The manufacturing industry has experienced significant attrition over the past ten years, reaching as high as 47%. Retention is a critical component in manufacturing, with high turnover disrupting productivity, increasing recruitment costs and creating gaps in institutional knowledge.
As technology and market dynamics evolve, continuous learning has become essential for organizations to stay competitive and adapt to new techniques and standards. Employers need accessible systems in place to share and retrieve critical training information – without it, they risk wasting time and negatively impacting overall productivity and performance.
The (Hidden) Cost of Knowledge Gaps in Manufacturing
In manufacturing, knowledge gaps lead to operational challenges, safety concerns and bring significant financial repercussions. Mistakes on the production line contribute to direct losses in raw materials and production costs. This results in downtime, missed deadlines and lost opportunities on large projects that can drive more business. In highly-regulated industries like manufacturing, these challenges can also expose businesses to large non-compliance penalties. Additionally, low morale from inadequate training causes workers to feel ill-prepared, frustrated and burnt out, resulting in a vicious cycle of recruitment, onboarding and increased training costs.
Personalized Onboarding + Training Is Key
The key to empowering a workforce and improving retention lies within a targeted and personalized onboarding and continuous training process. Research shows that 86% of organizations are not satisfied with their current training solutions. Adding to that, a well thought-out onboarding system increases new hire retention by 82%. Organizations can’t rely on a “one-size-fits-all” approach to effectively communicate important information to a diverse workforce.
Robust video learning tools are great ways to enhance the training and onboarding processes and facilitate knowledge sharing across the organization. These capabilities accelerate onboarding, employee training and education and cross-functional collaboration by making critical information available instantly. Video learning tools offer easily accessible digital resources that younger generations seek while preserving the valuable expertise of retiring employees. When experienced employees leave, the absence of strong knowledge transfer systems can result in significant expertise loss, a challenge more commonly referred to as the “silver tsunami” phenomenon.
Video tools cater to the needs of individuals, offering features such as:
- Accessibility – Video learning platforms automatically organize video content, ensuring that important resources like training videos or project updates are easily searchable and accessible to employees at any time. Videos can also generate captions, summaries and notes, offer screen readers and audio descriptions, further streamlining knowledge sharing and catering to the needs of any individual, regardless of how they prefer to learn.
- Translation – As the workforce becomes increasingly globalized, language and cultural barriers pose significant challenges to productivity and safety – especially when it comes to communicating complex business initiatives across languages. AI-powered video tools offer the ability to translate and caption discussions across different languages. With the addition of OSHA requiring training to be in the native language of the employee, this method of training becomes a key ingredient in ensuring all employees receive the information they need in the way that they best understand.
- On-the-go access – Today’s digital-first workforce expects quick, convenient access to knowledge. Instead of sitting through hours of training, employees can retrieve information anytime – at work, at home or on the go. Especially for new hires, instant access is key. With mobile-friendly training, employees can simply search a question and jump directly to the relevant section, getting the answers they need in real time.
The Long-Term Impact: Employee Development Boosts Retention
Upskilling is accelerating in today’s fast-changing world – what used to require training every five years now happens every one to two years or even more frequently with evolving technologies like AI. Providing continuous learning opportunities tailored to individual learning styles empowers employees, building confidence in their skills and roles.
Bridging knowledge gaps has a clear ROI – by improving the skills of the workforce and reducing mistakes, organizations can achieve higher productivity, reduced turnover and better overall business performance. Organizations that invest in scalable training solutions, such as video-based learning, can track progress over time to ensure their workforce remains skilled, confident and adaptable to changing market demands. Bridging knowledge gaps sets employees up for long-term success – not only enhancing their productivity, but increasing their workplace expertise.
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Brandon Nastoupil is the COO of Panopto. For more information, visit panopto.com.