How Adaptive Skills Can Play a Pivotal Role in Building the Manufacturing Sector of the Future
This new research from MI and EY on adaptive skills in the manufacturing workplace. What are adaptive skills? Simply put, they are skills or traits that enable individuals to transform their abilities as their demands and environment change. There is a need for broader and evolving skillsets in the manufacturing sector and for building a workforce motivated by opportunities for growth. Doing this will help manufacturers transition to workplaces to a point where forward-thinking, engaging, and digitally enabled work is the norm.
Future Skills Needs in Manufacturing: A Deep Dive
The Manufacturing Institute, in partnership with Rockwell Automation and PTC, released a forward-looking study on where the manufacturing sector will be headed over the next 5 to 10 years and how those changes will impact the necessary skills that will be required of employees. More advanced processes and innovations will necessitate enhanced data and technological skills. As a result, manufacturers will need to support or provide new elements of continuous learning for existing employees, and the skill sets of new employees will need to become increasingly more sophisticated. At the same time, soft skills will always be important. This need for advanced skills sets for modern manufacturers comes against a backdrop of a tight labor market, complicating the search and heightening the already fierce competition for talent.
New Hiring Pipeline Highlight: Pfizer’s Refugee Hiring Program
In 2021, Pfizer launched a company-wide Refugee Hiring Program, with the goal to hire a minimum of 100 refugees by the end of 2022 and provide mentorship opportunities to an additional 150 — with 50 of these opportunities earmarked for LGBTQ+ refugees. In less than a year, the initiative is well on its way to reaching its goal — having hired 68 refugees so far — and garnering widespread enthusiasm from Pfizer’s workforce.
“The knowledge curve might be a little [steeper], but in the end, there’s so much data that shows refugee hiring pays off immensely,” said Mona Babury, one of the creators of the program at Pfizer. “They’re very hardworking, loyal and thankful for the opportunity to enter a new workforce.” Read more about the program details and success here.
Interested in learning how to start your own program? Check out these webinars from the MI team on hiring refugee talent: