Challenges In Manufacturing Sector's Talent Attraction And Retention (Essay).

Write an essay on the key challenges in attracting and retaining a workforce in your selected sector.

Human Resource Management and Its Importance in Organizations

The essay helps in analyzing the different key challenges which are being faced by the manufacturing sector in attracting and retaining the different talents and workforce in the different organizations. The human resource management is one of the crucial functions in all the organizations as this helps in dealing with issues which are related to performance management, compensation along with development of the organization in an appropriate manner (D'Netto et al., 2014). The different kinds of challenges are required to be discussed which will be helpful in managing the effectiveness and reduce the different kinds of dissimilarities in an efficient manner.

The employees are the integral part of the different organizations in which proper encouragement is required to be provided to the different employees and this will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm in an effective manner. There are different manufacturing sector companies, which are not being able to perform the human resource activities in an effective manner and this is becoming ineffective in nature for gaining the success in the organization. The diversity related issues are being faced by the different companies which are required to be addressed in an efficient manner to solve the issues in an appropriate manner (Jackson, Schuler & Jiang 2014).

It is a common belief that the best workers tend to do a considerable amount of work and at a fast rate however, most of the employers find it considerable difficult to attract and retain the right kind of employees in the organization. Although many organizations have increased their pay and other related aspects which they tend to believe will keep the different employees considerably happy, however, this is not the case and there are a large number of challenges which are faced by the organizations with respect to the attraction and retention of the employees (Brewster, 2017). This challenge is one of the most commonly faced challenges as present in today`s competitive world whereby the leaders know that although talent is valuable, they are also aware of the fact that talent is indeed rare and it is important for the purpose of the organization to ensure that they have the right kind of employees. According to Aravamudhan and Krishnaveni (2016), 82 percent of the companies find it difficult to believe that they have hired the right kind of people for the task. Only 23% of the employees believe that they should deploy appropriate talent and retention strategies in order to attract the employees and make them stay for a longer time frame in the organization. For this purpose, the following section will outline certain challenges which are faced by the organizations to attract and retent the employees in the manufacturing sector.

The primary challenge which is faced by the different employers is the challenge related to the lack of a secure working environment. With the rise of the e-commerce and other related websites, the manufacturing industries have been greatly impacted whereby there has been a consistent increase in the operations of the manufacturing sector and hence, with respect to this the business environment has become increasingly competitive in nature and this has led to a lack of a secure working environment for the employees. According to Cascio (2018), many employers believe that it is only the salary and pay structure which tends to encourage the different employees and helps the firm to retain them for the long run of the organization but in reality this is not the case and it is a conducive and secure work environment which tends to encourage the workers to continue working in the specific organization.

Common Challenges Faced by Employers in Attracting and Retaining Talent

However, as stated previously due to the increased competition in the workplace and the presence of a constant pressure of engaging in high sales and other working hours, the work environment has become highly insecure which then tends to contribute towards a work culture which is highly unsafe for the general welfare of the organization (Kramer et al., 2011). Hence, as the organizations are unable to provide a safe working environment to the different workers due to the pressure on them and for this reason, they are being faced by the challenge of attracting and retaining the employees.

As stated previously, one of the major reasons behind this is that the lack of job security which exists at the workplace. As the manufacturing organizations are unable to provide a sense of job security to the different people at the workplace, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to manage these employees and their job tenure as they have to succumb to the work environment pressure.

Mechanization is the process of changing the workplace in a large manner and the main aim of the same is to perform the different activities in the organization through proper usage of machinery (Busse, Aboneh & Tefera, 2014). There is a huge reduction in the different number of employees working in the organization and this is causing resistance among the different employees working in the organization in an ineffective manner (Kramar, 2014). Due to mechanization and the advancement of the technology in the working environment in different organizations, this has affected the morale of the different employees and this has increased the resistance among the employees in the organization in an ineffective manner (Massingham, 2014).

This kind of mechanization is affecting the morale of the employees as they are not being informed about the any kinds of changes which are taking place in the different organizational structure and set-up (Collings, Wood & Szamosi, 2018). Furthermore, the business relationships are ineffective in nature due to the implementation of the machineries and other techniques such as video calls and messaging which is affecting the overall ineffectiveness of the firm in a negative manner. The advancement of the technology in the different organizations are instilling a negative kind of work culture and they are demotivated in performing the activities efficiently (Cooke, Saini & Wang, 2014). Along with this, as the mechanization has thereby contributed to reducing the costs of the firm, the different employer tend to believe that instead of placing a large amount of investment on the different members of the organization, they should instead use it on machines which then reduces their problems. In relation to this, the employees view this as a threat and choose to leave the organization which makes employee retention a challenge for the different companies in the manufacturing sector.

The second challenge which is faced by the different organizations with respect to the management of the attraction and rejection of the employees at the workplace is that the different employers are unable to guarantee a protection of workplace mishaps (Kramer et al., 2011). As the manufacturing sector has become highly mechanized, there are a large number of machines used at the workplace and tend to pose a threat to the workplace health and related safety problems. Moreover, as stated previously, due to the increase growth rate of the sector the working hours as spent by the different workers has increased considerably and due to this reason, the employees tend to lack a work life balance and are faced by various health consequences. It is due to this reason that the different employees who work in an organization tend to leave the workplace in order to ensure that their health is protected. The employers although can take considerable steps to ensure that safety measures are adopted and that they are able to provide a work life balance however, in lieu of earning high amount of profits, they are unable to consider the life of the employees and often tend to make the life of the employees quite difficult which then ultimately leads to a problem with the higher turnover rates.

