Are you having trouble retaining top talent for your light industrial company? If so, you are not alone. Attracting and keeping employees is a real challenge for manufacturing and distribution facilities nationwide. But there is help. Let’s dive into the advantages of working with a light industrial staffing agency that serves North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
What Makes Employee Retention Challenging in the Light Industrial Sector?
The biggest challenge with retaining employees in the light industrial sector is that many younger workers don’t see it as a realistic career option. Older workers are starting to retire, so the only way to remain fully staffed is to bring in new talent. On top of this, employment is still in flux following the global pandemic and the Great Resignation. The labor market remains tight, and workers know that they have options. They aren’t afraid to start looking elsewhere if they’re uncomfortable with their current employer.
How Can Utilizing Industrial Staffing Services Help Companies Save Costs?
Recruiting new employees can be both time-consuming and expensive. Yet, continuing to recruit is essential when struggling to retain your current team members. Light industrial staffing services can help you save money in two important ways: we have deep ties to the local labor market, which means that we can streamline recruiting and lower those costs. And we can help you find workers who are the right “fit,” which makes it more likely that they will stick around for the long run. Every employee you retain saves you the costs of finding and hiring a replacement.
5 Strategies Light Industrial Staffing Agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia Utilize to Retain Talent
When you work with a dedicated light industrial staffing agency, you can be confident that we’ll do everything we can to help you retain the talent we provide. While every employer is unique, we lean on five key strategies to encourage workers to stay.
Offer a Competitive Compensation Package
In today’s labor market, workers are very sensitive to salary and your full compensation package. Because we’re deeply rooted in the local community, we strongly understand all the forces affecting the light industrial market. We know what your competitors offer and can guide you toward a compensation package for each role that will keep you competitive.
Provide Opportunities for Skill Development
Today’s workers don’t want to stagnate in a single position. They’re looking for opportunities to grow and evolve as they progress up the career ladder. We can help you choose and set up programs such as job shadowing, mentorships, or onsite courses to keep your team members learning and growing. If you don’t already have them, we can help you plan realistic career pathways to assist those who want to work up to leadership roles.
Implement Employee Engagement Initiatives
Employee engagement initiatives are specifically designed to help build loyalty and excitement about working for your company. The sky is the limit when designing these programs, but many companies choose one or more of these common initiatives:
- Offsite team building activities. You could choose something specifically designed for team building, such as a local ropes course, or an activity that naturally requires teamwork, such as an escape room. Either way, getting your workers off the floor and bonding in a more social environment is the point.
- Open feedback channels. Everyone wants to feel heard and valued. And your front-line workers are your eyes and ears for how new initiatives work in the real world. Give them plenty of opportunities to submit feedback and suggestions anonymously with their names attached.
- One-on-one and small group meetings. Even simple as daily shift change meetings can help workers feel part of something bigger. In addition, ask your line managers to check in with each employee personally at least once every couple of weeks. This allows workers to ask questions or voice concerns while ensuring that any emerging issues are caught quickly.
- Walk (or work!) the line. If you want to build trust and loyalty with your team members, encourage all senior leaders to be present now and then. Whenever schedules allow, they should walk the line and speak with individual employees as they do their jobs. Even better, consider having leadership take turns working a station occasionally. Your leaders will better understand what it’s like on the floor, and your employees will see that leadership is truly there for them.
Staffing Agencies Recognize and Reward Employees
One of the biggest things employees want is simple recognition for a well-done job. A sincere “thank you” goes a long way, but we can also help you organize more formal employee recognition and reward programs. Ideas include, but are not limited to:
- Employee of the month
- Small cards that leaders and workers hand out when they catch someone going above and beyond, which are then entered in a monthly gift card drawing
- Social media recognition
- Being featured in short videos about the company or what it’s like to work for you
- Internal newsletter mentions top employee successes.
Facilitate Open Communication between Job Seekers and Industrial Employers
Of course, retaining employees is easiest when those you hire are the right cultural fit for your organization. Top light industrial staffing agencies understand that an important part of finding that fit is facilitating communication from the beginning. We’ll help you establish open dialogue channels between company representatives and potential new hires. Whether someone wants to know more about the role before applying or you want to screen candidates for specific skills, we can make it happen.
We also believe in the value of keeping job seekers in the loop. We’ll help you set up communications to let candidates know where they are in the process and what to expect. We can even assist you with writing emails to tell people when they are no longer in contention for a role.
Partner with North Carolina’s Leading Staffing Agency to Retain Top Performers: Accurate Staffing
At family-owned Accurate Staffing, matching candidates with the right open positions isn’t just a job. It’s a calling. With nearly 40 years of experience, we have deep connections throughout North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. We pride ourselves on offering customized light industrial staffing solutions to meet each company’s unique needs. To learn more or get started, contact us today.