This is the hard reality organizations face as turnover in maintenance grows. But it doesn\u2019t have to be. This post looks at how facilities can retain staff and improve the transfer of knowledge to reduce the impact of turnover.<\/p>\n
Table of contents<\/strong><\/p>\n The maintenance industry has a problem with turnover. Although rates vary by region, industry, and position, turnover in maintenance consistently outpaces national and global averages and outranks all but a few industries.<\/p>\n According to the Association for Manufacturing Excellence<\/a>, the average manufacturing and distribution plant has an absenteeism and employee turnover rate of 37%. Another study<\/a> by the Canadian Manufacturing Network found that the average turnover rate of maintenance personnel and machine operators in Canada is 22%. And, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>, the involuntary turnover rate (layoffs and dismissals) for maintenance professionals in the US was 4% higher than the national average in 2018.<\/p>\n It\u2019s clear that employee turnover rates are higher in maintenance than many other industries. But why? To answer that question, we have to first look at common reasons anyone might leave their job.<\/p>\n Recent surveys have found that money is at the centre of between a third and a half off all turnover. However, the hunt for a raise is often a symptom of deeper problems. Work\/life balance (13%), a bad relationship with a manager (11%), the quality of daily tasks (8%), and a poor work environment (6%) were all cited<\/a> as top reasons people leave their job.<\/p>\n But what happens when an employee walks out the door for good and brings that knowledge with them? The answer isn\u2019t pretty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s also useful to look at why some employees don\u2019t leave their job. A study from the Harvard Business Review<\/a> found that people were 34% more likely to stay at a job if they found their work enjoyable, used their strengths more often, and were able to develop their careers.<\/p>\n These findings can help explain the high rates of turnover in maintenance. For example, if a facility struggles with too much reactive maintenance<\/a>, staff may spend all day putting out fires. They may even get called in at all hours to deal with unexpected breakdowns. When this happens, everything from work\/life balance to safety suffers, creating the perfect recipe for dissatisfaction and turnover.<\/p>\n Similarly, working with outdated tools makes it tough for maintenance personnel to access resources and do their job effectively. When they spend more time tracking down manuals, shuffling through work orders or writing notes after a shift, they spend less time using their skills and developing new ones.<\/p>\n To top it off, maintenance teams often work under extremely difficult circumstances with very little recognition, which is another big reason they are more likely to leave. High stakes combined with a shortage of gratitude can push maintenance staff, especially young employees, to search for a different career with a better work environment.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a gruelling job and it\u2019s extremely thankless,\u201d says Fiix\u2019s Manager of Customer Success, Scott Deckers, about the life of a maintenance technician. \u201cNobody notices you until something goes wrong. And then everyone notices you, but for all the wrong reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n The last piece of the puzzle is the impact of an ageing workforce in maintenance. There were over 2.1 million people over the age of 55<\/a> working in the natural resources, construction and maintenance industries in the US in 2016. That means millions of employees and decades of knowledge will be flowing out of facilities over the next few years.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a troubling trend that Deckers has seen firsthand.<\/p>\n \u201cA significant number of [Fiix\u2019s] users are between 55 and 60,\u201d he says, \u201cwhich means a huge part of the workforce is going to be retiring in the next five years.\u201d<\/p>\n The cost of turnover is steep. An average business spends 20%<\/a> of an employee\u2019s annual salary to replace them. Since the average salary<\/a> in natural resources, construction and maintenance is $43,000 (USD), turnover comes with a price tag of $8,600 per person. And money isn\u2019t the only thing you\u2019re wasting\u2014 it takes an average of 42 days to fill a position. That time is spent interviewing, onboarding, and training new staff instead of doing other key tasks.<\/p>\n High stakes combined with a shortage of gratitude can push maintenance staff, especially young ones, to search for a different career with a better work environment.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n These are just the direct costs of turnover in maintenance. There are plenty of indirect consequences that can have an even bigger impact on your operation.<\/p>\n For example, when you\u2019re short-staffed, it\u2019s more difficult to keep up with both scheduled maintenance<\/a> and unscheduled maintenance<\/a>. This leads to more downtime, less production, and lost revenue. Unplanned downtime costs anywhere from $3,000 to $200,000 an hour and results in a failure to deliver services to customers 46% of the time<\/a>.