Focus on Employees Improves Quality
PM contributor Todd Palmer suggests in his “About Your Business” column that the focus can be shifted from lower costs to long-term, smarter investments such as better pay, training and scheduling for employees.
Production Machining Contributor Todd Palmer.
Businesses can reevaluate their ideas of employees through changing through workforce management systems. Talent shortages have proven to have a high impact on businesses, but few employers have adapted to this new information. Skilled trade workers are necessary for the future, but a “doing more with less” practice of low pay, poor training and unrealistic scheduling has had a negative effect.
PM contributor Todd Palmer suggests in his “About Your Business” column that the focus can be shifted from lower costs to long-term, smarter investments. He brings in findings from MIT professor Zeynop Ton’s book The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profit. In her book she details a strategy for money making that involves offering less/fewer options, standardizing and empowering, cross-training and operating with slack.
For more information on how emboldening employees can lead to higher productivity and satisfaction, check out his article “Use ‘The Good Jobs Strategy’ to Find Employees.” Read the full article here.
