Manufacturing workforce management is a complex process constantly shaped by internal and external factors. Supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes, and complicated scheduling environments can all throw a wrench in careful workforce planning initiatives.
On top of that, the manufacturing industry is facing a major staffing shortage. A 2024 Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute report projects that the industry could be short 1.9 million workers by 2033 if it can’t fill the talent gap. This shortage is causing skills gaps and burnout among current manufacturing staff, resulting in higher turnover.
Effective workforce management strategies empower manufacturing companies to improve employee satisfaction, develop new skill sets for current employees, and keep the staff needed to meet production demands. But first, employers need to understand what fits under the “workforce management” umbrella, how to find success through workforce best practices in the manufacturing sector, and the role technology plays in solving workforce challenges.
What are the core components of manufacturing workforce management?
Workforce management involves all the steps manufacturing organizations take to maximize their productivity and operational efficiency. It’s how companies get the most out of their workforce while also prioritizing employee satisfaction and engagement.
Achieving this balance requires strategic planning to ensure the right employees are in the right place at the right time. Optimal workforce management requires the following components:
Labor forecasting and planning
One major workforce planning challenge is making sure your organization has the right number of employees to meet your business goals without overstaffing or understaffing. Businesses try to strike this balance with labor forecasting, which predicts a company’s future staffing needs based on projected demands.
This prediction usually relies on an analysis of historical and current workforce data and market trends. Workforce planning can reduce unnecessary labor costs and improve your organization’s efficiency.
Scheduling and shift management
Because staffing shortages are common in manufacturing, providing your staff with fair and predictable schedules is vital. This approach can increase job satisfaction, employee engagement, and retention by improving work-life balance. Committing to fair scheduling can also benefit your business by optimizing resource allocation and maintaining compliance with labor laws and regulations.
Give employees even more control over their schedules by providing a self-service portal that lets them claim preferred shifts. You can achieve this with technology solutions like workforce management software that keep schedules updated in real time.
Time and attendance tracking
Time tracking is a powerful workforce management tool that unlocks valuable data for your business. For example, you can use time card data to:
- Improve project planning and budgeting
- Ensure accurate payroll processing
- Encourage employee accountability
- Verify compliance with wage and hour laws
- Support data-driven decision-making
Skills and certification management
Workforce management solutions can deliver the tools your manufacturing company needs to identify skills gaps, track employee certifications, and optimize staffing based on skill availability. You can compare current skills with job needs, highlighting opportunities for upskilling and targeted training.
Performance monitoring and analytics
Successful workforce management relies on measuring the impact of changes and identifying room for improvement through key performance indicators (KPIs) and data analysis.
The following human resources metrics can give you an idea of how well your workforce management solution is performing:
- Time to productivity: How long it takes new hires to reach full productivity
- Revenue per employee: The average revenue each employee generates during a specific time period
- Overtime occurrences: How many times employees work extra hours
- Turnover rate: The percentage of employees who leave or quit a company over a specific period
- Absenteeism: How often employees don’t show up for work with no warning
How to find success with manufacturing workforce management
Effective workforce management will look different for different companies. To get started building a better program, focus on these general best practices.
Establish clear policies and expectations
Workforce management success relies on a mutual understanding of a company’s policies and expectations. Without a clear employee handbook, everyone is left guessing about expectations and at risk of spiraling into confusion and misunderstandings.
Clearly document your manufacturing organization’s policies and make them easily accessible to all employees. Ideally, this information should be covered in the onboarding process for new hires, setting them up for success from day one.
Create a well-structured onboarding program
Your onboarding program is your company’s first impression to new team members. Getting them up to speed on company policies is just as crucial as making them feel excited and engaged in their new role.
The more effective your onboarding program is, the faster new employees become productive team members. This is especially important for teams struggling with understaffing or high turnover rates.
Focus on employee development and engagement
Want to show employees you value them and boost retention? Invest in their professional development by offering training sessions that can open the door to career advancement. Providing growth opportunities not only makes them more likely to stay with your company but also bridges critical skills gaps within your teams.
With 84% of manufacturers experiencing a decline in employee operational performance, investing in professional development is likely less costly than replacing skilled talent.
Collect and use quality data
To know whether your workforce management strategies are working, set and track key targets such as employee performance, engagement, idle time, attendance, and more. Then, use this data to pinpoint opportunities for improvement to continue optimizing your workforce.
Give employees a voice
Employee satisfaction is a vital component of workforce management for the manufacturing sector. Involving employees in the process is key. Consider sending out surveys to learn what they like (and don’t like) about scheduling policies, development opportunities, workplace culture, and more. Ask for their ideas on how to equip the team with necessary skills or improve their work-life balance.
When employees feel like their voices are heard and management values their opinions, they are more likely to show up to work feeling engaged. They may also offer some great suggestions you haven’t considered yet.
The role of tech in addressing manufacturing workforce challenges
Perhaps the best way to optimize your manufacturing workforce management is to implement workforce management software. These digital tools help businesses efficiently manage their workforce management processes, including scheduling, time tracking, onboarding, data reporting, and more.
Workforce management software comes packed with benefits that can transform your operations and boost your staff’s productivity, including:
- Efficient scheduling: Streamline employee scheduling, reducing errors and time spent manually assigning tasks.
- Automated attendance tracking: Use automation to track employee time and attendance, ensuring accurate payroll processing every time.
- Employee engagement: Improve employee engagement through self-service communication tools like live chat.
- Assured compliance: Ensure compliance with labor laws and regulations, reducing the risk of penalties.
Many workforce management solutions also have analytics tools that automatically track key business metrics. You can use this collected data to forecast staffing needs, measure progress against goals, and make data-informed decisions.
How Teambridge makes manufacturing workforce management easier
Teambridge sets itself apart from other workforce management solutions by offering a composable platform. Unlike other modern solutions that force you to shape your workflows around their rigid software design, Teambridge lets you build your software around how your business operates.
You can create customized workforce management workflows that match your production requirements, equipment capabilities, and operational models using an easy drag-and-drop builder so the technology works seamlessly with your existing processes.
This composable approach ensures that labor optimization actually helps your production efficiency rather than disrupts it. It also gives you the flexibility to adapt as your manufacturing operations evolve.
A few unique features Teambridge offers that address manufacturing workforce challenges include:
- A white-label mobile app: Businesses receive a fully branded mobile app available for Android and iOS devices.
- A geofencing time clock: The mobile app uses GPS location data to ensure employees are on-site when clocking in and out, preventing issues like time fraud and buddy punching.
- Self-service scheduling: Employees can control their schedules in the mobile app, claiming shifts based on what works for their schedules.
- Document management: New hires can upload documents like current certifications and electronically sign forms during onboarding.
Simplify your manufacturing workforce management with Teambridge
An effective workforce management process offers numerous benefits, including increased productivity, reduced labor costs, and enhanced regulatory compliance. Workforce management software, like Teambridge, makes it even easier to achieve these benefits by automating your business’s critical processes—boosting productivity, reducing manual tasks to near-zero, and cutting down on errors and overhead costs.
Let’s hop on a call to talk about your challenges with manufacturing workforce management planning. We’ll show you how Teambridge is uniquely built to solve them.
