Making Flexibility Work in the Manufacturing Industry

Inside BelFlex’s latest article in Industry Today

Nearly no industry is immune from the talent shortage threatening today’s businesses. Take for instance the healthcare and education sectors. Research predicts a home health aides shortage of almost half a million by 2025. And, over the past five years, teacher preparation program enrollment has fallen 35 percent.

In the manufacturing industry, the shortage is even more profound. Baby Boomers make up a large portion of the industrial workforce and are retiring by the thousands. At the same time, the misperceptions about the industry are preventing newer generations from entering the field. This has created an estimated shortage of two million workers, according to The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte.

Companies in other industries have been able to combat their talent shortages by offering flexible work arrangements. A flexible schedule opens up employment opportunities to different talent pools—students, retirees, parents—who cannot commit to a rigid schedule. Manufacturers have struggled to adopt this strategy, as the shift-based, hands-on and skill-specific nature of work on the plant floor doesn’t lend itself easily to compressed work weeks, flextime, job sharing and reduced hours.

In our latest article in Industry Today, Making the Case for Flexible Workers, we tackle how manufacturers are making flexibility work for their businesses. How do they recruit and retain them without disrupting their current operations? Read the article to learn:

• How flexible arrangements open up new pools of talent to fill in gaps
• What flexibility means in a strict shift environment
• Challenges to think through and overcome when adopting new shifts/flexible labor
• Other considerations that can help ease the transition for both full-time and temporary workers