Process improvement alone is not enough to build and maintain an innovative and competitive facility.
More and more businesses are embracing an ever-changing work environment that focuses on empowering employees, and the manufacturing industry has not kept pace.
A 2017 State of the American Workplace report by Gallup found 75% of manufacturing workers aren’t engaged at work, making manufacturing the least engaged occupation in the U.S.
Businesses with higher engagement not only outperformed less engaged businesses, but they also saw a decrease in absenteeism and turnover, which are major factors common in manufacturing.
Here are four things you can do to reinvest in your plant to boost engagement and improve operations:
1. Create Shared Goals
Full company buy-in is essential for the success of your workforce and your company’s bottom line.
Reassess your company goals and identify ways everyone can connect and realistically contribute. Having shared goals that each person in the facility is striving toward will help boost morale and improve consistency.
2. Encourage Safety Ownership
Ask workers what you as a manager can do to make their jobs easier. Be receptive to ideas and concerns. Incorporate their feedback into improving procedures.
Empowering workers to have accountability for their work can create higher engagement. It also creates a workplace with fewer safety-related incidents.
3. Diversify Training with Microlearning
Target and customize microlearning courses that are specific to your facility so you can quickly and easily get everyone on the same page with information about a new task, service, or product.
Attention-grabbing videos can be a great opener to safety meetings. Seek out relevant topics and content, such as interviews of workers who have survived an accident to connect with workers on a deeper level.
4. Reinforce Safety With Strategic Visuals
Help keep your workers and facility running smoothly with up-to-date safety signs and labels. Evaluate your workplace to see where you can utilize visuals to improve the workflow and recognition of important processes and messages.
A workplace that values communication and promotes collaboration is crucial to empower employees and your business for success.
When businesses understand and bridge relationships with employees, it creates a solid synergy for success, production, efficiency, and safety.
About the Author
Kelsey Rzepecki writes for Graphic Products, makers of the DuraLabel line of industrial label and sign printers. For more information about customized visual communication, visit www.GraphicProducts.com or call 800.788.5572.
