Despite the world talking about automation displacing factory workers or blue collar workforce, believe it or not, they are here to stay. In fact, their demand is going up every year. In industries such as manufacturing, construction, oil & gas, transportation, warehousing, the blue collar workforce become even more important. But more often than not, this workforce is deemed lower than the “white collar” employees and considered not glamorous enough. Not a lot of attention is given into engaging them and keeping them informed of the company’s growth and future. And this is even more prevalent with temporary workers.
Having a strong engaged workforce can do wonders for a business and can even take it to the next level. Engagement is more so important to enhance worker’s productivity and maintain their efficiency. Having reverence for this group of workforce will keep them faithful and committed to the company they work for. This is turn will lead to decrease in absenteeism, attrition, turnover, quality and safety incidents.
We have a few tips that can come in handy in order to help keep the blue-collared engaged and happy.
It is also important to look into the management style used for the blue collar workers. In the past, usually, authoritarian approach was used which was a very non-inclusive method that did not take to consideration thoughts and attitudes of the workers. Thankfully, this has been changing and more and more inclusive approach is been used to manage them. This has been proven beneficial as it has a direct impact on teamwork and ownership of their work.
For a company to run successfully, managers have to be able to handle their blue collar workforce with as much diligence and standing as their white collar peers. Realizing the importance of blue collar workers is key in our economy’s continuous growth. Manage your workforce well and watch the profitabiltiy soar high.