Key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the manufacturing sector

This article discusses the key challenges faced by the manufacturing sector in attracting and retaining a skilled workforce. It covers issues such as lack of motivation, poor management of diversity, and poor recruitment and selection.

Running head: ATTRACTING AND RETAINING A WORKFORCE
Key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in the manufacturing sector
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Introduction
In the manufacturing sector, business leaders need to realise to create a workplace that
must attract, engage and retain their workforce. In the manufacturing industry, talented and
skilled people are always in demand. The more talent and skill the employees possess, the more
likely the employees can leave for another employee (Kramar et al., 2013). However, in recent
time, technology plays an advanced role in the manufacturing sector and experienced staffs
eligible for retirement start to leave the workforce. Therefore, the skill gap is still an issue in the
manufacturing sector and the manufacturing companies are in dire need of competitive
advantage by developing, attracting and retaining the skilled employees. The thesis statement of
the essay is to highlight the key challenges of attracting and retaining the workforce in the
manufacturing industry that can lead the industry to bring rewards efficiency, rapid turnaround
and nimbleness. In this study, five key challenges of attracting and retaining a workforce are
chosen for discussion.
Lack of motivation, rewards and compensation in the workplace
Motivation, compensation, reward management is an important component of the HR
function within a manufacturing sector. In the manufacturing industry, the employer wants high-
performance work practice (HPWP) and the organisations invest in employees' skills, abilities
and knowledge to provide the motivation, opportunities and contribution. The management
expects the employees to be a financial performer, provide greater innovation and lower
employee turnover. In organisations, employees always want to have a fixed salary, good
compensation and rewards if they perform well. The motivation of the employees within an
organisation is of two types; extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation

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comes from the extra benefits that the employees expect from the management to provide, bonus,
promotion, good salary, good designation and fringe benefits. According to Chiang & Birtch
(2010), extrinsic motivation is the behaviour of the employees that are driven by the external
rewards of fame and money. The employees desire the fame as well and reward given for
completing the task. Therefore, sales team within the manufacturing sector seeks the rewards for
finishing their roles. The employees want more than just the salary in each month in the form of
fringe benefits; some of the fringe benefits are insurance coverage, education assistance, fitness
assistance, meals and cafeteria and retirement plans. Therefore, the new candidates always try to
select the organisation to build up the career with who provides them fringe benefits and
extrinsic rewards. Therefore, rewards, motivation and compensation attract the employees to
work within an organisation and the employees do not leave the organisation if it fulfils the
desires of extrinsic motivation.
In addition, employees get motivated by the workplace atmosphere of mutual respect. In
the manufacturing sector, the managers want to unite the team through motivation and open
communication. Employees who are rewarded is often more motivated to remain with the
organisation Kim, Sutton & Gong (2013). Good HR managers always inspire the employees to
work harder and better; however; self-motivation is very important for the employees. Intrinsic
motivation means to behaviour that driven by the internal rewards of the employees and the work
must satisfy the employees to bring them intrinsic rewards. Internal satisfaction creates positive
emotions within the individual. The factors of intrinsic motivations are a challenge, control,
curiosity, cooperation and competition and recognition. Intrinsic motivation attracts the
employees to work within the organisation as the interest and enjoyment of the work and it gives
the employees passion and self-expression (Van Jaarsveld & Yanadori 2011). Therefore, the

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recruitment and selection process should be well-maintained to choose the employees who are
intrinsically motivated.
Lack of learning, development and career management
In an organisation, the employees always want to learn something new and they focus on
career development. It is important for the management to develop an integrated and aligned
human resource development system to provide benefits to the employees. Therefore, the newly
hired employees and the experienced employees both desire to have career advancement and
training. In the manufacturing sector, the employees work as a team and each of the employees
wants career growth as part of the professional development plan. The employees want training
to learn something new as it may help the employees to develop their career. As opined by
Kuvaas & Dysvik (2010), career development is the effort by the organisation to equip its
employees with knowledge, skills and experience that would assist the employees to perform
their duties of the current as well as future job role effectively. Career development is an
important target for the employees if the organisation does not provide them with smooth
development of the career; the employees will leave the organisation. Career advancement is
relatively different from just the training with a longer frame of time with broader focus. Purpose
of training is limited for the employees to improve and the objective of the development is to
make employees capable and enriched. The employees want development of the career for the
future security and it is one such motivation for the employees to stay within the organisation
(MacKenzie, Garavan & Carbery, 2011). The management will be unable to attract the new
candidates for the recruitment if they do not provide career advancement on time. The employees
do not select the organisation that will not give them career advancement and make their career
static.

