FAQ

Onboarding · Employee retention · Workforce management · Employee turnover · Shift planning

Why is onboarding important?

Because the first days significantly influence an employee's decision to stay with the company.

How long should onboarding last?

Several weeks to months, depending on the complexity of the position.

Who carries the greatest responsibility for onboarding?

HR prepares the process, but day-to-day adaptation is influenced most by the shift supervisor and the team.

Workforce management · Employee retention · Employee turnover · Onboarding · Shift planning

Why do employees leave despite a good wage?

Wage is an important factor, but it is rarely the only reason for leaving. The way people are led, the working environment, work organisation, onboarding and the opportunity to communicate problems openly all play a significant role.

How to find out the real reasons for employee departures?

The best source of information are regular conversations with employees and well-conducted exit interviews. It is important to look for repeating patterns, not to evaluate every departure as an isolated case.

What warning signals should management monitor?

The most common ones include repeated recruitment for the same positions, an increased number of departures during the probation period, departures of experienced workers, or a growing amount of overtime caused by a lack of stable teams.

Can turnover be reduced without hiring more employees?

Yes. In many cases it is more effective to remove the causes of departures than to constantly look for new workers. Better onboarding, quality communication, fair work planning and regular feedback can bring a greater long-term benefit than recruitment itself.

Shift planning · Workforce planning · Workforce management · Manufacturing productivity · Operational excellence

Why do unreported absences occur in manufacturing?

Unreported absences can have various causes – from health problems through personal reasons to long-term fatigue or dissatisfaction at the workplace. It is important to monitor whether these are isolated cases or a repeating trend.

How does an unreported absence affect the production plan?

Even a single unreported absence can cause worker transfers, changes in work allocation, overtime or reduced productivity. The greatest impact is usually on specialised workplaces, where a missing worker cannot be easily replaced.

What should a shift supervisor do in the case of an unreported absence?

The first task is to ensure safe and smooth production. Then it is necessary to decide on worker transfers and production priorities, and to inform the responsible managers according to the company's internal procedures.

Is it possible to prevent unreported absences completely?

No. Every manufacturing company will encounter them sooner or later. Their impact can, however, be significantly reduced through quality planning, worker interchangeability and prepared processes.

How can a company reduce the impact of unreported absences?

It helps to build interchangeability, cross-train workers, regularly evaluate absences and plan reserve capacity for critical workplaces.

Are unreported absences and turnover the same thing?

No. An unreported absence means that an employee does not report for a planned shift without prior notice or for an unexpected reason. Turnover represents an employee's permanent departure from the company. The two topics can be related, but they are two different problems that require different solutions.

Shift planning · Workforce planning · Workforce management · Manufacturing productivity · Operational excellence

How should shifts in manufacturing be planned correctly?

Planning should not be based on headcount alone. It is necessary to take into account workers' competencies, interchangeability, experience, expected absences and the required production capacity.

Why is it not enough to plan only the number of workers on a shift?

Two shifts with the same number of people need not have the same capacity. What also matters is whether the shift has workers able to staff critical workstations and cover for colleagues in the event of an outage.

How should shifts be planned for unreported absences?

A company should know in advance which workstations are critical, what interchangeability is available and what the procedure is when one or more workers are missing. The aim is that the shift supervisor does not have to create a solution from scratch every time.

What is the role of the shift supervisor in shift planning?

The shift supervisor knows the real abilities of the workers, their interchangeability and the problems of individual workstations. Their feedback therefore helps create a plan that also works in real operation.

Is a staffing reserve essential for shift planning?

It does not always have to mean extra workers. A reserve can also take the form of interchangeability, cross-training, a flexible distribution of capacity or prepared external support for situations where internal options are not enough.

Is overtime a suitable answer to a shortage of workers?

Overtime can help with a short-term outage. If, however, it is used regularly to make up missing capacity, it can increase fatigue, absence and gradually also turnover.

Overtime management · Workforce planning · Shift planning · Workforce management · Cost management · Manufacturing productivity

When is overtime in manufacturing still normal?

Overtime is a natural tool for short-term and unexpected situations, for example a technical stoppage, a sudden order or a temporary loss of capacity. It becomes a warning sign when it repeats regularly for the same reason.

When is overtime a sign of insufficient staffing capacity?

If a company cannot meet its ordinary production plan over the long term without regular overtime, capacity may be insufficient. It is important to review the number of workers, their competencies, interchangeability, absences and how people are distributed between shifts.

Why is it not a good idea to plan production with regular overtime?

Such a plan depends on workers being willing to work extra over the long term. In the event of absence, fatigue or part of the team leaving, the company can very quickly lose capacity it had already counted on in the production plan.

Can frequent overtime increase employee turnover?

Long-term overload can increase fatigue and dissatisfaction among workers. If the overtime is repeatedly worked by the same group of reliable people, over time this can contribute to absences and to the decision to leave.

How can the real cause of a high volume of overtime be identified?

Tracking the number of hours alone is not enough. Overtime should be compared by workstation, shift, the reason it arose, absences, available competencies and planned capacity. A repeating pattern often shows where the real problem lies.

How can a manufacturing company reduce its dependence on overtime?

