HR heads in manufacturing companies must respond to this change. What’s needed are robust upskilling plans for existing employees as well as strategies to ensure that ongoing recruitment and development activity takes into account the evolving technological requirements of the business going forward. And all of that requires significant planning and management to get it right.
Keeping on top of compulsory training for industry compliance, regulatory adherence and health and safety requirements is an imperative in manufacturing. Not only are production environments challenging from a health and safety perspective, but they can also require a host of risk assessments and process checks to keep everything (and everyone) working safely and effectively at all times.
So, for the HR team, it’s an ongoing job to stay in step with constantly changing rules and regulations and – depending on how that’s done – that can be an administrative nightmare. But just as factories and production lines across the UK are embracing technology, so too are HR teams in many industries. HR software has undergone considerable development over the last decade in particular and the tools and functionality available today can make life a whole lot easier (and at a reasonable cost too).
Planning when time out for training takes place must also be done carefully in manufacturing environments to ensure that production output is not impacted adversely because key staff members are absent from their usual post for periods of time. Obviously, this adds a further layer of complexity to the learning and development challenges facing HR professionals, but it can be more easily addressed with the use of HR software with in-built functionality to cater for individual training plans. For manufacturing businesses with a large workforce and/or multiple locations, using software can alleviate that burden considerably.
One often overlooked benefit of training and development is the impact it has on employee loyalty. As well as building skills that the company can benefit from, investing in your people by offering training and development opportunities also helps them to feel valued by the business, and that in turn encourages them to stay rather than look for an alternative job. Building additional skills across the workforce is also a good way to enable multi-skilled roles to develop. This can be a powerful strategy when aligned with the introduction of more advanced operational technology into the business as individuals can broaden their capabilities and become more flexible in their work.
Online training is a useful and flexible route forward which HR managers in manufacturing should certainly consider. Creating a programme of training modules accessed via a learning management system (LMS) can provide that much-needed flexibility for employees to undertake learning and also provides a cost-effective solution for the business too. The The Access LMS solution includes monitoring and reporting functionality too, making it much easier for HR to ensure that everyone is up to date and that personal development plans are formalised and followed.
Is it time to refresh your approach to learning and development? Take a look at our HR software for manufacturers or read more about how manufacturing HR professionals can make a big impact in our FREE guide that shows you new ways to address the core challenges in your manufacturing business.