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January 16

7 Things Employees Love You To Consider

January 16

Hiring the right person, with the right skills and mindset is key to an SMEs growth. Here are 7 things to consider if you’re growing your team this year.
keywords: hiring in 2023, growing your manufacturing team, team retention, attracting manufacturing talent

1.     Inflation
How will rising inflation rates affect your company & hiring budget?

Some companies are scaling back whilst others are ramping up with unprecedented customer demand. Salaries are on the rise and looking at how your manufacturing team are feeling now about their own salaries is a good starting point. Are you able to accommodate their needs? Are you able keep up with these rising demands as the business is facing higher costs so are your employees and we all need to support each other to retain and grow together.

  1. Upskilling
    Have you considered upskilling staff to incentivise them to stay with you?

We keep talking about how salaries are no longer at the top of everyone’s lists of wants and needs within a company. They want to grow personally and professionally and feel reported along the way.

  1. Benefits
    Can you offer your current & future employees benefits to recruit & retain them?

Car allowance, pension, health care, cycle to work, annual leave, the ability to buy more annual leave, hybrid, fully remote, free fruit, parking, bonus, death in service, internal training and external training. What do you offer now? Is it a blanket approach to all staff or tiered?

Is there something that you know would improve the retention rates of staff? It really could be something as simple as training them on that piece of machinery that they always seem reluctant to use. Confidence in their own ability to do the job goes a long way in a persons motivation and moral. Think about what benefits they would get the most reward from (its not always financial).

  1. Mental Health Support
    What does your company do to support employee mental health & wellbeing?

There are so many factors individuals look at now when comparing roles and a lot of companies overlook the importance of mental health support for the team. Do you have training in this yourself? Do you know someone is struggling but unsure on how to help? It is maybe time to invest in this for your business and give people the tools to speak openly with eachother. Education never stops and this is something we could all do with more training on as we may want to help but are unsure on the best ways.

  1. Automation & AI
    What automation & AI software do you have in place to support employee roles?


Newest technology is always a bonus point for attracting the best talent but we know this is not always possible for manufacturing business’. Do you listen to the operators wants and needs though? If this does mean a new automation unit is needed and they can provide the cost to business solution this is something the team should really look at. It shows you are listening to staff and could end up saving the business money in the long run.

  1. Pay Transparency
    Are you clear on your budgets and what you should be offering for your future roles?

Are you paying as much as your nearest competitor? Are you regularly benchmarking salaries to know what the market is saying? Within a few minutes your employee’s can check job boards and see what their role is paying elsewhere. Why not beat them to it and know your own market, this will help with retention as you do not want to get into a game of counter offering once they have gone for an interview as this could be done prior to them ever entertaining the idea of an interview.

  1. Flexibility
    How flexible are you as an employer? Is hybrid working something you’ll offer?

If you can not offer hybrid, can you offer a mature working environment that allows employees to attend their children’s sports days, medical appointments, important deliveries at home? Having this hour out of work may not seem like a huge deal to you as a business but it could mean the world to your employees.

The manufacturing industry seems to evolve faster than any other, that’s why we like to keep our eye on hiring trends to make it easier for companies to hire the right people at the right time.

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