How G&A’s People-First Strategy is Helping Manufacturing Companies Improve Employee Retention

The negative impacts of high turnover can be significant—from lost time and money spent on recruiting and training to the loss of organizational knowledge. But retaining top talent can be a challenge as well—especially for small- and mid-size manufacturing companies. There are, however, steps you can take to reduce turnover at your own organization.

According to an engagement and retention study conducted by the Manufacturing Institute, retention is closely linked to a supportive organizational culture and competitive pay and benefits.

“G&A understands very well the challenges our clients have with retaining employees,” says Susan Crowder, manager of G&A Partners strategic HR advisory services. “When businesses partner with us, we can help them put people first and share our expertise in creating a work environment that employees will value and, ultimately, choose over others.”

Putting People First

Crowder knows first-hand why putting people first matters. It’s a value G&A strongly believes in and is a guiding principle for how our teams care for our clients. It’s also how G&A cares for its own employees.

“By ensuring that my team's needs are being met and they feel fulfilled, it ensures our clients' needs are also being fulfilled,” says Crowder. “When our team members are feeling happy about work, have an opportunity to positively partner with others, and we equip them with the right tools and knowledge, we see favorable results with our clients' experiences.”

G&A is rooted in the belief that happy and valued employees are the truest predictor of a company’s long-term success. Living this value daily has helped us grow exponentially for more than 25 years and attract top performers who also believe in putting people first. The value is simple: Treat employees and clients like family and with empathy, and they will do the same for the clients we serve.

So, when Crowder’s team advises clients on HR best practices—such as how to retain employees—they pull from their extensive HR expertise, but they also share real-life examples from their experiences as employees at G&A.

How G&A Can Help You Retain Your Employees

As a professional employer organization (PEO), G&A Partners provides HR administration, medical insurance plans, and workplace safety support through best-in-class customer service so companies can grow and thrive.

Helping you retain your employees is vital to your company’s success, and when you partner with a PEO that puts people first, you can realize significant employee retention gains. We also recognize that each company has unique needs and budgets, and we approach each client individually, rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all solution.

Every day, we help our clients improve employee retention by implementing strategies that consider the following:

• Company culture matters to job seekers and employees.

It should be top-of-mind for your manufacturing company, too. In fact, the Manufacturing Institute survey reported that more than two-thirds of workers surveyed said their employer’s family-oriented culture and the job fitting well with their other life demands were important factors in their decision to stay.

G&A can help you assess your culture, starting at the top.

"We can help facilitate discussions about culture. What does it look like for your company? What is your vision, mission, and goals as an organization, for departments, and for individual employees?" says Crowder. "We help you strategize on creating opportunities to enhance your culture and encourage employees, for example, helping to ensure that every individual understands how job duties contribute to overall company success."

• Employees leave jobs for better compensation and benefits.

So, being competitive is key to retaining your employees. For small to mid-sized manufacturing companies, however, shopping the open market for affordable insurance plans that compete with those offered by larger organizations can feel impossible.

At G&A, we utilize our buying power to negotiate better rates for medical plans and other employee benefits. The result for you? Top-tier plan options at costs that won’t break the budget for you or your employees.

Growing from 8 to 260 employees, led G-Con Manufacturing to realize it needed an HR partner to help provide affordable benefit options to its growing staff. “G&A really checked every box that we had,” said Sid Backstrom, vice president of business management for G-Con. “We felt like G&A had the most comprehensive set of solutions and benefits. Having that one-stop shop for payroll stubs, benefits and 401(k) management has made it really easy on our employees.”

Ancillary benefits, such as retirement plans, life insurance, and short- and long-term disability, are also more affordable when you partner with G&A, and they can help you appeal to the needs of a multigenerational workforce. Our team will help you design a competitive compensation and benefits package that matches what the job market is seeking.

• Today’s workers are seeking growth and development opportunities in the workplace.

These can come in the form of mentorships, continued education, performance reviews, or clearly defined career paths.

G&A’s HR experts can recommend best practices—and user-friendly technology—for managing performance and providing feedback to employees that will drive each employee’s development. Additionally, our learning management system (LMS) offers online courses on a variety of topics, from Excel skills to leadership to communication, providing a wealth of learning opportunities at your fingertips.

• Ask for—and listen to feedback from your employees.

This can include feedback on how your business can improve or what’s working well through surveys, stay interviews, or one-on-one meetings. Employees want to be heard and feel valued, and they can also provide you with valuable feedback.

“This is a basic strategy that is often overlooked by businesses,” says Crowder. “But it’s important that employers don’t fall into the trap of asking for feedback, then not acting. That sends employees the message that you don’t care. Taking the feedback and letting it guide change to benefit your employees is important.”

G&A’s team provides guidance on surveys (related to your needs) and then helps identify your strengths and weaknesses based on the feedback. With that knowledge, you can begin moving forward to improve retention.

• Finding the right job candidates is a critical step in improving employee retention.

If you’re routinely hiring skilled or technical workers who aren’t qualified for a position or aren’t a good fit for your company, chances are, you’re dealing with a lot of turnover and constantly filling open positions.

G&A’s Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) team and client advocates will help you find the right candidates by:

• Ensuring job descriptions and job postings are accurate and properly portraying your company and its culture to attract the right applicants
• Implementing applicant tracking technology that eases the hiring process
• Handling prescreening of applicants so you can focus on interviewing the best candidates for the job
• Providing training and resources for the interview process, so managers are equipped to conduct proper and successful interviews

• Reimagining the onboarding process can have a significant impact on employee retention.

In Jobvite's 2022 Job Seeker Nation Report, 30% of workers reported leaving a job within the first 90 days, which means lost time and money for organizations.

Drawing on extensive HR experience, our onboarding team will share recommendations with you, such as when you should contact your new hires, how a mentoring program can benefit them, and what a 30- or 90-day onboarding plan might include. We can then help you implement the strategies that make the most sense for your business and get you set up with G&A’s integrated technology. This will help to streamline onboarding and eliminate unnecessary paperwork, giving you more time to focus on training your new team member.