November 2024: The Season of Giving Thanks

By: Connie King , Workforce Development Director, Precision Metalforming Association

Gobble Up Some Gratitude – Thanksgiving Style ?

As we approach the season of giving thanks, I encourage you to take a moment to celebrate not just the feast on your table, but the incredible team that forms the backbone of your operations. This Thanksgiving don’t just be thankful for the turkey, but for each and every one who bends, shapes and forges your company’s success with every piece of metal they touch. For me here at PMA, I’m serving up my own platter of appreciation to this team! It’s has been a year of triumphs and collaboration, and I give?my kudos?to the team with a generous dollop of gratitude. Remember that just like the turkey, our gratitude doesn't end when the meal does. It's an ongoing feast, and you, dear HR metal masters, are the centerpiece of the table at your organization. Keep shining, keep shaping and keep being the awesome individuals that you are. Join me in a virtual Thanksgiving toast…“Here's to more days filled with laughter, less with stress, and all the joy in between. From our family at PMA to yours, we wish you a Thanksgiving filled with happiness, and a metal-filled future that's as bright as your spirit. Gobble on and keep rocking the anvil!”

Nothing Says ‘You're Valued’ Like a Training Plan that Promises ‘We Want You Doing this Job for a Long Time’

A great way to give thanks and show appreciation to your employees is by creating an employee development plan. By investing in their development, you can improve their skills and knowledge, increase engagement and retention (94% of employees say they’d stay with a company longer if it invested in helping them learn), and achieve their, and your company’s, goals. And companies that learn faster than their competitors will have a significant advantage, as you can adapt and develop as required to meet the challenges you constantly face.

Okay, now that the reason is out of the way, I am sure you’re asking, “Where do I start?” Accurately assessing their development needs is a critical first step (one-size-fits-all approaches don’t work), create S.M.A.R.T. goals, then collaboratively develop a plan with each employee to maximize their engagement, motivation and ownership of the plan. Of course, creation is only step one. You have to implement, provide support/resources, adapt as you go, measure the impact and maintain the plans.

It can sound daunting, but it’s really not. PMA can help you as well. Our expert Workforce Development Team is here for you for all technical and non-technical needs.

Read more on how to play a powerful role in employee development in the How to Create Effective Employee Development Plans EBOOK.

Certain, Complicated, and Certainly Complicated

Benjamin Franklin famously noted that nothing is certain except death and taxes, which is pretty bleak when you think about it. But what about complex conversations? Franklin, with his penchant for witty banter and deep philosophical debates, surely would’ve chuckled at the irony of leaving out this universal truth. In the field of HR, you are no strangers to the inevitability of complex conversations, whether it be in a performance review or investigating conflict between employees.

Ensuring conversations on potentially challenging or polarizing topics begins with creating a psychologically safe environment, between you and your employees, as well as between themselves. Here are some tips to develop trust and navigate complex conversations: 1) Prepare for the conversation, 2) Treat it as a discovery session, 3) Communicate effectively, 4) Activate the right listening styles, and 5) Pair difficult feedback with conversation “after care.”

Find out more behind each step HERE in HR’s Complex Conversation Toolkit.

You Don’t Need to Reinvent the Wheel When You Can Buy It Already Round and Rolling

As the fiscal year draws to a close, companies often scramble to trim budgets and reduce expenses, aiming to present a healthier financial picture. However, one area where cost-cutting measures should tread lightly is employee training. While it's tempting to slash training budgets, doing so can undermine workforce development and long-term productivity. Instead, opting for off-the-shelf learning solutions can present a smart alternative. These pre-existing training modules allow organizations to maintain the momentum of employee education without the higher costs associated with bespoke training programs. This approach not only keeps teams skilled and engaged but also ensures that companies don't sacrifice the quality of their human capital in the pursuit of short-term savings.

Off-the-shelf learning can save money in any of the following ways: it eliminates the need to hire an internal development team, it doesn’t require time for testing or revision, it allows access to an expansive content library, it takes stress off of the internal team, and there’s no need to purchase development software and tools.

Are you curious about whether or not off-the-shelf training is the right fit for your organization’s training needs? Reach out to PMA’s Workforce Development Team at [email protected] about METALFORM EDU to explore more of our resources on all things training and development today (and note, even though the course content of EDU is not specific to your company, the way you organize it can be!).

? Roll with the Changes ?

Change is hard because it’s like convincing a cat to take a bath—it’s going to resist with all its might, possibly claw at you, and might even pretend you don't exist until you give up. People, much like cats, are creatures of habit. We love our routines; they're our comfort blankets. So, when change comes knocking, our first instinct is to hide under the bed. That’s where a change management plan becomes your superhero cape. It’s your blueprint for coaxing everyone out of their comfort zones with promises of treats (or incentives), slowly acclimating them to the new normal, and ensuring that the transition doesn’t end with everyone scattering like cats at a dog park. Without it, you’re just hoping the chaos will magically organize itself into order, which, let’s face it, is about as likely as a cat enjoying a swim.

Again, change is hard for most humans. I thought this silly but relatable human-cat analogy, would help put a visual behind the stat that 73% of change-affected employees report experiencing moderate to high stress levels. We like information and certainty. Without it, we tend to default to either fight-or-flight mode. The good news is, the more the brain can predict and make sense of what’s happening around it, the less threatened it feels.

As an HR manager, you will often be at the forefront of change. There’s a four-step approach to change management that can help you, help them (your employees). 1) Be ready for anything, 2) Review existing processes, 3) Communicate often, and 4) Gather feedback regularly. If you prepare your team to take on any change with confidence, and work on this four-step approach, you can avoid the reasons that 70% of change management efforts fail: low employee engagement, lack of management support and poor collaboration. Practicing the skills in this workbook will help get you and your team on board with change and see success in transformation programs. When employees are invested in change, it’s much more likely to stick!

Paid Leave Laws by State

Frequently referred to as a “patchwork” or “complicated web,” employers know they have their work set out for them when it comes to navigating paid leave laws. While the challenge of complying with constantly evolving state and local paid leave laws is not new, recent developments have signaled that this hot topic will not simmer down any time soon. In just the past year, states and localities have added paid leave for any reason laws and have enacted or modified paid sick leave laws and paid family and medical leave laws, among others. It is no wonder that many employers striving to fulfill their compliance obligations struggle to stay up to date.

The Brightmine Paid Leave Laws by State and Municipality 50-state Chart provides easy-to-find and straightforward answers to paid leave law questions.

METALFORM EDU Course of the Month: Blueprint Mastery: Why Reading the Plans is the First Step to Metalforming Success

Understanding how to read a blueprint is critical to make and inspect parts so that they’re accurate to specifications. A blueprint is one of the most important ways to communicate the design of the metal parts between shop floor personnel, engineers and the customer. We can’t tell you how many times we hear that mastering blueprint reading is a valuable, but less seen skill in new hires.

PMA can help! METALFORM EDU has 11 online, on-demand courses to help skill or upskill incoming or incumbent employees to get a better understanding of this crucial skill. From Intro to Blueprints (DWG-1001) to Blueprint Symbols (DWG-1011), EDU can get your team ready to roll! Oh, and we also have 19 other drawing/engineer-related courses including GD&T.

Have questions or topics you want to learn more about? Contact a member of PMA’s workforce development team: Connie King , Mary Onders Pramik , Dean Phillips , DTM SME? or Scott Rieg , or email them at [email protected].