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Shift Schedule Considerations

August 11, 2020 By

There is little academic research as to the advantage or disadvantages of a 4-day; 10-hour (4/10) shift versus a 5-day; 8-hour (5/8) shift. When determining the best shift schedule for your operation, there are multiple things that you should consider. These include things such as employee desire, customer demand, efficiencies, and safety.

Key Considerations
Employee Desire
Statistics from the Society for Human Resource Management indicate that 31 percent of employees were in a compressed workweek schedule such as a 4/10 shift and a wide majority find it favorable. Wadsworth & Facer (2008) show that more than 70% of employees favor 4/10 schedules. Additionally, 2008, researchers from Brigham Young University conducted a series of surveys and found that about four-fifths of the employees reported a positive experience working that type of schedule. Surveyed employees listed improved morale, work-family balance, more daylight for leisure, time for second jobs, reduced commute time, and lower cost for travel and child-care as 4/10 benefits.

Customers and Suppliers
Customers
The pace of customer demand must also be considered when changing shift schedules. Customers may need to adjust their ordering cycle to adjust to your new schedule. If you are shifting from a 5/8 to a 4/10 schedule, you must consider the additional 2-hours of work per day. Does your order flow or work schedule provide 10-hours of work per day at the current pace? If you are considering a switch from 4/10 to 5/8, can the work be spread across the additional day and still meet your customer’s order flow?

Suppliers
You must also consider when your suppliers make deliveries. If you are moving to a compressed workweek, Just-In-Time inventory policies may need to be adjusted to ensure a sufficient supply of materials. This may mean changing order quantities and delivery dates. Also, your warehousing requirements may increase by at least 20%. Ensure you have sufficient space for the additional materials, or you may need to schedule multiple daily deliveries. If you are considering a move from 4/10 to 5/8 you may have to schedule additional deliveries.

Productivity
When evaluating productivity, few studies that overcome the problems of differences in the workforce or work practices. However, most of the data does not indicate productivity improvement differences between a 5/8 and 4/10 schedule. Companies must perform this analysis themselves over time to see how the different shift schedules affect the productivity of their workforce.

Employees can save money on transportation during a compressed work-week and companies may see a reduction in overhead such as electricity and water as the operation is maintained one fewer day per week.

An additional consideration is the condition of the equipment. Equipment that has been conditioned to run 8-hours a day would run 10 under a compressed 4/10 schedule. Maintenance plans and schedules may have to be adjusted along with the shift.

Smaller groups
Smaller support groups such as cleaning crew, maintenance, and the warehouse have been shown to have a slight increase in productivity when shifting to a compressed scheduled. The off-day in a 4/10 schedule allows these groups to perform some of their activities during times the operation is not running.

Safety
There is little data to suggest increased safety concerns in a 5/8 versus a 4/10 schedule. However, Dembe (2017) points to a variety of studies on the potential dangers that can occur as the result of the additional risks created when work demands exceed a certain threshold. Most of these studies suggest that the dangers are most pronounced when people regularly work more than 12 hours per day or 60 hours per week. Dembe (2005) found that the risk of suffering an industrial accident is raised by 37 percent for employees working more than 12 hours in a day. The risk is 61 percent higher for people in “overtime” shifts. Working more than 60 hours in a week is related to an additional injury risk of 23 percent. As the hours worked in those schedules increase, the risks grow accordingly.

Considerations when changing a shift schedule
Before you change from a 5/8 to a 4/10 or from a 4/10 to a 5/8, the research suggests that there be a program worked out in advance by both managers and employees. All concerned parties must be involved in the decision-making process and that there must be clear explanations as to why things may need to change.

Try starting slowly and implement one four-day work-week a month or one five-day work work-week a month. That will allow time to solicit feedback from your employees and customers. It will also allow time to adjust schedules for shipments and deliveries. During this time, you should monitor employee productivity to make sure goals are still being met.

Considerations when adding a second or third shift
Before adding a second or third shift to an operation, please consider the fact that multiple shifts may result in higher overall costs that are required for shift premiums, nighttime lighting, quality control, and safety measures. Research has also identified that the utilization of evening and night shifts causes higher rates of labor turn-over and absenteeism that could lead to project delays and cost overruns.