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Training and development is the method of prevention from the job burnout and career
advancement is the sign of the improved quality of life. As stated by Kuchinke (2010), career
development needs are the heart of lifelong learning. The employees want within an organisation
that senior-level employees will provide support to them to develop their career. In the
manufacturing sector, the employees expect to climb up the ladder of success in short time. If the
management provides them with the right choice for career development; the employees do not
leave the organisation or they do not opt to select new employer. The employees know that great
career does not happen by accident; however, the employees choose such organisation that can
provide them with the opportunity of having a good career.
Issues regarding poor management of diversity and work-life balance
Managing diversity in the workplace can accelerate human characteristics, diverse human
resources and values of differences. In the manufacturing sector, the management sometimes
does not respect a certain group of people. According to Richard, Roh & Peiper (2013), the key
component in gaining favourable diversified workplace is creating the team with mutual respect
among the employees. The management and team leaders must have acceptance. Manufacturing
sector always works as a team when they manufacture something and selling process needs
working as a team also. Sometimes, employees may come from the different background,
religion, race and colour. Therefore, the employees or biased management can create prejudice,
discrimination and racism in the work environment. Therefore, conflict is inevitable within the
manufacturing sector and this animosity can lead to an explosion or turn into violence. In
addition, if the manufacturer organisation is a large one, the employees can come from different
cultural and ethnic background. Some of the individuals sometimes harbour unfair prejudices
against people of different colours, ethnicity and cultures. These prejudices create difference

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among the employees; however, manufacturing unit needs collaboration to bring productivity.
When no prejudice comes between the employees; perfect communication happens within the
workplace (Kramar, 2014). In manufacturing sector, employers hire immigrant employees; these
types of people face challenges to cope up with other employees. The smooth flow of
communication is only possible when the employees do not hesitate and communication process
reaches top-to-down or down-to-top without any blockage. In manufacturing sector, the
managers plan to provide diversity training to the employees at all levels as it helps the
employees to be consistent with their behaviour with other employees. Therefore, the lack of
diversity and increased discrimination may create problems for some of the employees. During
that situation, the employees take the decision to leave the organisation.
Manufacturing sector does not always mean flexibility in the work process. Management
sometimes provides pressure to the employees to give extra hours in exchange for money.
Marketing team does not have the family life as they have to maintain contact with each other for
the sake of the organisation. According to McCarthy, Darcy & Grady (2010), increasing work-
pressure and zero work-life balance creates dissatisfaction in the mind of the employees and they
decide to leave the organisation. Employees get burnt-out in manufacturing sector and they need
perfect work-life balance as family time can provide them refreshment and happiness. Low
work-life balance eventually reduces the productivity of the employees and it will increase the
employee turnover. Therefore, the managers of manufacturing sector must create flexible
working hours and leave plan to attract the new workforce into the organisation.
Poor performance management in the manufacturing sector

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Only fixed salary does not motivate in manufacturing sector where the management
provides lucrative incentives if the employees exceed the management expectation. The
manufacturing organisations need to do the performance management as it is the shared
understanding of the employees contributes to the organisation’s objectives. As stated by
O’Connell & O’Sullivan (2014), effective performance management, as well as appraisal system,
focuses on aligning the workforce, improving the employee performance and building
competencies and development for driving better business results. In the manufacturing sector,
performance management is the system through which the managers monitor, review and plan an
employee's work and performance objective. Performance management is the annual
performance review and performance management is the continuous process of setting the goals,
assessing the progress and providing the ongoing feedback and coaching (Decramer, Smolders &
Vanderstraeten, 2013). Therefore, in manufacturing sectors; performance management process is
absent as manufacturing units believe in the traditional method of monitoring and reviewing the
process. Performance management is the continuous process where the staffs as well as
managers work together to review the plan and monitor the employees’ objectives. .
Performance management provides benefits to the employees by giving the accurate
picture of employees’ performance. Performance management helps to get positive feedback and
the managers’ constructive feedback assists the employees to develop the performance (Kramar
et al., 2013). In the manufacturing sector, the employees want to improve the work to accelerate
the career growth and performance management system helps the employees to provide training
and development opportunities for developing the performance. Performance management
ensures the work plans to op the strategic direction of the organisation (Carassus, Favoreu &
Gardy, 2014). Most importantly, in manufacturing sectors, employees face the issues of lack of

