September 2024: Football, MFG Day and Fire Safety

By: Connie King , Workforce Development Director, PMA

? Are You Ready for Some Football? ?

Welcome to September’s Metal Minute, where we tackle (get it?) the pressing issue of Fantasy Football in the workplace. Now, I know what you're thinking: "Isn't this just an excuse for employees to slack off?" Well, let me tell you, it's more like a strategic play for boosting morale and engagement!

First off, let's address the elephant in the room—my draft. Yes, Yahoo gave me an F. An F! At first, I thought that meant Fantastic until my colleague explained, “no, remember, like college!” I'm still in denial, but that's beside the point. The real point is, even with a draft that could make a fantasy team cry, the spirit of competition and camaraderie it brings to the office is priceless.

Why Fantasy Football is a Win for HR:

• Engagement: Nothing brings people together like arguing over who should be the starting quarterback. Suddenly, the water cooler isn't just for hydration; it's a hub of strategy and debate.
• Morale Boost: When your team scores a touchdown, so does your mood. Happy employees are productive employees. Plus, who wouldn't want to work harder knowing they can gloat over their fantasy win during lunch breaks?
• Team Building: It's like an all-season team-building exercise. You'll see sides of your colleagues you never knew existed. Like, did you know Susan from accounting has a secret passion for fantasy trades?
• Stress Relief: Work can be tough, but nothing relieves stress like watching your fantasy team lose points in real-time. It's like therapy, but with more shouting at the TV.

So, let's embrace Fantasy Football at work. Sure, it might lead to a few more breaks here and there, but trust me, the benefits far outweigh the costs. And who knows? Maybe next year, I'll draft a team that doesn't make Yahoo cringe.

Stay engaged, stay competitive, and most importantly, stay fantasy!

? Sometimes a Fantasy (oh-oh-oh-oh) Is All You Need ?

Rock MFG Day!

MFG Day 2024 is right around the corner, Friday, October 4. This much needed day, which was created to showcase the potential of modern manufacturing and foster interest in manufacturing careers, is an annual event that was first held in 2012.

In our world you know that we’re experiencing an HR crisis. The “silver tsunami” is upon us and the majority of our workforce largely has grey hair and is quickly aiming for a pickleball court or golf course as being the only thing in their daily routine. The crop of candidates for replacing the exiting workforce is small, largely due in part to the negativity our parents handed down about manufacturing. And this is where the famous “skills gap” we keep hearing about comes in. Our industry has a need for skilled labor and there’s seemingly no one to fill the roles.

So, what do we do about it? Rock MFG Day! Host events (live content) that immerse the unaware masses in truly invigorating experiences that have the power to sway people’s emotions about manufacturing careers. Not sure how? Register for PMA’s webinar Rock MFG Day on September 26 and read here for a few more ideas on showcasing your industry this October (you don’t have to do something on October 4. MFG Day is really MFG Month!). Not sure how to finance your event? Apply for some help with the PMA Educational Foundation Metalforming Micro-grant Program!

As a result of the decade-old holiday, the public perception of careers in manufacturing has changed dramatically. Students who attended Manufacturing Day events in the past are reportedly 81% more motivated to pursue careers in the field, which is a huge step toward closing that skills gap.

Fight Fire with Fire

Speaking of October, the 6th-12th is also Fire Prevention Week. This year’s campaign is “Smoke alarms: Make them work for you!?” Fire prevention is an essential topic for business owners, so our affinity partner, Federated Insurance shared these easy as 1, 2, 3 steps to help you begin preventing dangerous, deadly and avoidable fires.?

1. Step One: Educate your employees on the consequences of a potential fire in the workplace.
2. Step Two: Implement a fire prevention plan at your company.
3. Step Three: Repeat steps one and two.

See how easy that was?!

Find more information about the importance of fire prevention awareness, as well as other safety topics, here.

Putting Out the Flames

Speaking of fire (see how I did that?), let’s talk about another related, important topic...employee burnout. This issue has become a broad enough global concern that it was specifically declared as an organizational phenomenon by the World Health Organization in 2019. But addressing burnout at the employee level isn’t enough. A healthy work environment is one where organizational policies, practices and values create a system in which individuals and organizations can thrive.

Common approaches to remedying burnout focus primarily on individual coping methods and wellbeing initiatives (e.g. yoga, additional time off). While these approaches may temporarily help individuals cope with stress, they fail to address the systemic influences (e.g. workload), resulting in an infinite cycle of employees re-experiencing burnout.

Like all the other challenges you’re facing, I am sure you’re asking the same question, “Where do I start?” McLean & Co?, a trusted partner of HR and leadership professionals around the world, put together an excellent plan to assist you. The guide covers:

1. Developing a resilient workforce
2. Creating a holistic employee wellbeing program
3. A plan to extinguish organizational burnout

Find out more here.

Gen Z – “The Toolbelt Generation”

This is what the media is calling Gen Zs. And I love it! Gen Zs (those born between 1997-2012) are becoming disenchanted with the college track and tuition prices. And, also seeing rising pay and new technologies trending in the trades, they are shifting focus, so jobs and apprenticeships in industrial sectors are on the rise!