Better capacity planning, interchangeability, cross-training, a more balanced distribution of competencies between shifts, or topping up capacity during periods of increased need can all help.

Cross-training and interchangeability · Workforce planning · Shift planning · Workforce management · Onboarding · Manufacturing productivity

What does interchangeability of workers in manufacturing mean?

Interchangeability means that when a worker is absent, another person exists with the real competencies to take over their workstation or a critical operation safely and independently.

Why is it dangerous when only one person can run a critical workstation?

If a workstation depends on a single worker, their illness, holiday or departure can significantly limit or stop production. The company becomes dependent on the availability of one specific person.

How do you find out which workstations need interchangeability?

Priority should go to workstations whose non-staffing can stop or significantly slow down production, and to positions requiring specific authorisations, longer experience or critical technical know-how.

Is completed training enough for interchangeability?

Not always. A worker may have training on record, but if they have not performed the operation for a longer time, their actual readiness may be lower. What matters is the real ability to take the workstation over independently and safely.

How does a competency matrix help with interchangeability?

An up-to-date competency matrix shows who can perform each workstation independently, who needs supervision and where production depends on a small number of workers. That makes it possible to plan training and the distribution of competencies between shifts deliberately.

How can a company increase interchangeability without a large staffing buffer?

Targeted cross-training, distributing experienced workers between shifts, capturing practical know-how and systematically building competencies at critical workstations can all help.

New worker performance and ramp-up · Onboarding · Workforce management · Manufacturing productivity · Employee retention · Quality management

Why does a new worker not reach the required performance?

The cause is not necessarily the worker's ability. Performance can be affected by the way training was delivered, an unclear work standard, a poorly prepared workstation, a lack of practice, or expectations that are too high during the first weeks.

How long does it take for a new worker to reach the required performance?

It depends on the difficulty of the workstation, the worker's previous experience and the quality of the training. More important than a universal number of days is whether performance, quality and independence are gradually improving.

How should the performance of a new worker be evaluated?

Besides the volume produced, it is useful to monitor quality, independence, adherence to the work procedure, the need for help from an experienced colleague and how performance develops during the adaptation period.

Can low performance be caused by poor training?

Yes. If training is unsystematic or the new worker receives different instructions from different colleagues, they may struggle to build a correct and efficient work routine.

Why is it not enough to compare a new worker with an experienced operator?

An experienced operator knows the process, the workstation and many practical details that a new worker is only starting to acquire. It is fairer to follow the new person's progress and how closely they are approaching the required performance.

When can low performance really be the worker's problem?

If a worker does not make the necessary progress even after reasonable time, quality training, clear expectations, suitable working conditions and specific feedback, the problem may be linked to their suitability for that particular position.

Workforce planning · Workforce management · Overtime management · Cross-training and interchangeability · Onboarding · Cost management

How can a manufacturing company handle fluctuating workforce demand?

It helps to split staffing capacity into a stable internal core and a more flexible part that responds to seasonality, projects or changes in orders. Critical competencies and know-how must be protected in the process.

When is overtime no longer enough to cover increased production?

If the increased demand lasts several weeks or months and the production plan regularly depends on overtime, the company should look into another form of capacity. Long-term overtime can increase fatigue, absences and the risk of departures.

What is the stable internal core of a production team?

It consists of workers who know the operation, the work standards and the quality requirements, and who provide the critical competencies needed for production continuity.

When does flexible external capacity make sense?

Above all during seasonal peaks, project-based production, the ramp-up of new production or a temporary increase in orders, when the company does not want to estimate its long-term staffing need from a short-term maximum.

What should a company look at when choosing an industrial staffing partner?

Not only price and headcount. What matters is the way people are selected and prepared, team stability, attendance, coordination after the start date, handling of replacements and the ability to adjust capacity to the needs of production.

Does flexible capacity mean frequently rotating workers?

It should not. A good flexible model can change the volume of capacity while preserving as much stability as possible among workers who already know the workplace and the production process.

Agency employment · Outsourcing · Labour-law compliance · Workforce planning · Workforce management · Shift planning

What is the difference between agency employment and outsourcing?

Agency employment is the temporary assignment of a worker to a user employer, who during the assignment organises, directs and controls their work. In an outsourcing model the subject of the cooperation is typically securing an agreed activity, service or result through an external supplier.

Who directs the worker in agency employment?

During a temporary assignment it is the user employer who gives the worker work tasks and organises, directs and controls their work, to the extent regulated by the Labour Code.

Is calling a contract an outsourcing contract enough to make it outsourcing?

No. When assessing cooperation, how it actually functions also matters. The Labour Code covers situations in which the provision of an activity under another name may bear the features of a temporary assignment.

How long can the temporary assignment of an employee last?

The Labour Code sets a temporary assignment at a maximum of 24 months. With the same user employer it may be extended or re-agreed within that period no more than four times; the law also contains specific exceptions.

When can agency employment make sense?

Above all when a company needs to flexibly supplement its own teams, wants to integrate workers into its own organisation of work and directs their day-to-day work through its own managers.

When can outsourcing make sense?

Above all when a company wants to entrust an external partner with a specific activity or part of a process and also expects organisational delivery and responsibility for the agreed performance.