Whether you’re struggling to keep up with orders or struggling to find work, a healthy workforce is always worth the investment. A careful review of your current employee’s skills may allow you to plug some holes, but your workforce needs to be constantly expanding and improving to stay prepared for whatever comes.
1. Focus On Small Improvements
Be willing to collect recommendations from employees on simple, small changes that can be made to their workspace that will improve their productivity. Be aware that some of these changes will require an investment in time, tools, and materials.
The proof will be in the coming weeks as their productivity is measured. If the change works, celebrate both their idea and the implementation of it. If an employee comes up with a better design for a layout table or a spreadsheet design, get their input on other places in which such improvements can be made. Encourage the employee who came up with the idea to teach other employees about
- what they started with
- what changes were made
- the end result
Research and development don’t have to happen in a lab. Internal improvements that improve your bottom line can be just as important as a new product line.
2. Automate Where Possible
Automation doesn’t have to mean that an employee loses their position. It can also mean that one employee can do more work than they could before with the right tools. Even better, custom-designed automation tools can also reduce the risk of workplace injury.
Injuries can be devastating to your bottom line. They can also badly damage workplace morale. If your industry includes working with tools that can lead to lacerations, burns or crushing injuries, find ways to automate those tasks whenever possible and never stop training.
3. Celebrate Safety Improvements
Because safety is so critical to healthy business morale, take a careful look at any safety improvements recommended by an employee. New employees can be quite helpful in this regard.
If your employees have to work with flammable or caustic products, make sure you’re always looking for safer storage options. If a new employee comes in with a suggestion, review the product improvements and discuss positive changes with your safety manager. Change is never easy, but the safety of your employees, your facility, and your reputation may be protected by one productive safety recommendation.
4. Hire Success Stories
Your business competitors can also be a terrific source of terrific employees. Consider seeking out the advice of a retained headhunter in MN or other locations nationwide, especially if you’re looking for a new executive or a leader of a new department.
If your business has been consistently focused on manufacturing and you are behind on B2B marketing, it could be because you don’t really want to deal with it. There’s nothing wrong with sticking to your manufacturing focus; you’re good at it and your business is still chugging along.
However, if B2B marketing isn’t in your field of expertise, you need to hire someone who can bring in the skills and focus that you lack. Once you find the right person to upgrade your marketing footprint, be prepared for other employees or contract workers to become necessary.
5. Focus On Flexibility
Whenever possible, look for ways to provide your employees with options to customize their schedules. If you are looking to hire students, you may need to provide options that work around class schedules and options to put in more hours over the summer or the winter holidays.
Offer other options to employees facing big life events, such as
- split shifts
- early start times, either with an early quitting time or a shortened week
- work-from-home days
Admittedly, not every employee can do their job from home. However, if you have a design team member who is expecting a child or caring for an aging parent, the option to work from home for a few days a week can be the difference between keeping them or having to replace them. Many tech-savvy employees have a lot of options in terms of workplace flexibility. Offer it before someone else targets your star employees.
A solid, dependable, and expanding workforce will grow through word of mouth. If you find that employees are not recommending your business as a great job opportunity, it may be time to find out why.
