Flexibility for Operations Employees

In 2023, 71% of U.S. employers were operating a hybrid workplace. At a time where workforce planning is still particularly volatile, the ability to offer flexible work can be seen as a significant benefit for potential employees.

In manufacturing, offering flexible work schedules is not a simple task, since most organizations cannot move plant floor work to a home office, nor can employees operate heavy equipment or manage production lines at home. While manufacturers cannot compare to other industries like computer/mathematics fields, where 89% of employees have reported the ability to work remotely, they're continually exploring opportunities to offer flexibility to their workers — all while maintaining production and output.

With companies calling employees back to the office and rethinking their alternative work policies, where does work flexibility stand? Manufacturers Alliance surveyed members within operations and production roles to explore flexible scheduling across salaried and hourly staff.  

What Does Flexibility Look Like in Manufacturing?

Half of respondents noted that there is no alternative schedule available for hourly workers. The other 50% are getting creative. Through a combination of compressed (completing a full work week in less than five days), flexible (allowing adjustments for start and end time), and hybrid (allowance of working on-site and off-site), workers have more options to add their preferences into how they accomplish their work.  

Alternative Work Schedules Available for Shift and Hourly Workers

Source: Manufacturers Alliance member survey, 2024.

Salaried workers see the most flexibility in schedules at the discretion of managers and job needs. Engineers, information technology staff, and other positions that do not require specialized tools or machinery access were examples of roles that have been granted permission to work fully remote. Alternatively, plant managers, maintenance, quality control, and more require on-site access, albeit with the opportunity to flex.  

Of those employees who can work remotely, nearly all fall across non-manager, manager, and director level or higher roles. Within a hybrid schedule, manufacturers are implementing required in-office days or setting a specific number of days in office. Most manager and director levels or higher are likely to have 1-2 days per week allowed to work from home. For non-managers, 67% can work from home 2 days per week. Very few respondents indicated that they work from home more than 2 days a week.  

“Ninety-five percent of those who have work flexibility are taking advantage of it, and they like it,” said Ed Jabri, Vice President of Americas Supply Chain, EHS and Expansions, NSK Corporation. “We have good output. If we pulled out of it right now, people would be uncomfortable.”  

Why? Offering hybrid schedules has been a key to employee retention and attraction, adding competitiveness to position offerings, especially since COVID-19 changed the way many people thought about work. While not unanimous, some manufacturers report the same output levels as before they offered flexible options. Other respondents shared they have downsized their square footage, limiting the ability for sites to host the same number of staff there as they had before.

On the factory floor, flexible work options include shifting schedule start and end times, longer shifts but fewer days, and shift rotations, so employees are not locked into second or third shift permanently. One respondent shared that their 12-hour shifts fill up first and have the least number of openings, increasing the likelihood they’ll be fully staffed or at least can find coverage on 24-hour plant operations.

One of our interviewees described the five unique shifts and seven work periods within those shifts that the company developed to balance employee availability and run continuous operations. “They’re fixed, but they are different work schedules,” they added, noting the system allowed them to offer flexibility while maintaining full staffing.  

Finding out what flexibility is offered, and needed, is a continual process by the business unit and department level. Even trial experimentation on schedule offerings has been continually evaluated. “In one department, we allowed a rotating person who would get one day off – essentially a 3-day weekend – and monitored the effect on work production. It saved us from overtime and allowed employees to get out and do more with families on the weekend,” said a director of operations.  

NSK Corporation, at the request of employees, changes assigned shifts monthly for employees to have greater work/life flexibility. As a secondary benefit, this variation also allows for cross-training. “There’s an expectation and understanding that we need to produce the products,” added Ed Jabri, “but we try to accommodate any flexibility needed.”  

Flexibility Goes a Long Way

On the plant floor, those who have incorporated alternative work schedules report that they see the flexibility establishing greater fairness with corporate workers, increased satisfaction, reduction in turnover and absenteeism, increased morale, and retention. All in all, it provides greater consistency to operate the plant as desired and maintain production output.

Alternative Working Arrangements Have Increased Employee Satisfaction

Source: Manufacturers Alliance member survey, 2024.

Despite the concern of innovation and collaboration being weakened by teams not working on-site together, flexible schedules are utilizing in-person time for collaborative or group projects. But, if no flexibility is offered in the factory and only in the corporate function, workforce divisions and negative attitudes could brew.

And it’s understandably going to be different. Factory workers were likely to not have the same flexibility options as those in the office due to their work. “Initially there were some negative feelings” about fairness, said Ed Jabri, but NSK Corporation recognizes this distinction with incentives and benefits to recognize those who have less flexibility.  

Employees are seeking flexibility within employers. “We’re seeing more capable candidates applying now than ever before,” added Jabri. “Everyone asks for these options.” Survey respondents added how flexibility boosts morale and improved retention.  

“We’ve had new employees come here because they’ve heard about our 4-day work week, and that’s what they wanted,” shared a director of operations for a U.S.-based manufacturer. For companies with competitors for shift workers, creating strategic work benefits that give organizations an extra edge in the market is important, especially where pay and benefits packages are comparable.

Alternative schedules varied across organizations, and even within different business units or departments. Timken, while leaving schedules dependent on the department, tries to lead from a top-down model. For those coming to the office, they see their department leaders on the same days, which typically turn into days focused on collaboration or meetings. “I’m at the facility every day because I know my shop floor likes to see me. I don’t have to be, but when the rest of the building is empty, they still have to be there,” said Ryan Evans, Director of Research & Development, Timken.

While not all salaried staff take advantage of flexible work, when offered, a majority of our respondents commented that their employees appreciate that opportunity. It bolsters job postings where competition might offer comparable benefits packages and keeps the good employees around longer.  

Manufacturers are continually reassessing their alternative work schedules, reviewing what’s working, what’s not, and how the industry is continually evolving alongside workforce demands. Even though “some generations like to have strong managerial oversight...Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z don’t have a problem with that. They get their work done, and the people who have a hard time with this are retiring out,” shared one manufacturing executive.

Admittedly, there’s no perfect schedule. Teams are still having to adapt to obstacles like employee onboarding and assimilation and collaboration challenges in a not fully in-person environment. In a recent member-only survey on culture, Cultivating a Sense of Belonging in a Remote Environment, employees report feelings of isolation and career progression hurdles that have not been resolved despite greater trends of workplace flexibility since 2020.  

“As we see the need for different changes or customizations, we’ll accommodate or work towards it, since we feel this change toward flexibility is here to stay,” said NSK Corporation’s Ed Jabri.