy to accelerate their development. Manufacturing firms face numerous challenges in their efforts to attract and retain a work force thus my paper’s main aim is to expound on the challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the manufacturing sector.
In the competitive world where every firm is working towards attracting and retaining skilled employees, key challenges have been observed to hinder them from achieving this. One of the challenges is competition shortage of skills and stiff competition for high quality staff. Despite the high salaries offered in the manufacturing sector, many applicants in the sector lack the required skills and experience(Card, Cardoso, & Kline, 2018). This leads to competition among the manufacturing firms for the few skilled and experienced employees. The competition puts smaller firms at a disadvantage as they are not in a position to offer high salaries and better working conditions as opposed to the larger and developed manufacturing firms.
Reluctant Human resource Management is another challenge towards attracting and retaining a workforce in the manufacturing firms. Human Resource team is greatly involved in the attracting and retention of employees in the manufacturing sector. Human Resource management practices should be favourable for increased retention rate of employees in any manufacturing firm. The Human Resource team is responsible of conducting meetings with employees to discuss workplace related problems(Urtasun-Alonso, Larraza-Kintana, Garcia-Olaverri, & Huerta-Arribas, 2014). Reluctant HR teams will not find time to attend to problems facing employees. This becomes a challenge towards retention of employees in the firm. Most HR teams are quick to conduct exit interviews in cases where an employee is has been caught doing the wrong thing rather than discussing the issue and retaining the employee.
Unrealistic expectations from the job by employees are also a challenge that is facing retaining a workforce in the manufacturing sector. Employees may join a manufacturing firm hoping for better working environment and comforts(Feger, 2013). After recruitment the employees realise that thing are different thus leading to dissatisfaction. This may lead to employees opting for change thus challenging workforce retention. Employees may seek for change due to minor issues which can easily be solved. This makes it hard for manufacturing firms to retain their employees as there is no solution to unrealistic expectations.
Reluctant Human Resource Teams
Monetary dissatisfaction is a key challenge in attracting and retaining a workforce in the sector. Employees who are equipped with technical skill and experience tend to demand high salaries(Terera & Ngirande, 2014). In a manufacturing firm salaries are budgeted though can be adjusted but cannot exceed a certain limit. This is a challenge in attracting skilled employees as everyone will prefer a better paying sector. The already recruited employees after sometime may also demand exceptionally high salaries. Potential workers are of highly valued in the manufacturing sector. They may take advantage by quoting figures that may be higher than the firms’ budget which may compromise the firms’ operations. This leads to employees looking for change thus challenging retention of employees.
Boredom also affects retention of employees in the manufacturing sector. After recruitment individuals find the work very interesting in the beginning but later find it boring(Dhanpat, Modau, Lugisani, & Mabojane, 2018). Some individuals tend to get bored within a short period of time. After working in the manufacturing firm for some time they find it monotonous and decide to look for change. Boredom makes retention of employees in the manufacturing sector hard. Some of the employees are not willing to speak out the problem for adjustments to be made. This makes it hard for HR to know what really the problem is.
Lack of policies that favour the employees also hinders attraction and retention of a workforce. In the manufacturing sector it may hard for employees to take some days off and stop the production operations. Unfriendly firm policies discourage the employees and they later quit due to monotonous and look for firms with employee friendly policies(Chen, Leung, & Evans, 2016). This is a great challenge towards attracting and retaining employees in the sector. This can be solved by formulating policies that are employee friendly such as having some few days leave in a month and conducting some events like celebrating birthdays in the firm.
Most of the recruiters in the manufacturing industries are not willing to train and retain promising candidates. Due to shortage of skills in the manufacturing sector many candidates willing to work in the industries may not be experienced whereas the industries are always looking forward to hiring experienced individuals. Unwillingness of the manufacturing firms to train candidates discourages many promising candidates. This can be solved by training new and promising manufacturing talents. Training promising candidates may also reduce the competition for the few experienced employees(Lowe, 2014). Training may help in dealing with the shortage of qualified manufacturers.
Unrealistic Employee Expectations
Unsafe working conditions in the manufacturing industries. Some manufacturing industries do not provide safe working environment for their employees. The employees are discouraged by the lack of safety and a working environment free from hazards. A safe working environment in the manufacturing sector plays a key role in attracting and retaining of a workforce(Padula, Comper, Sparer, & Dennerlein, 2017). Some firms lack safe environment, this hinders them from attracting and retaining a skilled workforce. Lack of safe working environment acts as a signal to employees that the employer does not care about the employees thus employees opt to look for firms with better working conditions.
Lack of an effective onboarding training program is another challenge that hinders attracting and retention of a workforce in manufacturing industries. The manner in which an onboarding program is conducted greatly determines the impression of the industry on the employee(Kolar, Skilton, & Judge, 2016). This should not only involve showing the new employees around the firm but also explaining the expectations thoroughly. Creating a positive impression of the firm helps in retaining employees(Syed & Kramar, 2017). Lack of an effective onboarding program may discourage new employees thus hindering development of a loyal workforce and workforce retention.
Lack of motivation by the management in the manufacturing firms is also a challenge in attracting and retaining a loyal workforce. Many hours of work in the manufacturing industries without motivation is a key challenge towards attracting and retaining employees. Lack of motivation results to boredom and the employees feel that they are not appreciated. Employees may decide to look for change due to lack of motivation thus challenging workforce retention(Chakraborty, 2016). This can be easily solved by motivating individuals with gifts or even annual trips for employees. Employees are likely to consider firms where they are appreciated and motivated.
