How GE Appliances Is Redefining Flexibility on the Plant Floor

GE Appliances is rethinking flexibility on the plant floor, and the results are paying off for its workforce. A recent NPR article spotlights the company’s plant in Lafayette, Georgia, where production workers create their own schedules and demonstrate how flexible scheduling strengthens retention.

How it works: Using the MyWorkChoice app, production workers sign up for four-hour shifts, helping team members schedule work around caregiving and other responsibilities.

• Some full-time employees even moved to part-time schedules instead of retiring, allowing them to remain on the production lines where they’ve worked for decades.

The background: The program began as a pandemic-era response to severe staffing shortages. Today, more than 900 flexible workers augment the plant’s full-time team.

• About 450 part-time employees work an average of 24 hours per week at the plant.

Why it matters: In an industry expected to need another 3.8 million employees by 2033, and struggling to fill roles left by retiring workers, flexibility is an important recruitment and retention strategy.

• Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Manufacturing Institute, the NAM’s workforce development and education affiliate, has recommended that companies offer employees more flexibility. A 2023 white paper from the MI helps manufacturers understand how to put that recommendation into practice to attract and retain workers and fill workforce gaps.
• Nearly half of manufacturing employees cite flexibility as a reason they stay with their employer, and 42% say flexibility is as or more important than pay, according to the report. 

Dive deeper: The MI is proud to welcome GE Appliances as sponsor of the 2026 Workforce Summit, scheduled for Oct. 26–28 in Indianapolis. The GE Appliances team will take the main stage to share how they’re building a positive workplace culture that attracts and retains talent.

• The Summit brings together manufacturing leaders, practitioners and experts to explore solutions to the industry’s toughest workforce challenges. Learn more and register.