Reluctant to Reshore Due to Apparent Shortage of Skilled Labor? Don’t Be
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
These are relatively uncertain times for some manufacturers with supply chains that transcend borders to countries subject to punitive tariffs, and/or social, political and economic unrest. Knowing where to invest time and precious resources isn’t as clear as it was a couple of decades ago, yet that is the situation many are in.
We all remember how quickly companies relocated part (in some cases all) of their operations, and/or prodded their suppliers to do the same, to lower wage, lower regulation and lower property cost environments – regardless of the transport costs, and risks of regional instability and supply chain disruption. As those economies developed and the associated operational costs increased, those perceived savings continued to erode. And as regional instability rose, many employers started to plan their next move. Once again, the U.S. looks like a viable site alternative.
One over-hyped and inaccurate factor in the U.S. is the shortage of skilled labor, which some workers see as a veiled attempt to justify importing labor who will take the job for significantly less. There are plenty of skilled labor available who were displaced during the Crash of 2008, or displaced by the trade wars, and who had to change career course to feed their families. Many of these workers are still waiting and could be quickly and easily “re-tooled” for today’s manufacturing jobs with a focused structured on-the-job training program. Some are kept from seeking out these opportunities by wages and benefits for the job they once had now offered at 50% – hardly enough to attract skilled candidates back not to mention for retaining a “skilled worker.”
click here to expandSome see this as a sort of hypocrisy; the publicized, frantic search for “skilled” and “talented” workers, while offering these skilled workers less for the job they once held with that employer or a similar employer in the industry. So, for now, many of those workers that are that skilled and talented abandoned the career of their choice for the career that pays the bills.
Unless employers can convince their shareholders that wages and benefits have to go up to attract the workers they prefer, employers will have to accept the candidates that remain of which there are plenty. These are the ones with the college degrees you see working in service positions, just waiting for an opportunity to apply their skills to a job with more substance. Read More
Challenge Employees with Self-Improvement Opportunities to Head-off Burnout
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
Let’s face it. Routine work can be boring. Doing the same work for extended periods can affect an employee’s attitude toward their job, employer and life. There are things employers can do to alleviate the tedium of work they need performed, keeping the incumbent employee interested and engaged and the new-hire curious and open-minded.
Workers of all ages are showing frightening levels of decline in engagement with their work. According to a recent Gallup survey, “The New Challenge of Engaging Younger Workers:”
- “42% of employees who are looking to find a new job say they feel their company is not maximizing their skills and abilities.” (Deloitte)
- Among the reasons for quitting, career development is the most common for employees that leave within their first 90 days in a company. (Work Institute)
- According to LinkedIn research, “94% of workers say they would be more likely to stay at a company if it invested in their career.”
With the natural increase in retirements and the loss of technical expertise, losing workers unnecessarily seems to be risk no one would want to take.
click here to expandThese data points were reenforced by other measures viewing the employee attitudes from another angle. According to HR Dive, about 65% of employees said they suffered from burnout last year, according to a Dec. 18 report from isolved, a human resource management system. Employee burnout has decreased somewhat compared to 2022, according to the report, but it’s still heavily affecting productivity. About 72% of employees said burnout impacted their performance.”
Burnout has continued to rise across all age groups. Conversely, engagement has proportionately declined. While troubling if left unaddressed, actions can be taken reverse these trends. Read More
The Challenges of “Team Building” Projects
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
We have all been there. Assigned to a project along with several others and declared “a team.“ Sometimes they work well, sometimes they result in endless meetings, endless meaningless reports, rivalries between team members as some jockey for position to be seen by management, or worse yet, the team is hijacked by that one self-appointed “leader” in the group that is convinced they know everything, but evidence shows quite the contrary…and the more that is pointed out, the more they feel threatened and push back.
Team building is a “collective term for various types of activities used to enhance social relations and define roles within teams, often involving collaborative tasks.” It is also a management tool to “expose and address interpersonal problems within the group.”
Whenever people join together to work on a common project, no matter if it is two people or 20 people, the organizational dynamics and personality differences, the aspirations of the individuals and each member’s level of dedication and self-motivation will determine the outcome of the project more than the importance of the assignment itself. In cases where that one, perhaps overly ambitious, individual who has learned to control the agenda through intimidation, or the team wanders without direction, other team members (and potential team members for future projects) may react in various ways – some very undesirable. These include:
click here to expand- Timid behavior – reluctant to offer input to the team for fear of criticism, uncomfortable in a team setting or with team members;
- Ambivalent behavior – team member shows up late, seems distracted, doesn’t participate in conversations and/or turns in late or weak assignments;
- Skeptical behavior – those with more experience with project management can assess the team’s efforts and conclude it will never reach its goal, then distance themselves being concerned for their image being connected to the predictably failing project;
- Conflictive behavior – contributes to the team only when pushed and/or only when they agree with the reason for the assignment, quick to argue with other team members, seeks to keep team fighting among themselves;
- Combative behavior – takes actions to sabotage the team and its efforts, publicly broadcasts objections to team members or team decisions, undermines the team’s efforts by “poisoning” the workplace before or after the team’s results are released.
Obviously, there are many other possible undesirable outcomes from an imbalanced team or team goal, or an inappropriately selected team leader. A team approach to project management can be effective if the right steps are taken. Here are a few of the obvious: Read More
Replicating Your Best Performers
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
One project I was involved with sought to establish a structured on-the-job training program for a “CNC Operator” position and establish an apprenticeship. It consisted of around 40 different machines; manual and NC-operated of several brands, controller types and purposes. When I perform a job/task analysis on a job classification – task by task – I first contact the resident “subject matter expert.” It is my experience that in lieu of accurate standard process documents that everyone can use when assigned a machine, each operator keeps their own setup and operation notes. They are usually reluctant to share them.
As analysts, we assume that if the subject matter expert is assigned to us, it is a reflection of management’s confidence in the operator’s consistently high level of performance. We also learn a lot about the sub-culture that has arisen at the organization, bordering on “work performance anarchy.” Despite the connotations, this is a useful revelation. This lack of vital information sharing that has been going on can be eliminated. The collective wealth of task-specific information can be screened, validated, standardized and revision-controlled to be shared with all who are asked to perform the tasks.
This highlights several other preexisting issues in addition to the obvious. First, if the company is ISO/AS/IATF certified, an auditor would be appalled and likely “gig” the company for the use of uncontrolled “process documents.” Notes in toolboxes and lunchboxes are not revision controlled. If the company has even questionable process documents that they claim drive their “high level of quality performance” the existence of operator notes are a strong contradiction. A client visiting the site may have serious doubts about the practices, as well.
click here to expandThe next issue is, “what role do these notes play in the training of new-hires and cross-training incumbents?” Does the trainee even know these are available? My experience has been that each trainee is on their own to create their own notes…if they even think it is necessary. So now we have multiple sets of notes for each machine, seldom compared and standardized, AND the company’s process documents if they exist. This is a recipe for incidents of scrap, rework and equipment damage at a minimum.
It also appears that each trainee is on their own to learn the safe performance of each task. It is not enough to provide general safety knowledge learning. Read More
Read the full August, 2024 Proactive Technologies Report newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
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