In addition, productivity across different shifts can vary greatly. This reduction reflects on a number of underlying factors, including less experienced employees, a disturbed social life, shortened and disturbed sleep, and disrupted circadian rhythm.

Figure 1 below shows the relative performance across a 24-hour day with the worst efficiencies seen from midnight to 6am.

Figure 1: Industrial performance efficiency over the 24-hour day


Note. Reprinted from “Shift work, safety, and productivity”, by Folkard, Simon and Tucker, Philip., Occupational Medicine, Volume 53, p. 96.

Conclusion
Changing or adding shifts can have a great impact on employee morale, efficiency, and safety. By considering the factors mentioned in this report, you can make the transition smoother for your organization.

References
Dembe, A. (n.d.). No, we shouldn’t switch to a four-day Work-week. Slate Magazine. https://slate.com/business/2017/09/you-dont-want-a-four-day-workweek.html
Dembe, A. E. (2005). The impact of overtime and long work hours on occupational injuries and illnesses: New evidence from the United States. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 62(9), 588-597. https://doi.org/10.1136/oem.2004.016667
Facer, R. L., & Wadsworth, L. (2008). Alternative work schedules and work–family balance. Review of Public Personnel Administration, 28(2), 166-177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371×08315138
Folkard, S. (2003). Shift work, safety and productivity. Occupational Medicine, 53(2), 95-101. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqg047

By Ben Cheeks, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Automotive, Energy and Environmental, Food Industry, Leadership, Lean and Process Improvement, News, Technology, Workforce Development

Georgia Manufacturers Have a Story to Tell – GaMEP Client Survey

July 22, 2020 By

Ga Manufacturers have a story to tell

Ga Manufaturers have a story to tell

During the next month, the Georgia Manufacturing Quarterly Survey will be delivered to companies across the state. This survey is a key benchmark that provides us with critical information on Georgia manufacturers’ problems, needs, and business performance. Through a third-party administered survey, we ask our clients to answer questions that will help evaluate the quality and usefulness of our services and the impact the assistance of GaMEP has had on their business.

By telling their story, companies can showcase the results of our partnership and work, so that we can continue to receive vital funding that helps us provide integral, low-cost services to manufacturers across the state. Companies self-report the results of working with the GaMEP, highlighting the impacts around cost savings, sales, and job creation or savings, that have been a direct result of projects within the plants.

GaMEP knows that these improvements leave a lasting impact, and each year we work with more than 800 manufacturers to advance the state’s economic impact. In the last year we have helped manufacturers reduce operating costs by $121 million, increase new and retained sales by $317 million, created and retained 2,074 jobs, and helped our clients make $159 million in plant investments to improve their operational efficiencies.

Many clients want to share their impacts with the GaMEP.  Through an interview process, we capture their results and create client success stories. These stories are a great way for companies to share their journey and outcomes. We then send the stories to our national sponsor, post on our website and social media channels, promoting the company and GaMEP’s impact. We, as a team, get excited to tell these stories and celebrate the wins, as it helps fulfill our mission of enhancing global competitiveness for Georgia manufacturers.

By showcasing the positive performance of our clients, we can attract more manufacturers to our state, build a reputation as the No. 1 resource for manufacturing excellence, and continue to grow and advance an environment that supports small to mid-size manufacturing companies.

The next survey period is active and runs from July 13 to August 19.

Here are a couple helpful tips for completing the survey:

  • Manufacturers will only need to complete one survey per year. If GaMEP has completed multiple projects, your Regional Manager will work with you to combine the impacts of all completed projects into one survey report.
  • During the survey period, your Regional Manager or Project Manager will be in touch to verify the appropriate contact and share more information about the survey process.
  • On the first day of survey period, the contact will receive a unique survey link via email from: moc.yevrustneilcpemnull@troppus.
  • Only one survey response is allowed by each company.
  • Clients should consider the totality of the impacts they have achieved in working with GaMEP and how those impacts have cumulatively been expressed in the last six-twelve months in results.

If you’d like to see some of the stories shared by other GaMEP clients, please visit the Success Story page on our website. Contact your Regional Manager with any questions, or if you are interested in having a success story written about a project we’ve completed with your team, contact GaMEP’s Marketing Strategist, Raine Hyde.

