So much turnover, How to improve our training process?

[ScottK]

So I think you're going to see a lot of management and highly educated/skilled people participating here and I think that will skew the overall concern of the OP who, it appears to be, hiring non or semi skilled labor.

Having been in hard manufacturing for my whole career in various sized organizations "culture" matters less to shop floor personnel than work environment and job security.

The highest turnover for labor was in the hottest/coldest/dirtiest places that did layoffs anytime the forecast looked down for the next month.

Where the highest turnover for professionals has been in places where the culture was at issue - cut throat competition, workaholics, unreasonable goals, understaffed, etc.

 

[Marc]

So I think you're going to see a lot of management and highly educated/skilled people participating here and I think that will skew the overall concern of the OP who, it appears to be, hiring non or semi skilled labor. <snip>

As an FYI here--> Current Elsmar visitor demographics according to Quantcast:

Yes, this poll will be skewed. We do not have the means to produce a truly scientific poll.

 

[Jen Kirley]

It kind of seems to me that you should do a cost analysis of the turnover - recruiting costs, training costs, production loss, reject rate - and see if that can rationalize the cost of making the work environment more bearable (installing AC or better air flow).

I agree this is not about training, but it would probably help a lot to bring people through the place on a tour and give them two or three days to think it over before making an offer.

Also, frank exit interviews are important. Ask about working conditions, both physical and mental. Ask if higher pay would have made the difference, and if so how much. It is important to fix this thing before your organization gets a reputation as a difficult place to work, which would keep good people away.

I think employers very often do not realize how high turnover costs are. It is money better spent to improve the business and/or share the business's success with the people who make it happen. I put a Productivity Cost Calculator in my Conquering Employee Turnover Costs thread. It may help to identify the cost of turnover and compare it against the cost of improving work environment or raising wages.

I hope this helps!

 

[Ian_Morris]

I agree with a lot of what has been said about culture, pay and so on.
The OP did say that the interview process has been changed to include a walk of the floor and a warts and all demonstration of the workplace, so it seems that that is not part of the problem any more.
I think that the exit interviews would be a good starting point, in my experience ship floor workers are way more likely to be open and frank about reasons that they are leaving than are people who sit further up the company tree.

Other factors that I have seen in manufacturing are about location. One company I worked for moved about a half mile down the road and we lost a fair percentage of staff as there was no public transport, or hey had to walk a further 15 minuted to the factory and they just didn't see that they wanted to.

Another may be personalities, especially in a climate where unemployment is so low. Have a falling out with one of your co-workers and off you go to the next employer and s on.

Obviously it is not possible to know what the real root cause is until you have collected hard data from the leavers to make he changes.

 

[Marc]

FYI - US Employment 2018: Job Quits Rate Hits 17-Year High; Labor Market Tightening

 

[Mark Meer]

FYI - US Employment 2018: Job Quits Rate Hits 17-Year High; Labor Market Tightening

This is good news, no?
It is a sign of healthy competition for labor, which leads to better wages and working conditions for prospecting employees. Are there any down sides (aside from the employers who now have to strategize/negotiate on how to best retain workers)?

 

[Marc]

Well, time will tell. I can't think of any downsides. Best I can say is it sure sounds good for laborers.

Then again - Real wages haven't budged vs. real inflation for years and family debt burdens in the US are way, way up again. In addition, considering most new jobs are low wage jobs... I'll leave the current trade issues and their repercussions discussions to political sites.

 

[KimGr]

We were having an issue with high temporary turnover. Different root cause as ours was our hiring practices. I agree with the others that likely training isn't your issue but most of the things that are being discussed can't be fixed over night. A thing we did for different reasons might help you out while you tackle the other issues. Our lean coordinator implemented the TWI (training within industry) method. Standard work is the key to using this method so if you don't have that yet it would be a big project. TWI is task specific training designed to get the employee working quickly. Designed for ramp ups during WWII.

My thought in suggesting is that even with the high turnover the people will be working productively before they quit. I am not recommending this as your fix, just your interim action (if you have the resources). It's also a good lean practice even if you don't have an issue. I can't post a link yet but you can google training within industry and find quite a bit of information.

 

[ScottK]

We were having an issue with high temporary turnover. Different root cause as ours was our hiring practices. I agree with the others that likely training isn't your issue but most of the things that are being discussed can't be fixed over night. A thing we did for different reasons might help you out while you tackle the other issues. Our lean coordinator implemented the TWI (training within industry) method. Standard work is the key to using this method so if you don't have that yet it would be a big project. TWI is task specific training designed to get the employee working quickly. Designed for ramp ups during WWII.

My thought in suggesting is that even with the high turnover the people will be working productively before they quit. I am not recommending this as your fix, just your interim action (if you have the resources). It's also a good lean practice even if you don't have an issue. I can't post a link yet but you can google training within industry and find quite a bit of information.

There are a bunch of TWI videos on youtube.


Here's the classic... YouTube

 

[Jettet]

devils advocate, of the 56% who stay, what roles are they filling? Is it role specific where turnover is? What's the difference between the 2 groups? No amount of training will ever rectify unhappiness or dissatisfaction. Is the role accurately described at the recruitment stage? At the end of the day no amount of money can make up for personal satisfaction which can be so easily compromised by management. What's that saying, "Good employees leave bad managers".