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engagement and lack of training and envelopment. Technological improvement in manufacturing
sectors leads to workforce shortage. Therefore, the employees feel that they may lose the job in
near future. However, performance management provides benefits to the employees to clarify the
expectations of the organisations and it helps to do the self-assessment. Opportunities for job
accountabilities can contribute to improving the performance. Performance management and
appraisal system clearly define job satisfaction and career path of the employees. Managers
within the organisation get the benefits of reducing the conflicts, ensures the efficiency and
consistency of the performance. Performance management can save the time for the managers as
well. New candidates get the ongoing practice of improvement of the work as it ensures the
feedback and development from the managers. Performance management is the success of the
workforce and it is aligned with the goals of the organisation that drives the business results as
well.
Poor recruitment and selection in the manufacturing sector
Planned recruitment and selection identifies the best process to connect with qualified
applicants. Managers' planning about recruitment and selection attracts the newly hired
employees to be in the organisation as this process monitors the results and behaviours of the
employees (Kramar et al., 2013). The existing employees will be retained within the organisation
if the organisation employs the right selection as this process is aligned with organisation's
strategic direction and culture. The employees' work process and their development, as well as
problems, are identified through the selection and induction. The employees are given training if
they lack certain characteristics. HR department should recruit and select the candidates who are
job ready not just accurate for the organisation. As pointed out by Sauveur, Girouard & Goyette
(2014), the selection process of the organisation evaluates the qualification and traits of the

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candidates to screen how far they are fit for the organisation's purposes. Employee recruitment
and selection process need to be proactive to align with the strategic HR. The HR department
needs to know what are the needs of the organisation and the organisation will recruit the skills
according to this. The selection process can be external and the manufacturing sector will recruit
the best of the industry through the selection process. The benefit of the selection process is that
it can reduce the turnover of the organisation by fulfilling the skilled employees and this process
injects the existing employees with high morale. Selection process fits the culture well with
employee preferences and makes the employee happy to have greater efficiency and higher profit
(Sayce, Weststar & Verman, 2014). When large numbers of employees leave the organisation,
the organisations lose time as well as financial costs of recruiting maximum employees. During
the recruitment and selection, the management needs to inform the employees with
advertisement what the benefits of working in this organisation are as it will impact the
opportunity cost.
Recommendations to mitigate the challenges
In the manufacturing industry, retention and attrition are prevalent issues that the HR.
Therefore, the HR of manufacturing industry needs to minimise the attrition rate and increase the
retention of the employees. The HR department in manufacturing industry should provide a
positive working environment where the employees can have the training facility. Managers
need skills, knowledge and tool to understand what the employees want from the management.
In addition, the employees should be given rewards, recognition and compensation along with
flexible working hours. Employees have basic human needs to feel appreciated. Recognition and
incentive programme can help the management to meet those needs. Moreover, in the
manufacturing sector, the HR manager should involve and engage the employees in the working

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process to be productive. The team leader and HR manager can ask for the ideas and this process
make the employees feel valued. The HR manager can take the feedback or exchange the ideas
can lead to foster the employees' retention. Most importantly, the employees should be given
training and the career opportunities. The training process will make the employee's ore capable
and the employees will be valued. The career growth will help the employees to stay within the
organisation for a long time.
Conclusion
It is observed that despite sustained and rapid financial growth within the manufacturing
sector, the HR department has been observing the workforce shortage within the workplace. HR
department has been addressing the significant loss of the human capital and it makes urgency to
recruit more skilled employees. In order to manage the human resource, the recruitment and
selection process should be effective as it helps to recruit job-fit employees. In addition, low
employee engagement is another issue due to the lower motivation in the workplace. The
employees do not get basic extrinsic and intrinsic motivation from the management. The
employees need work-life balance so that they can spend personal life in peace. In order to solve
the issues; the HR management can provide training and development programmes, performance
management system with the measure, positive working environment and rewards and
recognition.

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