By Raine Hyde, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Automotive, Energy and Environmental, Food Industry, Leadership, Lean and Process Improvement, News, Technology, Workforce Development

7 Tips for Sustaining Your Manufacturing Company During COVID-19

April 10, 2020 By

Manufacturing Plant

Manufacturing Plant

During unprecedented times in which your company is facing monumental challenges and uncertainty, it is more imperative than ever to be proactive and follow best practices to ensure business continuity. But as pressure mounts and the stress of the current COVID-19 situation continues to grow, the best path to sustaining your company may not be as clear as you would hope. Some companies are left with no choice but to halt production, send employees home, and wait out the storm, while other companies are looking at ways to improve their processes, reduce costs, boost employee morale, and even create new business opportunities. While it’s easy right now to focus on the negatives, there are still a variety of actions you can take to help your company’s long-term success. Not sure where or how to start? See our 7 tips below for using the time and resources you have now to help sustain and stabilize your company:

  1. Examine Your Supply Chain. Many manufacturers are working to respond to business disruption and supply chain challenges from the global spread of COVID-19. Rethinking your supply chain and evaluating alternative logistics options or identifying new sources of, or alternatives to, raw materials, equipment, packaging, or more could be essential to helping you manage some of the challenges you’re currently facing. If time and resources permit, you could even look ahead to the future at how you can optimize or transform your supply chain even further. Research some of the emerging supply chain technologies and new models that will help equip your organization with the ability to deal with the unexpected.
  1. New Business Opportunities. The state of Georgia is looking for manufacturers to switch gears during this time and begin producing, distributing, and storing critical health care items needed to fight the spread of COVID-19. This is a great opportunity to keep your employees engaged and keep your operations up and running during this time. Examples of items included in the critical item list are gowns, face shields, ventilators, masks, PPE, hand sanitizer, and more. For a complete list of needed items, click here: https://www.georgia.org/newsroom/press-releases/gov-kemp-calls-georgia-businesses-aid-critical-health-care-needs. If you are able to produce any of the critical care items, complete this online form: : https://www.georgia.org/gamep-c19. Additionally, the government has multiple contracts available for manufacturers to bid on. If you are interested in working with the government during this time and need assistance navigating the process, connect to your GaMEP regional manager at https://gamep.org/regional-locations/ and we can introduce you to the Georgia Tech Procurement Assistance Center program.
  1. Increase Communication. Currently, the chances of your employees feeling frustrated and uncertain are higher than they’ve ever been before. Increased two-way communication can play a vital role in improving your company’s culture and fostering a positive work environment (remote or not) even during difficult times. Help your people feel heard and acknowledged by communicating often and taking this opportunity to ask the questions you wouldn’t normally have the time to ask. You may come away with an idea for improving a process or identifying an issue you weren’t aware of before. Whether it’s by phone, video conferencing, or email, be an advocate for your team and let them know that what they say does provide value. GaMEP recently wrote a business guide, which includes the importance of communication, to help manufacturers get through this pandemic. Download the guide here. In addition, click here to find out more about the Managing for Daily Improvement (MDI) process that GaMEP has implemented in manufacturing plants across the state and learn how you can utilize MDI even in a virtual setting to keep the lines of communication open.
  1. Get Lean. Utilizing Lean tools and techniques can significantly impact your business for the better and help set the stage for long-term success. If you haven’t already become familiar with these process improvement methods, now is the time for you to start or continue your journey towards becoming a Lean manufacturing company. By using Lean principles, you’ll have the ability to better examine the processes within your operations to identify and eliminate non-value added activities to increase capacity and flexibility, as well as reduce costs. In addition to your processes, look at your utilities and see where you can reduce energy spending. Both of these are great opportunities to communicate with your employees, as they may be more privy to an element of your operations that could use a reassessment. Know that not all improvements have to involve spending. It may just require looking at a process from a different perspective – utilizing creativity over capital to achieve your goals.
  1. Study Your Financials. If you’re a small or medium operation that does not have the benefit of having your own procurement department, it may be a good time for those in leadership roles to examine the company’s financials and investigate any anomalies that may have occurred. Focus on individual categories of expenses and items that you don’t always get to spend much time reviewing. See something that doesn’t exactly add up? Take this time to investigate why and seek out an explanation if possible.
  1. Investigate Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency Products. Have you wanted to purchase new equipment for your plant, but hesitated because it would interrupt your operation? If your company has now halted or reduced production, now would be a good time for you to research the benefits of investing in new energy efficiency products. Discuss different options with your employees and determine what could help improve a product or process. Be sure to do your due diligence and take advantage of available tax credits and utilize appropriate tax forms to eliminate sales tax from qualified purchases. Here is a link that provides more information: https://www.georgia.org/competitive-advantages/incentives/tax-credits
  1. Tackle the “Business Wish List”. Many manufacturers have a list of items they’d like to eventually research or implement, but continue to put this list on the backburner because they either don’t have the time or assume taking on these projects would interrupt operations. If this sounds like a familiar situation, take advantage of the downtime you have now to revisit this list and see how many boxes you can check off with the help of your employees.

