Background

The manufacturing sector is the backbone of our country’s economy. Starting from finding the right and skilled candidates, retaining talented and experienced employees, as well as attaining employee satisfaction, the sector is struggling with multiple challenges. The high attrition rate in the industry due to the difference in salary match-up with IT sector has resulted in lowered productivity as well as increased cost of hiring.

Work in the manufacturing sector is not a cushy desk job in a posh office, but is physically demanding and involves lifting, walking and standing all day or night long in demanding work environments, which is not for the faint of heart. Many factories operate 24/7 and employees are required to work in shifts, often occupied on the same work process and the same machinery, which makes the work monotonous. Employee engagement comes as a solution that the industry should focus on to increase retention, employee knowledge upgradation and upskilling, enhance belongingness as well as productivity of the organization.

Employee Engagement in EMS

Maintaining employee engagement is vital for a company’s success and has a strong correlation with increased productivity, knowledge enhancement, accountability and safety. Productivity and employee engagement go hand in hand. The employee engagement activities strengthen the mental and emotional connection the employees feel towards the work they do, their team, and their organization. Thus, the manufacturing industry needs to work on employee engagement activity to survive the changes, meet market demands through employee development and training.

Even though it comes as no surprise that employee engagement is low in manufacturing, fortunately, there are many ways to engage manufacturing employees and ultimately drive greater retention. Although employee engagement has always been important, now in this post pandemic era, it is critical to take a deep dive into it and tweak few HR policies to foster environments where employees feel heard and feel a sense of community. Here are few employee engagement strategies:

• Strengthen Communication

Creating open lines of communication in the organization is very important. Managers and supervisors should ensure that employees see them as approachable and share their ideas and work challenges as and when they arise. Employees feel more engaged with their work when they consider their superiors approachable.

Scheduling weekly or monthly team meetings, collecting regular feedback on the work environment and safety issues, asking employees for suggestions for the improvement of various work processes and most importantly listening to the employees make them feel more valued and boost their sense of belongingness.

• Appreciating Employees and Reward Milestones

It is no rocket science but a known fact that human beings like to be appreciated for the effort they put into their work. Honoring wins and providing positive feedback encourages team spirit and keeps them motivated to perform better. Recognition, appreciation and suitable rewards can enhance the sense of connection with the work and the organization.

In the manufacturing industry, appreciation need not be only for the achievement of targets, but small appreciative gestures for their positive and effective behaviour such as helping their colleagues, staying compliant with safety guidelines, various work-related initiatives, can motivate the employees and push them to work harder.

• Fair Treatment, Respect and Inclusivity

The engagement challenge has a lot to do with how an employee feels about the work experience and how he or she is treated in the organization. Employee engagement can start with making employees feel that they are respected and by providing fair treatment. These simple gestures of inclusion are easy to put into practice and have a high positive impact.

• Encourage Innovation and Connect to a Bigger Goal

Manufacturing is very challenging in nature, and that is a major reason for the lack of employee engagement in this sector. Demanding work and not being aware of the company’s vision becomes psychologically draining, and the employees are likely to be working just for the salary. Providing employees a dedicated time to experiment and innovate at work can be a breath of fresh air as well as being transparent on the company’s target make the employees know that they are working towards something more significant and in turn helps them to put in more effort and take the initiative to achieve the goals.

Summary

The manufacturing sector should understand that employee engagement is not a silver bullet that their one mindful action, one perk, or one event can achieve. Unfortunately, there are no singular solutions for enhancing employee engagement. Cultivating employee engagement is a continuous process and it’s something that everyone in the organization must nurture every day through small and consistent actions. The manufacturing industry should remember that gratitude, respect, connection, experimentation, inclusivity, learning, growth, recreation, openness, safety and autonomy are fundamental to motivation and all initiatives should address these basic human needs.