What industrial workers want: enhancing employee experience

Is your company constantly hiring for frontline industrial & supply chain openings? Or are you an industrial worker beginning a job search and wondering what to look for in a potential position?

It can be hard to know exactly what competitors are offering or what workers are looking for. It’s important to look into what exactly industrial workers are prioritizing in their job search. Keeping these four ideas in mind will help generate the best outcomes.

1. Career growth potential

Just like with any job market, industrial workers are looking for a job that allows career growth. It’s not hard to come by a job in industrial work that is entry-level. The possibilities for work may seem endless to someone just entering the field. However, offering career growth opportunities makes a position offer more enticing to potential employees.

Industrial workers are looking for career growth potential to be outlined for each position. What training will be offered, what positions can be attained as a next step, and what wage differences are available are all things that are of interest. Companies that encourage workers to continue their training and education within their field of work are more likely to attract the best hires. The offer of additional training, experience, or projects as time goes on is especially desirable within the industrial field.

2. Clearly defined role expectations

When looking for a position, any potential employee is going to be looking for clearly defined role expectations. A lack of clarity is off-putting and creates uncertainty with a job from the start. Clearly defined role expectations are also looked for because this means that the company is well-structured and more likely to have a safe, efficient workplace. Benefits and competitive, fair pay often accompany well-made job descriptions.

A company with clearly defined role expectations generally has a good work culture, as well, and will provide a good working environment. Industrial work can be tedious, with long hours and repetitive work. A good work culture can break the monotony of the tasks and heighten worker satisfaction, which overall improves productivity.

Potential employees are looking for specifics regarding schedule, duties, and wages. Be specific, clear, and honest when stating these.

What will their schedule be?

Industrial workers are looking for their potential shift or shifts to be clearly outlined. This includes:

• What time the potential employee will be working for their shift or shifts
• What days of the week the employee would be working and what holidays they would have to be at work
• If there’s a possibility of working overtime, and how often overtime will have to be completed
• If other worker’s shifts will have to be filled in the case of paid leave or time off

Regular shifts, especially eight-hour work shifts, are ideal. Ultimately, workers are looking for priority time and days. However, many people are willing to work less-desirable shifts for better pay.

What duties does the job entail?

Workers are looking for an outline of exactly what will be done within the position. This includes what machinery will be used, what type of physical labor will be required, any certifications that may be needed, and anything else that the worker will be doing within their typical work day. This is ideally detailed and well-defined.

An example of included duties could be monitoring equipment, cleaning equipment, using specific power tools, meeting deadlines, and reporting any issues on the job to a supervisor. A note that knowledge of equipment that will be used, certification for the use of certain equipment, and previous experience if necessary is also important.

What’s the pay?

Pay is considered the key factor in the job search to industrial workers when looking for a potential job position. Workers are looking for well-paying jobs. The pay should be fair for the amount of work and the duties required of the worker. Additionally, most companies offer a pay rate that increases as time goes on or as career growth is achieved. Workers look for fair, competitive pay both at their entry-level position and as they achieve higher-up positions.

3. Job security

The world of work for industrial workers is competitive and constantly changing. A sense of stability and job security for industrial workers is highly sought after. Hire rates are decently high currently, but layoffs are a constant threat in an uncertain economy.

Jobs aren’t always guaranteed, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the offer of pay for time-off, constant communication, and honesty create a sense of stability. Offering career growth is also a statement of job security, as the potential worker is given the impression that they are wanted for a long enough period of time to grow in their area of work.

4. Benefits

In a competitive market with a multitude of job opportunities, the best benefits are highly sought after. In the past, jobs within the industrial work field did not necessarily provide ideal benefits. Now, however, the best jobs within the field provide workers with health security and insurance, paid leave, and retirement benefits.

Jobs within the industrial field can, at times, include some level of safety risk, and industrial workers recognize this. Jobs that provide good health benefits and insurance are particularly desirable because of this. In addition to health insurance and benefits, paid time off, sick leave, and keeping up with health and safety codes are important to workers.