Workforce Strategies

LCM Granite | By Rob Carpenter

In today’s highly competitive and unforgiving job market, companies in all industries are constantly seeking ways to reduce hiring costs and retain their best employees. While there are many strategies to achieve this, one often overlooked approach is leveraging digital strategies and brand equity to attract and retain talent. This is particularly relevant for manufacturing companies, which often have a strong history of taking care of their employees but may not be actively promoting their strengths.

Digital Advantage in Recruitment and Retention

For the first time in history, businesses have the ability to directly showcase their employer brand to a vast audience of potential and current employees through online channels. This presents a unique opportunity, especially for manufacturers, to enhance their recruitment and retention efforts.

Here are some actionable steps to achieve this:

Leverage Social Media

Social media has evolved beyond B2C marketing, becoming a powerful tool for employer branding and recruitment. Manufacturing companies can tap into platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, and even TikTok, where a significant portion of the workforce is active, to showcase their company culture, highlight employee success stories, and advertise career opportunities for growth and development.

Actionable Step: Create a dedicated Careers page on these platforms, showcasing job openings, employee testimonials, and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the workplace.

Establish a Strong Online Presence

Your company website serves as the primary point of contact for potential employees, making it crucial to ensure it accurately reflects your culture, values, career opportunities, and employee benefits.

Actionable Step: Consider adding a “Day in the Life” section to your website, showcasing various roles within your organization. This provides candidates with a transparent preview of what it’s like to work for you and helps them make well-informed decisions about their career path.

Leverage Employee-Generated Content

Employee-generated content provides an authentic and relatable glimpse into your company culture, often resonating more strongly with potential candidates than polished corporate messaging. Encourage your employees to share their positive workplace experiences and insights on social media and professional networks.

Actionable Step: Create a unique branded hashtag and actively encourage employees to use it when posting about their work experiences. Additionally, establish a formal employee advocacy program to equip your team with shareable content that showcases your company culture, achievements, and values, further amplifying your employer brand’s reach and authenticity.

Run Digital Onboarding and Training Programs

Embrace digital onboarding and continuous learning through online platforms. This not only reduces costs but also demonstrates a valuable investment in your employee’s growth.

Actionable Step: Provide training modules, company news access, and recognition platforms amongst staff on a mobile application.

Capitalizing on Manufacturing’s Hidden Strengths

Manufacturing companies often have a great history of prioritizing employee welfare and providing a stable work environment. These attributes, while often understated, represent valuable assets that can be used to improve the industry’s reputation and attract top talent.

Now, let’s dive into how to bring these strengths into the limelight:

1. Highlight Your Heritage

Most manufacturing companies encompass years of steady progress and expansion. Capitalize on the power of digital storytelling to visually narrate your company’s transformative journey through the years, emphasizing its longstanding commitment to employee well-being.

Actionable Step: Develop an engaging, interactive timeline on your company website that chronicles significant milestones in its history. Be sure to highlight initiatives and programs related to employee health and wellness.

2. Encourage Career Longevity

The manufacturing industry provides plenty of opportunities for long-term career growth and development. Utilize your digital platforms to showcase employees who have successfully built their careers within your organization.

Actionable Step:
• Career Spotlight: Introduce a recurring “Career Spotlight” feature on your company blog or social media channels, highlighting the stories of long-tenured employees and their paths of advancement within the company.
• Interactive Career Mapping Tool: Develop an interactive career mapping tool on your website, visually illustrating various potential career trajectories available within your organization. This tool will enable potential and current employees to explore different career options and visualize their future growth within the company.

3. Stability and Benefits Matter

In an era when job-hopping is almost expected, manufacturing companies have a unique opportunity to stand out by showcasing the stability they offer and the comprehensive benefits packages they provide to their employees.

Actionable Step: Develop visually appealing infographics that contrast your company’s benefits package and average employee tenure with industry standards, then distribute them across your various digital channels to communicate your value proposition to potential and current employees.

4. Highlight Technological Innovation

Dispel outdated manufacturing myths by actively promoting your company’s cutting-edge technology and innovative practices.

Actionable Step:
• Virtual Tours: Provide immersive virtual tours on your website, allowing prospective employees to experience a virtual visit of your advanced manufacturing environment. This will enable them to gain firsthand insights into the high-tech nature of your operations.
• Virtual “Innovation Days”: Organize virtual “Innovation Days” to showcase the latest technologies and processes employed in your manufacturing facilities. These events can feature interactive demonstrations, presentations by subject matter experts, and opportunities for Q&A sessions, fostering engagement and interest among potential employees.

Measuring Success and Refining Your Strategy

To ensure the effectiveness of these digital strategies, it is essential to consistently track and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:
• Cost per hire: The average cost incurred to recruit a new employee.
• Time to fill: The duration it takes to fill a vacant position.
• Quality of hire: An assessment of the overall performance and contribution of new hires.
• Employee retention rate: The percentage of employees who remain with the company over a specific period.
• Engagement across all digital platforms: The level of interaction and participation from your target audience on your various digital channels.

Continuous monitoring of these metrics will enable you to refine your approach and maximize the positive impact of your digital brand equity on recruitment and retention efforts.

Challenges and Misconceptions to be Addressed

While leveraging digital brand equity offers substantial benefits, it’s important to proactively address potential challenges and misconceptions such as:

Privacy Concerns: Maintain open communication about how employee data is used in your digital initiatives. Establish clear guidelines concerning social media usage and employee-generated content.
Authenticity: Ensure your digital presence reflects the true nature of your workplace culture and employee experiences. Misalignment between online portrayals and reality can lead to employee dissatisfaction and turnover.

Generational Divide: Develop tailored digital strategies that cater to the diverse needs and preferences of different generations within your workforce. Recognize that what resonates with Generation Z may not be effective for Baby Boomers.

Skills Gaps: Invest in digital literacy training programs to upskill your existing workforce, particularly long-term employees who may be less familiar with new technologies.

By proactively addressing these challenges, you can create a more inclusive and effective digital strategy that strengthens your brand and supports your recruitment and retention efforts.

Conclusion

With the world going digital at a frenetic pace, manufacturing companies are uniquely positioned to tap into their brand equity and legacy to attract and retain quality talent. By embracing digital strategies and communicating their strengths transparently, manufacturing companies can significantly reduce hiring costs and encourage long-term employee loyalty.

The key lies in authentically showcasing your company’s values and culture through digital platforms, and establishing a reputation as a desirable employer. As manufacturing continues to evolve, companies that successfully integrate their rich history with modern digital strategies will gain a competitive edge in the talent acquisition battle.