Long-Term Sustainable Employment in Manufacturing: How to Build Skills for this Change-Impacted Industry?

Manufacturing, like many other industries in recent years, has not been immune to disruptive factors. Whether it’s lack of qualified talent due to evolving skills demand or integrating increased use of technology, the industry work landscape continues to change and job candidates must prepare for this.

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Upskilling in the near term

Industry employees, not just entry-level candidates, are aware that the industry is evolving. 83% of businesses in Poland’s manufacturing sector state that upskilling and lifelong job training are critical to their remaining competitive. To this end, businesses in that country are looking for ways to meet this demand and help existing teams acquire relevant skills. Industry leaders in Central Europe’s manufacturing sector have plans for future course development, in some cases working on 5- to 10-year planning cycles. In the Czech Republic, specifically, businesses are looking at training for digital skills, where Boston Consulting Group estimates (in data from 2022) that roughly 2.2 million employees, including those in manufacturing, will need to update their digital skills by 2030. At present, companies are looking at process changes led by technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) and pinpointing what work machines will take on, while defining what human intelligence will be needed to orchestrate process automation.

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Better sector promotion needed to onboard and keep new talent

Another issue for attracting and retaining highly-skilled talent in manufacturing is building awareness of what jobs in the sector actually in entail. Many candidates have outdated notions of skills required and are not always aware of technology elements and the possibility to grow into senior management roles. Manufacturing businesses throughout most of Europe appear to not be fully leveraging partnerships with educational and government institutions to boost their ability to develop relationships with new graduates. For example, apprenticeships and collaboration with vocational-technical schools are ways to show young candidates what’s available on the job market. A successful example of this is the Hungarian government’s recent agreement with a major foreign investor to put forward almost 65 million EUR in funds for upskilling in electrification processes, teaching workers skills that are much needed in that country in the medium term.

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Stress the long-term evolution of industry skills along with growth opportunities

One key message that needs to be gotten across is that manufacturing is not boring. Many new graduates and current sector employees perceive work in the industry as repetitive and below their skills level. Nothing could be further from the truth. Increasingly, manufacturing roles demand a number of soft skills that help improve process operations and overall efficiency. Knowledge in fields like project management, critical thinking and creative problem-solving is what will help employees skill up to more exciting work opportunities. Additionally, per Gi Group Holding’s recent sector report, Global HR Trends Manufacturing, businesses in the industry are committed to investing in continued talent upskilling. 43% of companies report that their employees are not adequately skilled at the operator level for many machines and devices. Likewise, that same share of businesses, especially in Poland and Italy, expect to add new jobs or train more of their current employees to handle changes brought about by new technologies used in the sector.

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Recruit now for medium-term future roles

The Gi Group report also highlighted that in-demand roles focus on data processing and managing automation. Jobs like data scientists, AI/ML specialists, big data specialists, digital marketing and strategy specialists, as well as process automation specialists are highly sought after. In countries like Poland and Brazil, over 70% of industry leaders expect these tech- and data-driven roles to change hiring priorities in coming years. Manufacturers in Europe’s larger markets have identified key blue collar roles (production operations, machine and device operators and quality controllers) and white collar roles (production planners, quality assurance managers and maintenance managers), which they say are currently top of mind, with businesses investing to ensure continued worker knowledge and proficiency in those areas.

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Ultimately though, opportunities to learn new skills and boost chances for career advancement are also good branding for businesses in the manufacturing sector. In the previously mentioned Gi Group Holding sector report,?42% of respondents declared that continuous learning is important because it allows employees to combine work experience with new skills. That same number said that continuous training is important because it helps develop the skills of the workforce according to the needs of the company they work for (also part of a good EVP). Meanwhile, 76% of global thought leaders agreed that continuous learning is key to ensuring lifelong employability. Clearly, the market is telling us it’s time to advance efforts to upskill and reskill in order to ensure qualified, future-facing work teams. Is your manufacturing business ready??