As we navigate this uncertain time together, GaMEP at Georgia Tech would like to remind you that we are committed to our mission, which is to help you, the manufacturers across Georgia. We have been helping manufacturers with many of these items during the COVID-19 pandemic, including supplier scouting, tightening up communications within a plant, developing a crisis recovery plan, and more.

We would like to be your resource for the latest information on the virus, and how this will impact your business. Please visit our resources page for the latest in helpful links, webinars, current information, and how you can connect with us so that we can assist you during this time at https://gamep.org/coronavirus/.

By Megan Johnson, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Leadership, Lean and Process Improvement

Two different trainings for Manufacturing Leadership. Choose your best path.

March 10, 2020 By

Image of 3 graduates from the Manufacturing Leadership Certificate Program.

In manufacturing plants, change is a given. Embracing it is not an option but a matter of professional progression. Whether you’re looking to boost your credentials to keep moving up in your company, or gaining skills that are immediately applicable in helping your organization prepare for the future, we have several different leadership training opportunities at Georgia Tech specifically for you.

Our Manufacturing Leadership Certificate addresses the necessary skills gap for leaders implementing or managing continuous improvement cultures in their plants.

This certificate focuses on specific areas that will improve your problem-solving skills and increase your communication abilities, allowing you to become a better manager. The result is immediately implementable, hands-on principles that you will be able to apply to real-world challenges.

The Manufacturing Leadership Certificate consists of five required and two elective courses of your choice. Study at your own pace through a trio of in-person classes combined with online courses. The certificate is taught by GaMEP team members, with years of practical experience working in manufacturing companies. Learn about the certificate and how you can lead, evolve, and sustain operational success both now and in the future.

Hear what some of our Manufacturing Leadership Certificate graduates have to say:

Quote from Chantrey Reese about the impact of the Certifcate.

Quote from Shun Griffin about the impact of the Certifcate.

Quote from Tony Driskell about the impact of the Certifcate.

If you are looking to dive deeper, Georgia Tech offers a Master’s Degree program specifically created for engineers in manufacturing. This intensive, two-year Professional Masters in Manufacturing Leadership (Online) degree, “brings together a unique combination of coursework and projects to provide working engineers with the skill set to quickly rise through the leadership ranks in advanced manufacturing,” stated Krista Walton, Academic Director. “This program provides the perfect fusion of engineering faculty-led experiences with the diverse skill sets of professional engineers to create a unique business-focused engineering degree.”

It is designed for experienced technical professionals who want to build their operations and personnel management skills and expertise while working full time.

The two-year program is taught in a hybrid format that blends face-to-face instruction and online learning, and consists of eight core courses and two additional courses in one of three areas of concentration, giving you the flexibility to focus on discrete manufacturing, forest bioproducts, or chemical manufacturing.

Application deadline is May 1. Join the next Information Session on April 2 to learn more.

Whichever path you choose, you are setting yourself up for success. Focusing on deepening current skills and acquiring new ones, is the key to meeting changing business demands and thrive in the modern workforce. Start transforming your career today.

