Retention Bonus for Hourly Mfg. Employees
Gadget
24 Posts
We are having a heck of a time retaining hourly employees. Granted the work is brutal in some ways - a foundry in Alabama is no place to be in the summer - but we offer a fair wage and good benefits (at no direct cost to employees).
I've been here a year and it appears to be getting harder and harder to retain new hourly employees. My boss has suggested we offer a retention bonus to employees who stay 6 months.
Anyone have any experience with this or any thoughts?
Thanks
I've been here a year and it appears to be getting harder and harder to retain new hourly employees. My boss has suggested we offer a retention bonus to employees who stay 6 months.
Anyone have any experience with this or any thoughts?
Thanks
Comments
1. Do you conduct exit interviews, or do your folks quit without notice?
2. Is your plant union?
3. What other business are you competing with for employees?
4. Are the positions skilled or unskilled?
5. What are your hiring requirements?
My point is, with such an environment you may not want to retain someone for a long period especially if it is unskilled labor that you could put a temp on. Just the nature of the beast - accept it. If it's skilled labor or semi-skilled, figure out where your best labor pool for recruiting might be, you may be looking in the wrong bush. I think the stay-on bonus is a little short sighted and may only delay your problem. Can that money be better spent on improving the work conditions or the technology so you don't have to rely on people so much? What kind of career development structure do you have? Do you have department managers involved in the hiring process? You could have some internal personnel issues. You may have a situation where your supervisors are chasing off employees because of bad personnel skills.
If you hire someone knowing that the job they're filling is the best that person has ever had and the best they're ever going to get you might retain them for a longer period.
We are union (we have four) and we use contract labor as absentee fill-in.
The only ones we compete with are similar industries - the work is just as hard and hot.
We can't fill either one --- maintenance folks such as millwrights and electricians are hard to find but we are training our own through apprenticeship programs. The rest of the jobs are semi-skilled and training is required but they are not rocket science.
They have to be drug-free and not under current indictment for murder. We also prefer some industrial experience but don't insist on it. I've begun giving plant tours before taking applications --- to show them the plant and the conditions. We let them know that if they don't feel like they want to or need to work here we understand....
I myself am not really happy about the idea of a retention bonus but the Plant Mgr. wants to try it.
Thanks for your input.
1. Are you losing people you want to keep?
If yes...
2. Why?
If it's because of money...
3. Start retention bonus.
If it's not...
4. You're throwing money at a problem and it's not going to fix it.
However...
What is the unemployment rate in your area?
The county I worked in before moving to NC had an unemployment rate of 2.3%. Every employer in the area had revolving doors. It was an employee's market. We had superior benefits and really great bonuses, but no one cared. The county I'm now working in had an unemployment rate of 12% when I took this assignment four years ago. We had no turnover - no where else to go!
What kind of structure do you have?
If each employee feels like a number rather than part of a team, the employee does not have any ownership to their job. If you have a way to structure your workforce into teams where each person feels more vital to the organization and the hiring process includes people from the team as a part of the interview, you might have a better shot at retaining them.
What benefit could you begin to offer that is unique, but can be marketed to a wide populous of people that would be likely to work for your company?
Many companies offer a bonus, benefits, competitive wages - you need to be unique! Develop an enviornment in which people want or need to come to work for your company.
That being said, we have made strides in our employee relations since I've been here (one year yesterday.) We are moving toward a functional team environment and have hired new managers who have broken from the old tradition of having the employees check their brains at the gate.
But --- Steelworkers, Machinists, Boilmakers, Electricians --- 4 unions who are extremely jealous of their prerogatives --- make it difficult.
The Company has a reputation as a good place to work, in fact, they were known as a "family" company even though publicly-held. I'm conflicted about the retention bonus....
Thanks.
Unions are a crafty bunch - how's your negotiation skills? I'm wondering if you couldn't figure out how to utilize the unions to help in your employee retention issue. Think about it - unions use propaganda to recruit folks to join the union, it's to their benefit to retain members as much as it is to your benefit to retain employees, the unions act as "job protection". You may be partnering with "the enemy", but here's a thought...you could have a shop steward join you on a plant tour with applicants. In giving the plant tour you should both be working towards a common goal of getting new members, so you both speak about positive aspects of belonging to the company and the union. Talk about safety, how has it improved, and how did the union help. Talk about benefits and how the union helped. You get them on your side, you both get new recruits, and the applicant is sold on "job security" which is something that most companies can't seem to offer. If you do take this approach, I would do more applicant screening before doing the plant tour and agree with your unions on certain hiring criteria - you don't want to lead people to believing they've got a secure job and then fire them because they can't do the job. Don't be held victim, be selective. The turnover of our existing work force was never as high as when we started hiring temporary employees. And, give the team concept some time to take effect - a year is no where near long enough, folks are still resisting the change. Tell me what you think...am I crazy?
What a great idea! I have an excellent rapport with all four unions and I am going to try this.
Thanks so much --- I'll keep you posted.