Gen Z are expected to make up 27% of the workforce by 2025. Unlike most of us born before the 80s, Gen Zs are true digital natives who not only welcome the implementation of new technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), but quickly adapt to them.

If you can attract and retain employees from this age group, they have A LOT to offer. But, as we know, with roughly 83% of our industry experiencing labor shortages, the hardest-to-fill roles are entry-level, including assemblers and fabricators, engineers, maintenance, repair and operations workers.

You need to fill these roles, so making them attractive to Gen Zers is critical. But what are they looking for? According to an article in Thomas?, they want:

1. career progression and flexibility,
2. stability,
3. purpose and
4. financial security.

Our industry has what this generation wants, you just have to build a strong marketing campaign and communicate it in “their language.”

Delve more into why this shift towards industry is happening, how to attract Gen Zs and what it all means for you!

Changing the Conversation About Manufacturing

Struggling to come up with ways to tell your future employees about how awesome their potential job can be at your company? Want to reach those Gen Zs in their terms, like I mentioned above? Need some help differentiating your company from the competition to attract and retain? Listen to PMA’s Technical Training Director, Dean Phillips , DTM SME? , in the Destiny of Manufacturing podcast as he talks with ??Lisa Ryan, CSP , Chief Appreciation Strategist at Grategy , about how to change the conversation about manufacturing.

It's Time HR Got the Credibility it Deserves

In HR, you are tasked with your company’s most valuable assets, your people. Every day you juggle the daily “HR” activities (reviews, compliance, benefits, salaries, interviews, etc.), and there are always new things piled on you, like being the company spokesperson, salesperson and training officer. In spite of the importance of your role, HR rarely has a seat at the executive table.

Read 15Five’s playbook, Unlocking the True Business Value of HR, to learn how to collect, analyze and act on the data that matters more to your C-suite.

Two Quick Fixes to Help You Get Organized and Make Life Easier

1. Taming the Email Beast: Is your head barely above your email inbox? Here’s a useful tool if you want to clean your inbox or are meaning to unsubscribe and delete hundreds of emails.
2. Music that “Entertains” You: Get the app with a large variety of sounds and music to help you focus, relax and even sleep.

METALFORM EDU Course of the Month: Math and Measure

When our technical trainers are hard at work teaching necessary skills, consulting and standing side-by-side with your employees to help your company succeed, they continually hear the same thing company after company. When it comes to new recruits, “math and measuring skills are severely lacking.” For example, an aerospace manufacturer in Tacoma has all job seekers take an 18-question, 30-min. math test. Although the company considers only prospective workers who have a high school education, only one in 10 who take the test pass!?

But your new recruits, and perhaps even your current employees, are not alone. The United States ranks below average in math compared with other developed countries. By the 12th grade, only 26% of our students score at or above the proficient level in math (NAEP). And measuring skills goes along with it. In the past, math problems have predominantly been executed by students through routine memorization. But now, some teachers are looking for ways to help create math problems and techniques that relate to real-world situations, so students grasp easier, it makes more sense, and it stays with them well beyond their school years.

If you find you are in the same situation as the aforementioned aerospace manufacturer, PMA can help. True, our Occupational Aptitude and Knowledge Assessment (OAKA) was designed to be a predictor of an inexperienced applicant’s potential to learn the job and his/her ability to function in today’s precision manufacturing environment, but it can also help you tell where people are on the math/measurement spectrum.

Our online training platform, METALFORM EDU, has 33 math and 26 measurement courses you can assign to new or incumbent employees to learn or better understand these critical skills in that more real-world environment. EDU courses were created for our industry, using machines, people, terms, industry surroundings and situations in metalforming. Again, to better relate the purpose, need, and how-to for math and measurement in their everyday work environment.??

Unlock the Office: Why Mastering MS Office is Your Team's Ticket to Productivity Superpowers!

Productivity on the floor is mandatory and it’s an everyday part of life. But is it in the office? As administrators, do we get “measured” as critically as others when it comes to how long it takes us to finish tasks, what we use to complete them or how well we know the products or platforms we use? I’m going to guess no.

But skills such as Microsoft Office and Adobe are essential parts of our work. They support consistency in presentation, provide a more collaborative work environment, manage communications, and make written communications sharper and quicker. Let’s take MS Office, for example. I bet you only scratch the surface on Excel capabilities. Maybe you can execute a few formulas, a pivot table here and there, but can you analyze and visualize effective data? How about Word? Are your documents professional, can you create templates and seamlessly integrate content? Can you swiftly put together an impactful PowerPoint presentation?

There are of course, numerous ways to improve your administrative platform skills. EDU has a whole series of impressive courses on MS Office tools. But, if you have a larger group (more cost-effective), and/or you and your team are more hands-on learners, consider bringing in an expert through PMA’s ExpressTrain program. We’ve done the hard work for you and gathered vetted industry experts who are clear communicators, and unique and personalized instructors, specializing in all things Microsoft and Adobe.

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].