By Raine Hyde, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Leadership, Professional Development, Workforce Development

The Generational Effect: How to Bridge the Gap for Maximum Production and Minimal Conflict

January 29, 2020 By

Two men in a plant working

When most people think of diversity, they tend to think of things such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and culture. However, another aspect of diversity that almost every organization has, but many overlook, is generational diversity. According to the Boston College Center on Aging & Work, most organizations are still in the very early stages of formulating an organizational response to the demographic changes within their workforce. The Center’s National Study of Business Strategy and Workforce Development (a study of 578 organizations) found that 25.8% of the employers stated that their organizations had not analyzed the age demographics of their workforces at all and only 12.0% felt that their organizations had pursued this type of analysis to a great extent.

Although many organizations have not analyzed this data, many are starting to take notice. The literature shows that these generational differences in work values influence the requirements for all aspects of management: from recruitment, to training and development; to career development, to working arrangements and leadership styles.

These differences also have the potential to cause serious conflict within the workplace. Nearly 60% of HR professionals in larger organizations witness generational clashes in the workplace. While this number drops to roughly 32% in smaller and medium sized firms, these conflicts still seem to be a significant problem.

Having multiple generations in the workplace is nothing new. However, several key differences in today’s workplace exacerbate the challenge. First of all, in the past, generations were usually separated from each by organizational hierarchy. Older workers tended to be in upper management while middle-aged employees tended to be in middle management. The younger workers were everywhere else and their interactions were limited to their peers and immediate supervisor. However, as organizations strive to become more meritocratic with promotions, older staff can suddenly discover that their years of service no longer guarantee advancement. As the workplace becomes more technically oriented, the fact that youngers workers are more likely to be more comfortable with technology, has allowed them to overtake older candidates in jobs where understanding of such things helps.

This growing trend of older workers reporting to younger managers raises the question of how to keep the older workers motivated. When working under a younger supervisor, older subordinates are constantly reminded that they have failed to keep pace. Another source of conflict is the middle-aged workers who find themselves sandwiched between an older workforce that is refusing to or delaying retirement and a younger workforce that are treated far better than they ever were.

Managing the Generational Effect
Organizations can do several things to help manage the generational effect.

Leadership and Management Style
Studies have shown that the biggest differences in the world views of the generations are differing attitudes toward leadership and authority. These attitudes manifested themselves in accepting, questioning, or even rebelling, against traditional view-points and orders handed down from above. This finding stresses the importance of creating more flexible leadership and management approaches in order to address issues related to inclusiveness and alignment of varying worker values. A key to bridging the generation gap is the ability of leaders to create a supportive work environment for an increasingly diverse population of workers.

As a general rule, management styles preferences vary between generations. One example is Baby Boomers and Gen Xers desire for a greater level of autonomy in their roles; they do not like to be micromanaged. On the other hand, Millennials tend to desire more constructive feedback and praise than earlier generations. More than any other generation, Millennials expect their leaders to be accessible in person, through email and text messages, and ideally through social media channels.

Veterans and Baby Boomers prefer a hierarchical structure. Gen Xers prefer to work alone, and Millennials desire achievement by pulling together as a team. Baby Boomers demand consensus and Gen Xers need to be led by competence. Understanding how members on a diverse team may prefer to be led and have experience being supervised and the current management style chosen to accomplish organizational, team and individual goals needs to be communicated.

Coaching, Mentoring, and Training
The ability of an organizations management to coach to generational differences and promote generational similarities as strengths is another key to preventing generational impacts. Providing forums that are facilitated by management trained to coach employees to have provocative conversations that bring to light common points of interest, needs and goals between generations, and solutions for overcoming the differences as a team can be one of the first steps to understand how an organization is fairing today. Another benefit of such forums is that the assumptions, myths, and stereotypes need to be discussed.

The most effective mentoring programs are designed upon the unique makeup of teams, departments and other characteristics in the organization. Mentoring to strengthen generational impacts is helpful to create one-to-one relationships to increase the level of understanding and provide learning and growth for both the mentor and mentee. An example of an effective mentoring relationship would be between a Baby Boomer and a Millennial where the Baby Boomer acknowledges the Millennials need for personalizing work. Through conversation the Baby Boomer could determine key aspects of the Millennials role that was important to them and associate the significance of their role to the organization. This interaction helps make the Millennials role meaningful and inspires performance. Millennials need for a supportive work environment can be fostered by other generations and therefore increase job satisfaction. Another example of a benefit of cross-generational mentoring relationships is for new employees to understand the values and behaviors of the organization and individuals. A new employee being supported by a “veteran” member of the organization can increase employee retention when conflict and other stressful work situations arise. Other benefits include an informal way for younger workers to seek the experience older workers can provide while the older workers can appreciate the fresh perspective the younger workers bring.

