Dispelling much of the media hype about our country’s decline in manufacturing, overall manufacturing production in the USA has remained remarkably constant for decades. What has changed dramatically is the number of jobs used to generate our manufacturing output. Since 1979 the manufacturing workforce has shrunk by 40% and there’s every indication that it will continue to shrink since the productivity of manufacturing workers has never been higher.

The decades-long decline in manufacturing jobs reveals several important factors of the manufacturing job market that must be understood and acted upon by job seekers, manufacturing companies and government entities alike.

1. the lost jobs aren’t coming back. Just as the jobs for phone operators were replaced with digital switches that could handle exponentially more calls at a fraction of the price of an operator with a headset, manufacturing has embraced automation and will never return to manual processes.
2. new manufacturing jobs require higher levels of technical skill. Manufacturers need employees who add value to the manufacturing process. They don’t need a warm body capable of punching a button to activate a punch press 120 times an hour. If you can’t provide more value than a simple machine, you will not get hired. Employers are looking for individuals who can operate and program their automated machines. These new positions requires mathematics and computer programming skills that former machine operators never developed.
3. training is essential. Although there are thousands of machine operators who are potentially capable of updating their skills to include programming, these operators all need training. Solutions have to be developed privately and publicly to enable these workers to shift from simple machine operation to advanced programming, monitoring and operating.
4. essential skills need to be introduced in high-school. The new manufacturing jobs are higher paying because they’re more demanding intellectually. They require an understanding of advanced mathematics, logic and programming that are not imparted in the current high school curriculum. Students should be introduced to the skills that will play an increasingly large role in their professional lives so they will be better prepared to step into real-world employment opportunities with a solid educational foundation.

Experts tell us that the average worker would have to work a mere 10 hours a week to meet the productivity of their 1950’s counterpart.  The bad news is that the economy has calibrated itself for that productivity.  We expect things done faster than we used to.  Receiving a package in 3 days used to be fast.  Then overnight.  Now if we can’t download this instant we’re not interested.

A good example of this comes from a CNN blogger who tried to fit a shorter workweek in with the 24/7 new cycle business:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/08/14/cnn.workweek/index.html

The second big problem with shorter work weeks is the slow economy.  Many people view flex time as a major liability to their career assuming bosses have an “out of sight / out of mind” view of their performance.  Need to make cuts?  Who’s that guy I never see?  http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/03/29/flex.time/index.html?iref=allsearch

But a shorter work week can have some major benefits.  First, it can save on energy cost in terms of running office amenities as well as in commuting costs for employees.  There’s also a case to be made for frankly acknowledging the waste that often takes place in juggling work and life. A doctor’s visit, for example, may only take an hour but can easily eat up an entire afternoon of an employee’s time.  If these sort of activities were concentrated in extra time off, actual word days would become less diluted.

So from a management perspective, how do you implement a shorter work week to ensure these  efficiencies are working for you?  How do you turn a nice perk into a way to reduce overhead and improve effectiveness.  Here are 5 ways to start:

1.)  Make it Mandatory

Efficiency means that employees can’t be in the office.  Keeping strict working hours ensures that employees genuinely approach work more efficiently, but also means that no one will feel threatened by missing something important.  Any kind of flex time needs to be more or less mandatory.  If it’s not, natural competition will kick in resulting in greater inefficiency.

2.)  Manage by Task

Task oriented management means looking at what and employee delivers and when they deliver it instead of whether they’re simply available to work. Shorter hours mean less time to get something done, but also means you are judged on production instead of time.

3.)  Keep Meetings Short and to the Point

Less time in the office means less time for meetings.  It’s still important to touch base with people, but keep meetings short.

4.)  Beware of Too Much Email

An office that isn’t frequently together tends to email often.  The problem is the vast number of emails that crowd computers every day.   Keeping people in the loop doesn’t always mean hitting cc, however.  Encourage that problems and questions be addressed in meetings, phone calls, or in one to one exchanges.

5.)  Use Technology

There are terrific tools like Skype and an array of chatting programs that are great ways to stay in touch outside the office.  Also, document sharing has become easier with services like Google docs.  You may need to push along these relationships slightly with training or hardware, but they are fairly maintenance free after that.

Flexible working schedules and shorter hours simply means worker smart and not harder.  Managing this process also means rewarding smart work and enabling it.  The results could be higher productivity and a lower bottom line.

How do executive know when new staffers are qualified for the job?

Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, explains on bigthink that the key is to instill your company’s core values in your new employees so your company culture is continually extended and reinforced.

Baldoni is a leadership consultant, coach, and speaker. His work centers on how leaders can use their authority, communications and presence to build trust and drive results. He is the author of six books on leadership, including Lead By Example, 50 Ways Great Leaders Inspire Results. In 2007 John was named one of the world’s top 30 leadership gurus by Leadership Gurus International.

1. Do people know what is expected of them? Too often we assume people know their jobs. People may know the specifics, but often lack knowledge about how what they do helps the entire organization. For example, if an employee works in accounting, she needs to know how vital her job is to the efficacy of the company. Her attentiveness, as well as that of her colleagues, is essential to the company’s ability to profit. People need to be told, and reminded, of the importance of their work.

2. Do employees know what they can expect from you? It is important to let employees know that you as their manager are available to them. How you define “available” may vary from employee to employee. For new hires, you might be more teacher than boss. For veterans, you will play the coaching role. For the team, you will be the supplier of resources as well as their champion.

3. Do employees know what is expected of each other? While managers need to make certain employees are doing what is asked of them, employees must also do their part to coordinate with each other. Whether a self-managed team makes its own assignments or a manager makes the assignments, what matters most is that employees know who does what so work can be completed in a timely and responsible fashion.

Read the full article at his blog here: Link

Advice to managers:  Encourage this and don’t be threatened.

Advice to employees: Frame your arguments in terms of ‘the good of the company’ or you’ll be seen as self-serving.

Listen to it here: Link