Lack of Secure Working Environment as a Challenge for Attracting and Retaining Talent

Due to the competition which has been increased in the entire business environment, this has reduced the work-life balance of the different individuals working in the organization. The competition has increased in the entire manufacturing sector which has affected the motivational aspects which is missing in the different organizations. There is no such implementation of the balance between the professional and personal life and this leads to low productivity in the organization (Guillén, Mayo & Karelaia, 2018).

Furthermore, this has been noticed that when the employees are not being valued, there will be rise in the absenteeism among the different employees and this increases the overall emotional absenteeism among the different employees working in the respective organization. This will lead to huge conflict in the workplace and there is low degree of creativity and self-esteem in the organization in a negative manner (Hohenstein, Feisel & Hartmann, 2014). This impacts the health of the different individuals in the organization which has led to imbalance in the personal life of the employees. Although there are no considerable steps which can be adopted by the organization in this regard, it can be believed that in order to provide a solution to the challenge as faced by the organization in this regard, the firm can deploy the workers to work in various shifts. This in turn will save the costs of the organization and also assist them in ensuring long term success.

For instance- This has been noticed that there are few organizations namely Amcor and ANCA which are the major competitors in the Australian market uses the advancement of technology techniques which is impacting the work-life balance of the employees and there has been reduction in the number of employees as they do not find the work place is suitable as they are not receiving enough motivation and engagement in the workplace and this is demotivating the overall productivity of the individuals.

Although the pay is often considered to be high in the manufacturing sector and the different employers believe that as the firm is able to successfully provide a considerable pay to the employees, they will be working well for the organization, however this is not the case (Kramer et al., 2011). The major challenge which is faced by the different organizations in the manufacturing sector is that the different employers are unable to provide a career development opportunity to the employees along with considerable growth opportunities. The major reason behind this is that the employers are often just concerned with their profits and they do not take into consideration the development of the different employers (Anonymous, 2014). However, contrary to the popular belief, it is not just the hygienic factors of the compensation and bonuses that motivate the different members of the organization to work but it is also a proven fact that in order to have a prosperous work career, the different employees also believe that there should be a presence of the career development of the specific organization which will then thereby assist the different employees to perform considerably well and act as a factor of intrinsic motivation, following which the different employees will perform well (Azmi, 2011).

Job Security as a Challenge for Attracting and Retaining Talent

The intrinsic motivation tends to act as one of the strongest factors using which the different employers will be successfully able to ensure that their retention rates and turnover rates improve (Kramer et al., 2011). However, the problem in this case lies that the employers due to restriction of funds or the narrow organizational structure are unable to provide a career prospect to the different employees which then leads to a limitation on the side of the employer as well as the employee and this acts as one of the major reasons why the members of the firm leave and the employers are unable to stop them.

The section provides various recommendations which can assist the manufacturing sector organizations in reducing the different challenges and help in managing the overall productivity of the organization. The different recommendations are inclusive of the following:

Firstly, the employees are required to be felt valued in the organization wherein the organization needs to provide the different growth opportunities. The organizations require to provide workshops along with different other tools which helps the employees in increasing the understanding of themselves and this will enhance their goal setting efforts as well. Proper employee engagement is essential which is required to be managed by the organizations to become more productive in managing the different aspects. The motivational theories such as Maslow’s Hierarchy Theory and the internal recruitment can be helpful in managing the different needs of the employees which is essential for the success of the firm and the company in an efficient manner (Albrecht et al., 2015).

Secondly, the stress is required to be lowered from the overworking and this will help in creating a proper work-life balance which will be beneficial for the success of the firm in an efficient manner. The employees are required to be listened and ask for their suggestion which will enable the employees to share their input and this will help in improving the overall work-life balance and productivity of the organization an employee as well (Kramar  & De Cieri, 2005). There should be proper balance between the work life and personal life of the individuals working in the organization which will be essential for the overall productivity and success of the firm in an appropriate manner (Paillé et al., 2014).

Thirdly, coaching and feedback is required to be inbuilt in the different companies as this will allow the employees in staying aligned to the different tasks which are performed by the employees and the employers are required to provide proper feedback which is intensive in nature (Bratton & Gold, 2017).  With the help of the coaching, this will be beneficial for attaining the different goals of the organization and this will help the employees in analyzing the understanding of employees in reducing the absenteeism in the organization in an efficient manner as well. The self-esteem of the employees is required to be managed which will increase the overall profitability and revenue of the firm positively.

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that the human resource management plays a major role in managing the different kinds of activities in an efficient manner. The different kinds of challenges related to diversity and the implementation of the safe work environment is essential in nature which is required to be provided to employees in order to become more effective in the different operations performed by them. The different challenges are required to be managed which will be beneficial for the success of the firm along with the employees in performing and managing the different activities in an effective manner.

Mechanization and Its Impact on Employee Morale

The resistance among the employees is required to be reduced in the different organizations which will be beneficial for the overall success of the firm and gain more competitive advantage of the firm in a positive manner as well. The different recommendations have been provided wherein creation of proper work environment which will help in making the employees feel that they are the essential assets of the organization which will be beneficial for the success and productivity of the firm. Proper opportunities are required to be provided to the employees as they are integral part of the organizations and this will help in creating open and honest workplace environment as well.

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