Manufacturing Leaders’ Two Biggest Challenges: Talent Attraction and Retention

Unemployment and under-employment are two stubborn constants in America. Despite that, there is a tragic comedy playing out in American manufacturing:?demand for talent in all manufacturing sectors is up, the quit rate is at an all-time high, and the retention rates low. What could be the root cause?

Many hiring managers I have come across in the sector complain of a shortage of critical workers and the problem of retention as constant pain in their neck. They say a boatload of money, time, and efforts are pumped into the recruitment process. Yet, as a result comes delayed deliveries, stalled projects, rising workloads for the fewer existing employees, and the inevitable hit to moral…leading to lower productivity and more turnover.

Recruitment Process: An expenditure or an investment?

I associate the afore-presented problem with manufacturing leaders’ simplified and often commoditized outlook on recruitment. They take a casual approach to hiring because they reduce the process to all the current calculated costs rather than viewing it as an investment for long-term returns (or to state it in the negative...the damages). On the other hand, best manufacturing leaders carefully form their recruitment and retention processes to repeatably and predictably attract a the best talent that fits their particular needs and DNA, while minimizing the risks…steering clear of mis-hires and the indirect and direct costs that come with a bad hire.

Have you Calculated The eye-popping price of your mishires?

The expense of a mis-hire is overwhelming in actual dollar cost if you put together recruiting, training, onboarding, severance, and liabilities fees. Alongside these hard costs come the soft costs: time/effort to manage C players, loss of employee morale, the inability to meet customer and market demands, missed deliveries, etc. Besides, do you think you would be able to retain your A-players in the presence of tolerating C-level employees?

C-tier employees drag down the entire team's energy, great recruiters are consistently cultivating and building a network of A-players.?A-players lose respect for the leadership as C-players continue to fall through the cracks in the recruitment process, and somewhere in this chaotic situation, an A-player starts wondering if the grass is greener on the other side of the fence…and in this type of economy, options come to them, and they leave. Several studies show the cost of turnover at a minimum of 3x the employee compensation, — What do you think that does to your own career as the leader? …it can kill it.

Big Studies, Big Numbers, Big Findings Pointing to One Thing Only…the traditional recruitment model used by most organizations is broken.

This is a widespread problem in manufacturing – it is not just you. LeadershipIQ recently compiled a study conducted over three years. The study closely watched over 5,247 hiring managers from 312 organizations that collectively hired over 20,000 employees. Of which, 46% have already left, while only 19% were considered ‘successful hires’ by the hiring managers.?I wish that were it, but it’s not – Harvard Business School, the Corporate Leadership Council, and Gartner Research are all finding and reporting similar, distressing statistics.?As a manufacturing leader you don’t put up with those kind of KPI’s…why do you put up with them in your hiring processes?

Responsible Leaders Do Not Look for Quick Fixes

Funnily, your ability to label the recruits as A/B/C players does not solve the problem of mis-hires and A-player retention. As a manufacturing leader, you are responsible for proactively attracting suitably qualified candidates and investing in their training, development, and needs. Most importantly, manufacturers need to improve their employee branding and the hiring approach to be more competitive. And if you tell me that you are doing better than the studies suggest, I will simply suggest you be honest with yourself. Start working on the cracks in your approach if you want to save yourself from further losses.

If you’d like to see a different way that can deliver a more repeatable, predictable, and less risky approach to finding your manufacturing leadership talent…I’ll send you a copy of our Talent Delivery System.

Email me at [email protected].?I’ll be happy to share.