Hiring for manufacturing was difficult before 2020, but COVID-19 has made it worse. Even as the economy as a whole is losing jobs, the manufacturing sector is adding jobs according to a National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) report released in January.
NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray said in the report: “Manufacturing added 38,000 workers in December, rising for the eighth straight month and making the sector one of the bright spots in an otherwise disappointing (but expected) report.”
Unfortunately, said Carol Sampson, cofounder of Foundations Human Resources Consulting (FHRC) in Lexington, finding people to fill those jobs can be a challenge, especially during a pandemic.
“From our perspective, COVID basically turned a labor market challenge into a crisis,” Sampson said. “And we very quickly saw our clients and other manufacturers and companies really having to maybe look at places they never looked before and really respond in a way that they had not in the past.”
According to the NAM report, nationally, the manufacturing labor market is well below its pre-COVID-19 pace, with the sector losing 557,000 workers in 2020, the largest decline since 2009. However, the manufacturing sector had more than 12 million workers in December, down from its nearly 13 million workers in February but still an improvement over the 11.5 million workers it had in April.
In Kentucky, the number of people working in manufacturing is also down year-over-year. According to the state’s unemployment report released in November, the latest for which there is data, the total number of manufacturing employees decreased by nearly 4 percent between November 2019 (250,900 employees) and November 2020 (241,100 employees).
Despite high unemployment, finding skilled workers continues to be an issue during the pandemic, Sampson said. Safety concerns, childcare issues and government incentives made it harder to find people willing to come in to work.
COVID-19 has added to that problem by making the hiring process more difficult, as well.
“Prior to the pandemic, many of our clients had very complex, very thorough, very appropriate, hiring processes,” she said. “What companies are doing now is that they are finding ways to streamline those hiring processes and to make them virtual.”
Sampson said employers are holding virtual job fairs and virtual interviews, even hiring on the spot and offering referral bonuses to existing employees as a way to find new workers.
Part of the hiring process, said Karen Combs, co-founder of FHRC, is letting potential employees know what safety protocols are in place and what to expect in regard to those protocols and training.
“Most manufacturers have developed and implemented very strict safety protocols for those who are on site,” she said. “Not all businesses have done it to the extent that they have in terms of PPE, temperature taking, strict protocols on isolation and things like that … they have established extensive safety playbooks. That’s also a critical component when you’re out recruiting, to be transparent and articulate the safety measures in place to ensure that all workers are in the safest work environment possible.”
Employee retention practices have changed, as well.
"It is not simply enough anymore just to have a competitive compensation and benefits program. You have to have an environment where people want to work. The environment must be safe. It must be clean. It must be comfortable." —Karen Combs
“From our perspective, it is not simply enough anymore just to have a competitive compensation and benefits program,” Combs said. “You have to have an environment where people want to work. The environment must be safe. It must be clean. It must be comfortable. There has to be trust between that company’s leadership team and the employees, and the employees absolutely must feel they’re part of something bigger, and they must take pride in the work that they do.”
Creating a company culture where employees are engaged and valued is important.
At Big Ass Fans in Lexington, such a culture is central to the company’s core principles.
Alex Risen, public relations manager with Big Ass Fans, said the company uses its culture to not only attract good people but to keep them. The company, he said, has about a 3 percent voluntary turnover rate on the production floor, where nationally, the industry average is in the 30 to 35 percent range.
“From the supply chain standpoint, as a manufacturer, how do we attract people? We have more than three-quarters of our supply chain, all of our vendors, within a six-hour drive of Lexington,” he said. “That’s a big deal. That means something to a lot of people, and it obviously means something to the communities that are right around us. People like to work for those type of places.”
Big Ass Fans has installed fans and clean-air systems to help keep employees safe and comfortable on the job.
And the company has used its own products to create a cleaner, safer workspace on its production floor. Big Ass Fans has recently installed a clean-air system not only to help limit the transmission of COVID but to make the production floor more comfortable.
“Right now, it’s certainly something where new employees are going to be evaluating not only their employer but also their workspace,” he said. “How we’ve approached attracting employees and then retaining them is through things like new job opportunities, career growth, tuition assistance … We have somebody right now who is seeking his master’s degree in supply chain management. People will stay with you if you show them you are willing to invest in them.”
Finding ways to communicate with those on the floor becomes a challenge but plays a key role in how employees feel valued and part of the team. And COVID-19 has changed that too, he said.
“Our line leads would go out there ahead of manufacturing and would walk the floor and touch base [with employees on the line],” Risen said. “And that had to be modified, right? We don’t want a bunch of people congregating around each other anymore. Luckily, from a distance standpoint, the way our lines are set up, we were capable of not having to do a lot of changing or altering the lines themselves. And from a communication standpoint, the line lead is still able to go to that individual line before the day starts and communicate with the three or four people who are right there at that particular junction.”
By communicating and engaging with employees, manufacturing companies can continue to keep in the qualified help they need. And by showing prospective employees the clean, modernized, efficient manufacturing floors, they can bring in new staff to facilities that are the future of work in America.