?Factories are falling short of skilled workers.
Half of the 4 million U.S. manufacturing jobs that likely will be needed over the next decade are expected to go unfilled unless workers from younger generations are motivated to pursue modern manufacturing careers, The Manufacturing Institute has reported.
“Scaling up the colleges so they can meet industry’s demand for trained workers requires a growing supply of would-be students keen on the kind of programs that lead to a factory career,” Bloomberg reported. That’s proving to be a challenge, Bloomberg noted, even as big tax incentives “have led to a boom in factory construction.”
Manufacturing has an image that’s still stuck in the industrial age. It’s not seen as a career path for younger generations who have grown up in the digital age, think manufacturing doesn’t offer a viable career path or may fear automation will put them out of a job. Additionally, numerous surveys have shown younger generations prefer hybrid work environments—something that manufacturing plants aren’t known to accommodate.
Some employers are rising to the recruiting and hiring challenge in a variety of ways. SHRM Online collected the following news reports on this topic, including what employers must do—and are doing—to meet those challenges.
The U.S. Is Building Factories Again, but Who Will Work There?
America’s drive to compete with China in manufacturing requires lots more skilled workers. Tennessee’s experiment with free technical school, and its close partnerships with business giants like Volkswagen and Nissan, offer a glimpse of the future.
(Bloomberg)
Top HR Challenges in Manufacturing
As the manufacturing industry rebounds from the coronavirus, it will have to overcome skills gaps, retirements and an image problem.
(HR Magazine)
Manufacturers Strain to Attract Talent as More than 740K Jobs Go Unfilled
Companies are raising wages and adding flexibility in a bid to entice workers. However, manufacturers also need to overcome the perception-problem that manufacturing is a dated industry, according to Paul Wellener, Deloitte’s vice chair of industrial products and construction practice leader.
“Manufacturing has to compete with the other industries and make sure it shows that it’s attractive,” he said. “It’s not the dark, dirty and dangerous manufacturing that our mothers or fathers knew. It is a new cleaner, high tech, more innovative, more diverse manufacturing.”
(SupplyChainDive)
Creating Pathways for Tomorrow’s Workforce Today: Beyond Reskilling in Manufacturing
This report from Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute is their fifth study of the talent shortage in manufacturing, the various factors contributing to that shortage and the measures manufacturers could take to address the shortage.
(The Manufacturing Institute)
The Skilled Labor Shortage: Strategies for Attracting Millennials and Gen Z to American Manufacturing Jobs
Manufacturing businesses that make targeted and intelligent investments in resource development stand the strongest chance of overcoming the critical skilled labor shortage. It’s time to tap into promotional strategies such as vocational school outreach programs, social media recruitment, and enhanced mentorship and training initiatives to expand your outreach.
(LinkedIn)
10 Manufacturing Recruiting Tips to Help You Find Great Workers
Manufacturing recruiting faces several hurdles, including industry image issues, difficulty finding skilled workers, lack of training and upskilling, and an aging workforce. Here are four of the most significant challenges facing manufacturing company recruiting.
(Workbright)
How Virtual Reality Technology Is Changing Manufacturing
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality can speed the onboarding of new workers and improve worker productivity by offering more immersive on-the-job training. AR smart glasses that project video, graphics and text can visually guide a worker, step by step, through assembly or maintenance tasks. All the worker needs to do to initiate a repair, for instance, is gaze at the machine part in need of fixing. (Business.com)
To Address Labor Shortages, Manufacturers Must Become Talent Creators
Because hiring is expensive, it makes financial sense to invest in models that let companies harvest the rewards of growing their own talent. For example, Taco Comfort Solutions, a family-owned HVAC manufacturer based in Rhode Island, works with local two-year and four-year colleges to provide in-house, on-site training for both new hires and valued long-time employees.
(Industry Week)