Manufacturing is an increasingly competitive industry and talent shortages are taking a toll. In order to remain profitable, manufacturing companies need to incorporate technology solutions designed to remove manual input, improve processes and increase overall business productivity while strengthening employee experiences.
It may feel intimidating to take the leap, but the right Human Capital Management (HCM) and workforce management solutions can quickly make your manufacturing company thrive. Here’s how:
Scheduling
Production lines can unintentionally become affected by manual scheduling processes. Incorporating HCM technologies enable you to populate schedules automatically based on staffing requirements, budget data and employee preferences. You can make more intelligent staffing decisions that are focused on compliance and productivity, with built-in scheduling rules and policies that reduce risk and increase productivity.
Technology can also reduce instances of under or over scheduling and always ensures you have the right people with the right qualifications there when you need them on the job. It puts more power into your workers’ hands with self-service apps where they can choose open shifts, swap shifts and have real-time access to scheduling changes including overtime. More efficient scheduling makes for happier and more engaged employees and reduces burnout – all vital elements for reducing turnover of top talent.
Recruiting and Hiring
Due to the large number of manufacturing employees that are either retiring or planning to do so in the coming years, a Deloitte study estimated that 2.4 million manufacturing jobs will need to be filled by 2028. Because of this, it’s estimated that $454 billion in manufacturing GDP could be at risk. Recruiting and hiring efficiencies are extremely important to combat the effects.
Recruiting and hiring, not to mention onboarding, can be time-consuming processes, but HCM tools can help you to track applicants, match candidates to the right positions, and strategically engage them during the hiring process. You’ll have data at your fingertips that guide you to make the right employment decisions for your organization. And once they’re hired, the technology keeps working for you – with easy-to-manage employee profiles where you can track data that offers actionable insights to improve engagement and retention.
Payroll
We know that manufacturing line jobs often include changes that affect payroll. Overtime, the swapping of shifts, or last-minute shift changes are difficult and timely to track using manual methods and increase risk of being out of compliance.
The use of a workforce management system allows you to customize payroll processes based on your company’s unique needs. You can more easily manage complex changes that occur because of shift changes, and have the ability to quickly create payroll reports with all the data you need. As a much-appreciated added bonus, employee self-service also makes it easy for workers to view their payroll data.
Regulatory Compliance
Manufacturing is a heavily regulated industry and even small errors in recordkeeping can turn into costly mistakes. When you’re dealing with hourly and minimum wages and federal, state and local labor laws, you must have a system that tracks all the data necessary to ensure and report that you’re staying compliant.
An HCM solution allows you to document policies across the organization that reduce compliance risk, as well as report compliant issues when there are changes in regulations. It also helps you to catch emerging compliance issues before they can happen, which will save the company a great deal of time and money in the long run.
Labor Trends
In the competitive landscape of manufacturing, if you aren’t tracking labor trends, you’re falling behind. Using workforce management technology makes it simple to track important labor trends that you’d otherwise miss. You’ll have the data to better analyze productivity of operations, identify risk and quickly make changes to reduce it. This technology will also offer valuable insights to help determine the satisfaction of your employees, so you can better nurture relationships with them and positively impact their performance.
All of these factors can have a huge effect on the bottom line of any manufacturing company, and real-time insights are key to keeping each part of the organization moving smoothly.
Adaptive Training/Upskilling
In such a competitive environment, offering continued learning opportunities are a needed component of company growth. It will help to not only identify and close skills gaps that are necessary to maintain and increase production, but also show employees that the company cares about their growth as an individual. Additionally, knowledge transfer processes should be in place when retiring employees are leaving to minimize gaps.
Offering virtual and adaptive training via an HCM tool that works from any device, anywhere, meets the employees where they are, and at a time that is convenient for them. The system will track progress, create meaningful reports and help line managers determine which employee will perform best in each area. For on-the-job training, the use of wearable technology is becoming a popular way to further engage the workforce.
Holistic Views
Clearly the ultimate goal for every manufacturing company is to consistently produce product at low cost. There is no better way for manufacturing leaders to gain valuable labor statistics that affect this goal more than utilizing HRS. Having the ability to view important data in real time allows them to swiftly make changes before foreseeable issues occur. It helps for the organization to stay on track with compliance, and presents a birds-eye view of impactful reports that affect everyday operations.
Axiom’s single platform, multi-faceted Human Resource solution offers a one-stop-shop to take the time and stress out of Human Capital Management. Gain valuable insights into your labor trends and all facets of manufacturing operations that affect your compliance, in real-time so your organization can react to mitigate risk in the moment. Download the UKG manufacturing brochure today. For more information and to receive a free demo, contact us at info@axiomhrs.com.