<\/p>\n Finally, if your facility doesn\u2019t have a solid system for storing information, you\u2019re likely to lose a lot of knowledge after someone leaves. In fact, it\u2019s been found<\/a> that about 70% of an employee\u2019s knowledge is lost when they leave an organization. This can result in fewer resources for existing staff and a longer training period for new employees.<\/p>\n The first rule of reducing turnover in maintenance is to forget about the things you can\u2019t change (paycheques, retirement) and focus on the areas you can (creating an efficient, fulfilling work environment). Here are four ways to achieve that.<\/p>\n Maintenance is often a thankless profession. It can be frustrating to work hard, do a great job, and get no recognition for it. Reversing this trend creates a better work environment for your maintenance team.<\/p>\n Numbers tell the best story. That\u2019s why quantifying performance is important. It allows you to point at a report and say, \u201cWe completed 100 work orders last month,\u201d or, \u201cWe helped increase uptime by 40 hours this quarter.\u201d It makes the value of maintenance clear and gives maintenance staff the recognition they crave. The result is a more positive culture<\/a> in your maintenance operation and the entire organization.<\/p>\n Dead-end jobs are notorious for their high turnover rates. Nobody wants to go to work every day knowing they will never learn or progress. This is especially true for young workers, who want to be able to see a way forward in their careers.<\/p>\n There are three ways to show young technicians that they can have a bright future at your company. The first is a great onboarding and training program. Give them the know-how they need quickly, so they can learn and work with confidence. The second is to prioritize cross-training and continual learning. Expose staff to a variety of tasks and equipment to expand their abilities. Lastly, invest in tools and resources, like maintenance software<\/a>, that make it easier for junior staff to do their job and learn new skills, so they have more time to learn, cross-train and contribute.<\/p>\n Nothing zaps the will to work like constantly dealing with the worst parts of a job. Doing away with these elements will allow technicians to focus on using their skills. Staff are less likely to leave when you give them a chance to do the work they like more often.<\/p>\n Minor nuisances can quickly become major ones in maintenance. If your technicians spend an hour doing paperwork after every shift, that\u2019s one less hour they have with their families or recharging for tomorrow. Burnout and toxic workplaces are inevitable in this situation. Avoid this outcome by making information more accessible, targeting inefficient practices and making those annoying little jobs a little easier to complete.<\/p>\n It\u2019s tough to accomplish these goals without the right tools. One of those tools is a digital knowledge hub<\/a>, which is a central platform where everything from SOPs to work order histories and preventive maintenance<\/a> checklists are organized and accessible. This arms staff with the information they need, when they need it. Empowering your maintenance team this way helps them overcome some big obstacles and eliminates many common causes of turnover. Maintenance managers also benefit from this system. Not only does it increase efficiency, but it allows you to quantify the value of maintenance so it is better understood throughout an organization.<\/p>\n Download the guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n You can reduce turnover in maintenance, but you can\u2019t eliminate it entirely. The following are a few tips for dealing with turnover at your operation.<\/p>\n Technicians spend years working with the same equipment every day, so they often have asset knowledge no one else does. If you don\u2019t have a system to preserve and share this knowledge, it could mean a long, hard, and costly road back to square one. Enterprise-sized companies in the US waste $4.5 million<\/a> in productivity annually from inefficient onboarding and training.<\/p>\n Nothing zaps the will to work like constantly dealing with the worst parts of a job.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n One way to avoid this nightmare scenario is to record everything and make your records digital. Having a digital repository for asset information allows staff to easily access and review an asset\u2019s work order history. All the information that might take months or years to learn by trial and error (such as optimal settings or common causes of failure) can be learned in days.<\/p>\n Consistency is the mark of great maintenance. But it\u2019s hard to get the same results time and again when your team keeps changing. Standardized processes make it easy to repeat success by taking the guesswork out of maintenance tasks and preventing you from relying on a single, specialized individual.<\/p>\n\n
Turnover rates in maintenance<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat causes turnover in maintenance?<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe impact of turnover in maintenance<\/h2>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nFour strategies for reducing turnover in maintenance<\/h2>\n
#1: Make maintenance matter<\/h3>\n
#2: Pave the way for young employees<\/h3>\n
#3: Eliminate your biggest time wasters and headaches<\/h3>\n
#4: Invest in the right tools<\/h3>\n
The Business Leader\u2019s Guide to Digital Transformation in Maintenance<\/h2>\n
How maintenance teams can plan for turnover<\/h2>\n
Digitize your documents<\/h3>\n
Standardize as much as possible<\/h3>\n