Manufacturing employers are faced with serious skill gap issues for many of their job roles these days.
Industrial maintenance is one of those; highly-skilled maintenance techs don’t grow on trees. Many are leaving their current employer for positions with new manufacturers. Even people just breaking into the field are getting good salaries, hiring bonuses and other perks, as employers are desperate to fill positions and keep assets in good running condition.
The first step to solving a problem is recognizing there is one. If one’s eyes are on the organization’s overall equipment effectiveness or other maintenance-related metrics and the person doesn’t like what is being seen, it's worth considering if workers have the proper skills necessary to perform the maintenance tasks they’re being asked to perform.
It’s likely that a skills gap is part of the problem. It sounds like a good idea to close your skills gap, but what skills do the workers need? That’s where a skills map comes into play.
Before creating training to up-skill workers, it’s going to pay off to reflect upon which skills maintenance workers in different positions need.
It’s a good idea to partner with the HR department on this. First, because the job descriptions they have for maintenance techs should already provide the answer. So if that’s true, it’s time to go to the next step; if not, it’s a good idea to work with HR and update those job descriptions in order to know which skills are needed for each maintenance job role.
Next, take a moment to consider why the company is experiencing the current skills gap. Sure, some of it is because of larger societal issues, such as the Great Resignation of 2022 or staffing problems due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But others are going to be more unique to the workplace, and could possibly include a poor workplace culture or low pay which is driving workers to different employers.
One will find that some of the causes of the skills gap are things that training can help solve, but others are not. Do what can be done about those that are not related to training—some may be under one’s control.
One of the next steps is going to be to build a training program to help maintenance employees develop the job skills they need. It’s important to let HR know there is (or will soon be) a maintenance training program in place, so they can tell well-qualified job applicants about the training program. Those job applicants are more willing to accept a maintenance position at the organization if they see it’s made an investment in providing training and there’s an opportunity for career growth.
Vector Solutions provides a learning management system (LMS) specifically designed for industrial and manufacturing employers. The LMS is a cloud-based software application to manage and administer the entire training program, for maintenance as well as everything else, and for online as well as in-person training.
Vector understands industrial/manufacturing organizations are facing a skills gap and is here to help train maintenance techs as thoroughly as is needed to go above and beyond. After all, learning is the foundation of all organizational success.
For more information, visit vectorsolutions.com or call (813) 207-0012.
