Employee Retention in Manufacturing: How We Build a Great Team for the Long Term

At Peerless Precision, we take pride in how long our team members stay with us. This year, we’ve already celebrated one 30-year employee anniversary and two 25-year anniversaries, with more 5-year and 10-year anniversaries on the horizon than we can count.

Whenever our president, Kristin Carlson, mentions this to an industry peer, there’s always one response: “How do you guys keep people for so long?”

Her answer is simple: treat people right. The same values that lead to employee retention in manufacturing—values like integrity, consistency, and genuine care—are the same values that allow our precision machine shop to deliver excellent results to our customers.

Staying Grounded Through Industry Shifts

The manufacturing industry has changed constantly over the past several decades, but the COVID pandemic brought unprecedented challenges. Shops around the country struggled with retirements, turnover, and concerns about health and safety, and it became hard to keep experienced employees on board.

At Peerless Precision, we weren’t spared these difficulties—we faced retirements and saw a few valuable team members move on to other opportunities. But overall, we came through it in a strong position by adapting to the times while staying rooted in the values that have kept our shop steady for decades.

What We’ve Learned About Employee Retention in Manufacturing

Employee retention advice often revolves around competitive wages and benefits—these are critical, but it takes more than that. Here are some of the other principles we live by:

Hire for the Long-Term

We know that manufacturing is a career—we don’t hire people for short-term needs, intending to lay them off after a few months. This would be unfair not only to a new hire but to our existing employees.

We’re committed to building a team for the long haul and always back it up with action. When turmoil hits, layoffs aren’t our go-to solution. In fact, we always reduce leadership pay before ever letting an employee go in these situations.

Prioritize Character Over Resume

Many shops only seek out tenured employees with extensive experience, afraid to take on the challenge of training. While we value experience, we also see potential. If someone without experience shows the right attitude and aptitude, we will invest in training them to become a great machinist and an essential part of our precision machining services.

Embrace Flexibility and Manage Like a Human

Throughout our time in business, we have tried to stay flexible with our employees. We understand that life happens—whether it’s a sick parent, recovering from surgery, or needing to drop kids off at school.

During COVID especially, countless logistical challenges arose in everyday life amid so many challenging shutdowns and unpredictable policy shifts. As long as our team communicates, we do everything we can to support them.

Celebrate and Appreciate Your Team

Precision machining is exciting work, but it can be challenging. We always try to show our appreciation with fun celebrations for the team.

We’ve hosted baking competitions, barbecues, axe-throwing events, and team outings to Red Sox games. No “forced fun” or pressure to join— it’s just our way of saying thank you to those who want to participate.

Show You’re All In

At Peerless, we’re in this together. If a new hire’s first role isn’t the right fit, we help them find the right one. That kind of support builds loyalty from the start. We’ve even had co-op students join our team straight out of high school because they knew we were dedicated to setting them up for success.

An Engaged Team Creates the Best Results

No matter how advanced your equipment is, it’s your team that ultimately drives quality. That’s why we invest so much in ensuring our team is comfortable, well-trained, and ready to produce the best results. Long-term employee retention in manufacturing makes all the difference in maintaining consistency and excellence.

Whether you need laser welding services or tight tolerance machining, you can count on Peerless Precision to deliver today and for the long haul, because our dedicated team is here to stay.

Request a quote today and partner with a team that’s built to last!