Work-from-home opportunities became more popular than ever during the pandemic. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to create these remote options for most manufacturing jobs. Nevertheless, your organization still CAN offer scheduling flexibility to your manufacturing employees. Here’s how.
Top Ways to Offer Flexibility to Manufacturing Employees
Provide Flexible Start/End Times
Traditionally, manufacturing plants have set schedules. Start at 7:00. End at 3:00. Yet, these rigid hours can be difficult for some employees. Let’s consider a working mother. She needs to put her kids on the bus at 7:20 (or pay someone to do it for her). So, what if… she reported from 8:00 until 4:00 instead? This minor change would result in a much happier and productive employee. However, your company probably will want to set some ground rules to ensure you have enough coverage. For example, you could have four slightly different starting times each with a certain number of spots available.
Allow Shift Swapping
Shift swapping is common in both the restaurant and retail industries. For instance, if one of your employees has a daytime doctor’s appointment, they could switch their first shift with a coworker’s second. Some businesses even let employee’s swap 4-hour as well as 8-hour blocks. Of course, you’ll need to establish official procedures, so you know who’s working when.
Consider Compressed Workweeks
Compressed workweeks consist of three 12-hour days, four 10-hour days or a combination of 8, 9, 10 and 12-hour shifts. Although the working hours are longer, many employees appreciate having more whole days free. This allows them to have extended weekends and/or days off midweek.
Consolidate Paid Time Off
Rather than giving your team vacation days plus personal days, think about consolidating paid time off into a single block. This provides greater flexibility for your employees since they won’t need to justify personal days. Even so, you may choose to keep sick days separate. After all, you don’t want people coming to work sick just so they can take longer vacations.
Support Part-Time Work and/or Job Sharing
Many companies cover a single full-time job with two or three separate employees. Individuals may work 10, 20 or 30 hours. Or think about experimenting with job sharing where you split the duties of a single job between two people. Part-time options can boost your hiring efforts because you’ll have access to a larger talent pool. Many parents, retirees and students would like to work, but they simply don’t want to commit to a 40-hour week.
Are You Trying Find More Ways to Attract Top Talent to Your Manufacturing Team?
Connectology publishes weekly blog posts on topics ranging from offering competitive employee perks to promoting work-life harmony. And, if you’re struggling to find the right people, we can help with that too. Our recruiters place supply chain managers, sales representatives, engineers and more with top manufacturing organizations in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin and beyond. Make your hiring and recruiting process more effective and efficient. Contact Connectology today!
