How Manufacturers Foster Employees’ Career Growth
Top manufacturing firms are among the companies that best foster career growth, according to workers (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).
What’s going on: Businesses “that got high marks across the board in the Where You Work Matters List share several practices, from hiring people early in their careers to training them relentlessly and aiding their advancement.”
- Procter & Gamble and Northrop Grumman made the list, which was created by Burning Glass Institute and the Schultz Family Foundation and uses the experiences of more than 12 million employees at 1,700 companies.
Their secret sauce: The companies share a few key practices.
- First, they hire their people early on. “Every year Procter & Gamble hires most of its employees right after they graduate from college. That way, the consumer-products giant can train them in its culture and processes and maintain a pipeline of internal talent. Its employees, in turn, get coaching from veteran colleagues and exposure to various jobs.”
- Another trait the companies share is their teaching of “soft skills,” including formal leadership training and “[h]ow to walk into a room, how to own a room, how you’re projecting your posture and your voice,” one Northrop Grumman employee, who “is in the process of taking over as vice president and general manager of the company’s weapons-systems division” told the Journal.
- The firms also prepare their workers for internal promotions and formalize career-planning processes. “P&G, for example, spaces goal setting, career planning and performance reviews across the calendar. Each summer, managers and their reports complete plans for the coming year, setting clear goals for results they intend to deliver.
Check it out: To discover how manufacturers are supporting and celebrating the careers of their employees, read about the Manufacturing Institute’s STEP Ahead program. STEP Ahead strengthens the modern manufacturing workforce by empowering the workers leading the industry at every level—from the shop floor to the C-suite.
- The STEP Ahead Awards Gala, honoring 145 outstanding leaders in manufacturing, will be held April 23 in Washington, D.C.