Worker recruitment and retention are priorities for organizations everywhere, but they’re particularly important for manufacturing organizations.
Consider: Annual reported turnover rate for manufacturers is around 25.2 percent according to the Manufacturers Alliance’s 2025 Manufacturing Workforce Trends Survey. Other estimates peg the figure between 24 percent and 32 percent annually, with a median of around 28 percent.
These are stark figures, and it can be profoundly difficult for manufacturers to maintain optimal operations when more than a quarter of their workforce is expected to leave each year. Product quality can suffer due to knowledge gaps. Production efficiency may be compromised as new workers must learn new routines. Morale can suffer when teams are unable to stay together for longer periods.
Each of these results can spell trouble for manufacturers, as our team at Great Day Improvements has learned over the years. And it’s why we made significant changes to improve workforce retention. In 2023, our human resources and operations teams began a strategic journey that helped us reduce our annual turnover rate from nearly 50 percent to 2.6 percent across our operations in two years. It has involved a comprehensive rethinking of how we manage, train, support, promote, and engage our people.
The results were obtained using key strategies that manufacturers everywhere can implement. Here are a few of them:
For Workers, The Sky is the Limit
In manufacturing environments, where work can be routine or repetitive, it’s not uncommon for workers to crave opportunities to expand their skills and take on new challenges. It’s why a focus on career progression can significantly impact retention and growth. Manufacturers who offer clear expectations and programs for career progression provide a tangible goal (beyond daily production quotas, for example).
Indeed, when workers see that their effort can lead to higher pay, more responsibility, or specialized training, it fuels engagement and ambition. Additionally, creating real opportunities for career advancement signals that the company recognizes and values a worker’s contributions. It’s not uncommon for workers in production settings to feel invisible within large operations; promotions or skills-based pay ladders create a concrete way to show appreciation they can see and feel. This sense of value and acknowledgment satisfies core psychological needs like status, respect, and belonging.
Furthermore, when employees can visualize a career path within their current organization, they’re less likely to leave for another employer. A clear progression structure communicates that the company invests in its future, which can help transform what might otherwise be temporary jobs into sustainable careers. And that benefits both workers and the companies that employ them.
For workers at Great Day Improvements, this starts at the very beginning. While historically our teams have hired workers based on their specific experience in a particular job function, our strategy has shifted to place greater focus on broader capabilities, transferable strengths, and potential. This skills-based program asks the questions: Does the candidate display mechanical aptitude? Good problem-solving skills? Work well with teams? These are some of the areas we have focused on.
An Ongoing Investment in Training
Once hired, our workers have access to robust training programs and a skills-based pay structure to help them grow into long-term careers. These types of programs can be crucial to employee retention, enabling manufacturers to meet workers where they are while offering them avenues for growth that match their skill sets.
This not only enables your workforce to truly feel the potential for growth, but can also more effectively allow your organization to fill skills gaps in critical areas with homegrown talent. Further, we believe investments in upskilling and ongoing training clearly demonstrate manufacturing work as a true path to advancement, stability, and rewarding long-term careers.
Beyond in-house programs, Great Day Improvements is also launching apprenticeship programs in partnership with local technical schools to give students and entry-level hires hands-on experience and build a sustainable talent pipeline.
These types of programs can be effective in making employees at every level feel valued, which is a critical factor in improving retention. Consider a recent study from The Manufacturing Institute, in which nearly all respondents who feel valued by their employer said they are highly motivated (97 percent), satisfied with their job (97 percent) and would recommend their company to others as a good place to work (96 percent), compared to just 45 percent, 30 percent and 25 percent respectively, of those who do not feel valued at work.
Involving Employees at Every Level
The same study found that retention best practices often included actively engaging employees and clearly linking their work to company success. Established research from Gallup further shows that low-engagement teams typically experience turnover rates 18 percent and 43 percent higher than those of highly engaged teams. It’s why Great Day Improvements has invested in a multipronged employee engagement program to truly make all of our workers feel seen and heard.
These methods can range from simple to complex. For example, Great Day maintains whiteboards at each of our sites where team members can share their ideas. Compared with a traditional suggestion box—where workers may be unsure that anyone is ever looking—these whiteboards ensure high visibility and accountability for our leaders to act on what they’ve heard. Elsewhere, we maintain an employee engagement committee tasked with deploying a wide range of motivational strategies, including event planning, effective communication, idea sharing, and more.
Though the manufacturing sector traditionally faces high turnover rates, the truth is that it doesn’t have to be that way. Manufacturers who put their workers first—their ambitions, their goals, and their engagement—at all levels of the organization stand to make a real impact.
