Acquiring and retaining top talent is never easy—and for the manufacturing industry, the pandemic has only exacerbated this challenge. On top of the nearly five million manufacturing jobs lost in the U.S. since 1997, the COVID-19 crisis wiped out 750,000 more positions in 2020 alone, according to Industry Week.
The NAM 2020 4th Quarter Manufacturer’s Outlook Survey corroborates that employers continue to face hiring and supply chain disruption, but 75% of respondents remain somewhat or very positive about the future of their company. Now more than ever, a strategic staffing plan is critical to ensuring business success.
At Premier Staffing Solution, we found that our most talented team members began as managers and directors but were soon back-filling more operations-oriented roles for our clients. It became clear that navigating these sorts of staffing gaps was crucial to surviving supply chain disruption over the course of the past year.
When stay-at-home orders and COVID-19 regulations were implemented across U.S. workplaces, manufacturing companies struggled to maintain the staff required to continue regular operations. As so few factory jobs can be performed remotely, supply chain workers were the first to be laid off when production lines inevitably shut down.
When close factory quarters facilitated the spread of the COVID-19 virus, many facilities were forced to shut down in order to disinfect their workspaces and provide employees the necessary time to recover or quarantine at home. In response to such crises, a number of U.S. automakers halted production entirely, according to Industry Week. As the virus continued to spread, it became more and more difficult for companies to keep production lines running despite attempts to sanitize facilities and stagger employee shifts.
According to the NAM Coronavirus Outbreak Special Survey, half of the country’s manufacturing companies were not prepared for the extent to which COVID-19 disrupted their supply chains. While some disruptions—like parts and customer deliveries arriving late—were manageable in the early months of the pandemic, the challenges resulted in a ripple effect as the health crisis increased and manufacturing output decreased.
If a plastics manufacturer was forced to shut down their plant following an outbreak, their inability to supply an automotive manufacturer with a critical part for their product could result in a backlog of orders for the automotive company already struggling to keep up with increased demand. By the time the automotive manufacturer resumes production, they are experiencing delivery delays due to shipping overloads—because of the trucking industry labor shortage caused by trucking school closures.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the manufacturing industry saw 525,000 job openings in October 2020—a new record, and an opportunity to be proactive and fill these open roles with high-quality talent to help your company thrive, rather than simply survive, in the pandemic.
Premier is here to act as your strategic recruitment partner by streamlining the hiring process with a full-service staffing solution. Across the nation, leveraging decades of industry-specific expertise and innovative recruiting techniques, Premier Staffing Solution is redefining tier-one staffing to deliver the right talent with the right skills at the right time.
