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October 2020 #12255 Page #27
Basic Principles for Effective Employee Attraction and Retention Todd Drummond
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ast month’s article, “Better Profits with Effective Employee Retention and Growth,” got a lot of attention. The labor shortage issues that companies are experiencing, despite the high unemployment numbers, are having a negative impact on many companies’ manufacturing capacities. There is not much one can do about the coronavirus and government policies, but there are steps every company can take to improve their current employee hiring and retention position. At the very heart of lean principles are effective and healthy employee policies that attract, retain, and grow the skills of all employees to maximize a company’s growth and profits. During each consultation, we spend a lot of time teaching better employee and management practices. Too many in our industry have a haphazard employee program. If a company is experiencing labor shortages both in talent and physical bodies in any department, which includes production, then it will seriously affect sales negatively. If a company states they are practicing true lean principles, labor shortages should never be an issue. Let’s start with the number one problem many are complaining about right now: attracting competent employees to fill the vacant positions within any department. Client: “Todd, it just doesn’t seem to be the same as it was years ago when people wanted and were willing to put in a good day’s hard work. We can’t get enough people to apply for the positions that need filling.” TDC: “So, are you getting people to fill out applications, or are they not showing up at all?” Client: “No, they are not. We can’t even get them to stop in so we can talk to them. Our shop foreman says we are too low for our starting wage, but we can’t afford to raise our starting wages.” TDC: “Are you able to convince your lumber broker that your company cannot afford to pay market pricing and that you should somehow be offered lower pricing for lumber? Do you think that the labor market wages (costs) or the lumber prices are any different when it comes to the idea of market changes and varying costs?”
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