Employee engagement key to solving manufacturing productivity puzzle

Manufacturers face a wide array of key challenges which include high staff turnover, lack of communication, and low employee engagement. According to recent statistics, the average manufacturing business experiences 31% staff turnover per year.

Additionally, only 39% of frontline workers feel heard by their organisation, and just 25% of manufacturing staff are highly engaged, trailing the average, which is over a third. 

Solving these challenges is a key element to boosting manufacturing productivity according to ScreenCloud, a digital signage company, which states that the benefits of highly engaged employees cannot be ignored. This is backed up with research that shows that when employees feel recognised at work, they are 63% less likely to seek new job opportunities in the next 3-6 months. Yet many employees simply aren’t empowered to make decisions, in fact only 24% of businesses allow frontline workers to make decisions. 

Companies with highly engaged employees are 87% less likely to experience turnover. Research also shows that 60% of manufacturing staff believe their company could do more to prioritise culture and communication from the top. While communicating with large workforces effectively has always been challenging, there are clear benefits to addressing these concerns. 92% of employers say work quality and productivity increase as more data-based insights are communicated to frontline workers.

Mark McDermott, CEO & co-founder of ScreenCloud states: “Creating a culture that recognises great work and individual contributions helps manufacturers to retain talent and improve overall efficiency.

“While there are many areas which can contribute to creating this culture, harnessing the power of digital signage can be an incredibly effective tool to utilise – and one which is often overlooked. With the right digital signage strategy, employee engagement can be increased through better recognition of great work. In addition, it can aid with enhancing safety compliance, meaning manufacturers can significantly increase productivity while prioritising the well-being of their workforce.”

Alongside better turnover rates, companies with highly engaged employees also report 70% fewer safety incidents. Manufacturing has a disproportionate number of workplace injuries and fatalities compared to the percentage of workers it employs. In fact, manufacturing accounts for 5% of all workplace injuries and 8% of all workplace fatalities in the US. Not informing workers of hazards adequately can be a significant contributor to this problem. In fact, poor communication of workplace hazards ranks as the second most common cause of workplace safety incidents in the US. In the US there were just under 2,500 citations caused by poor communication of hazards in 2022 alone.

86% of employers acknowledge that better quality technology enables employees to make more decisions themselves. Digital signage can be utilised to provide emergency alerts, training tips and nudge notifications, reminders for protective equipment, and real-time workplace data and analytics. By leveraging screens to strengthen safety compliance, manufacturers can ensure that employees are informed about operating procedures and minimise the risk of non-compliance. In some customers, digital signage has contributed to a 20% reduction in compensation claims. 

McDermott concludes: “While digital signage isn’t the silver bullet for solving the manufacturing productivity puzzle, it is a simple and strategic implementation that can have a huge impact on some of the key challenges that impact productivity within the sector.”