Low employee engagement affects the retaining of a workforce. Retention levels are highly dependent on employee engagement(Bhattacharya, 2015). Lack of proper employee engagement with the management in the manufacturing firm challenge workforce retention as there is no clear communication of the issues affecting the employees. Some firms may not take employee feedback seriously. Lack of proper employee feedback and communication so as to identify and solve any problem in the manufacturing industry is a challenge towards workforce retention. This can be solved when there is proper communication on matters affecting employees in the industries. Manufacturing firm managements should be keen on employee feedback to avoid dissatisfaction.
Monetary Dissatisfaction
Cultural incompetence and lack of the ability is a key challenge in attracting and retaining a workforce. Lack of cultural competence in the manufacturing sector creates an environment where individuals do not recognize and appreciate differences(Tjosvold, 2017). This may be in terms of gender, sexuality race and gender identity. Lack of cultural competence may lead to discrimination of specific groups in the industries thus loosing skilled workforce. Cultural incompetence may also hinder firms from attracting potential skilled workforce as individuals would prefer sectors where differences among professionals are respected and appreciated. This can be solved by putting into place strategies that can help to improve cultural competence within manufacturing firms.
Poaching of the already trained employees is a challenge in workforce retention. Many industries pay much attention towards poaching the already trained and developed manufacturing talents rather than training their own. Established manufacturing firms are likely to poach skilled individuals from other smaller firms by offering higher salaries. It is obvious that individuals will go for the high paying organization. This hinders workforce retention as skilled individuals are constantly moving from one manufacturing firm to the other(Lee, Hom, Eberly, & Li, 2018). Skilled employees get better offers from other firms hindering retention.
Remote locations are a challenge in attracting and retaining a workforce. Many individuals are not willing to work in manufacturing firms located in remote places and small towns citing lack of some services. Some of the skilled individuals are only willing to work in developed areas where they can access all social services. This puts many manufacturing industries located in remote areas at a disadvantage making it hard for them to attract a workforce. Some of the employees may work well at the beginning but later feel uncomfortable in a remote area and decide to look for change. This is a challenge to the manufacturing firms located in remote areas in retaining skilled employees.
Change in the manufacturing firms’ policies is another reason why employees may decide to look for change. Changes in policies may affect the employees either negatively or positively. In a case where policies are changed and the employees find the new policies unfriendly, there is a likelihood of losing a workforce. Changes in legislations acts as a challenge in retention of skilled employees. In some cases employees are not willing to adjust to changes and decide to exit. Discussing the intended changes before they are implemented with the manufacturing firm employees would help in retaining the workforce.
Boredom
Poor management of some manufacturing firms is a challenge towards attracting and retaining a workforce. It is the role of the leadership in any organisations to ensure retention of employees. Bad leadership practices in manufacturing industries may not only discourage interested skilled employees but also force the already working individuals to exit. Proper leadership practices ensure retention of employees(Syed & Kramar, 2017). The management should take a chance to study and develop employees. Mismanagement of resources in the manufacturing firms by managements also hinders workforce retention.
Research indicates that employees are likely to stay in a working environment where there is a good inter-personnel interaction. Lacks of good inter-personnel relationships in the firms hinder attraction and retention of employees. Employees are likely to exit a firm where they are not relating well among themselves or with the management. Many employees prefer a working environment where teamwork is embraced. Industries should encourage teambuilding after working hours as this may help in bettering relationships among the employees as well as with the management.
Lack of Work-Life balance in the manufacturing sector is a key challenge in attracting and retaining employees. In most manufacturing industries production operations must run for many hours. This affects the employee’s work role and family role balance. Currently employees are very concerned about work-life balance(Deery & Jago, 2015). Policies in the manufacturing sector that discourage employees from to deciding their working time is a challenge in attracting and retaining a workforce(Syed & Kramar, 2017). Many individual prefer a flexible working schedule whereby they are able to choose the start and end of their working hours.
Self development also hinders employees’ retention in the manufacturing industries. Some manufacturing firms do not offer opportunities for self development. This forces employees to exit and seek opportunities for development of their skills and talents for personal satisfaction. This is a challenge in employee retention. Providing of self development opportunities by the manufacturing firms can help to improve employee retention levels. Lack of self development programs in the manufacturing sector also discouraged potential employees from joining the manufacturing firms.
Lack of employee recognition in manufacturing firms is a hindrance in attracting and retaining a workforce. Individuals who feel unappreciated are likely to search for recognition elsewhere(Arutha & M, 2015). This greatly affects retention of employees as they feel unappreciated. Manufacturing organizations should embrace recognition programs to improve the levels of employee retention in the sector. Potential employees are also likely to be discouraged from joining organisations where individuals are unappreciated
Unfriendly Firm Policies
Conclusion
The ability of an organisation to attract and retain a workforce is a key contributor to its success. The manufacturing experiences shortage of skilled and experienced employees. This dictates that any manufacturing firm that is looking forward to developing must strategise and invest on attracting and retaining a workforce. A high retention rate of employees results to increase production thus higher returns. In the process of attracting and retaining a workforce in the manufacturing sector, there are numerous challenges among which some of them can be easily solved.
Among the challenges is low compensation. Compensation is a key determiner of employee’s performance and retention rate. With low compensation employees may decide to exit manufacturing firms and look for sectors with better compensation thus challenging employee retention. Lack of favourable working environment is also a challenge towards attracting and retaining a workforce. Employees are very concerned about the working condition. Manufacturing organizations should work towards bettering working environments in the industries to increase employee retention rate. Unfriendly firm legislations discourage workforce retention as employees will opt for organisations with friendly work policies.
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