Decision makers need to ensure training and education of leadership and supervisory roles, and in some cases the entire workforce, about the implications of generational diversity.
In addition to training and sharing information about generational differences, training programs can be created that support the unique skills offered by generations. A stereotypical example would be where Millennials provide training, a “lunch and learn”, or information session to other workers to increase their understanding of technology or how Facebook is supporting the company’s marketing efforts, or how an update to software will increase productivity.

The need for this type of training is becoming more important. Currently, Baby Boomers are retiring in larger numbers. The window for skills transfer is becoming smaller. Ensuring that training program allow for different learning styles will be crucial to effective skills transfer in the time allowed. Understanding the learning style differences between generations is required. For example, Boomers tend to favor more traditional methods such as classroom and textbook learning, while Gen Xers and Millennials may prefer more interactive learning methods. The learning style of Millennials has been described as more resembling Nintendo than logic. Losing is the fastest way to mastering a game because losing represents learning. This trial-and-error approach to solving problems can contrast with previous generations’ more logical approach.

Communication
Understanding and acting on communication style preferences between generations is another area that can have significant impact due to the fact that individuals in an organization are constantly communicating. Even when employees are not speaking or emailing they can be communicating other messages, such as “I do not need anything right now”, “I feel everything is fine”. Baby Boomers traditionally prefer face to face communicating or by phone. In contrast, a long-winded meeting or speech by a Baby Boomer can be frustrating for Millennials who have short attention spans and little tolerance for delays. Baby Boomers prefer formal and documented feedback such as those offered by many performance appraisal systems. Gen Xers prefer timely and direct feedback similar to Millennials who also prefer an open connection to their manager. In a cross-generational team or department, effective communication will include multiple channels of communication, such as texts, emails, podcasts, staff meetings and round-table discussions. Offering multiple channels ensures generations are not alienated and increases the likelihood that messages are not just received, but also receives the desired response. It is often wise to ensure the professionalism of communication is appropriate to the professionalism of the organization and delivered in such a manner to fit the communication style that the organization supports. Doing so links the communication style with the culture of the organization and is therefore generally more accepted and valued by employees. The best approach is the unique approach. Communicating with individuals in the organization in the way that best meets their unique style is key. Noticing that a team member calls you or stops by your office is an indicator to their communication preferences. Using their preferred communication style increases communication effectiveness. It can also be used as a tool to shape or modify behavior and lead an employee to become comfortable with your preferred communicate style or the one that best fits the needs of the organization.

Work Environment
Flexible work arrangements. Flexible work arrangements are becoming more popular within organizations. The Society for Human Resource Management found that 57% of organizations offer flexible work arrangements to their employees. These arrangements may include full- or part-time telecommuting, flexible scheduling or compressed workweeks. That number is up from 53% in 2012.

Flexible work arrangements should be designed to accommodate the personal needs of employees. Baby Boomers may be looking to pare back on hours as they near retirement and may be willing to take a cut in pay to do so. Many Boomers may also prefer a flexible schedule to care for a sick or elderly parent. Gen Xers may need time off to attend a child’s school or sporting even or to work on outside projects that have special meaning to them. Millennials may want a schedule that allows them to pursue an advanced degree or work outside of the office.

Career Advancement. In companies where there may not be many options to advance, you can attract and retain Millennials with a career web instead of a career ladder. The career web will provide them with more opportunities to be challenged, learn, and grow.
Job Redesign. In manufacturing environments especially, the performance requirements of the job that are impacted by age such as strength and endurance can be offset with job redesign and productivity tools that minimize the strain on older workers.

Conclusion
As the demographics of the workforce change with respect to age, understanding generational diversity within the organization has increased in importance. Across the generations, people demonstrate varying attitudes, values and working styles. Although four different generations in the workforce can present leadership challenges, the diversity can also add richness and strength. If employees are valued and organizations and leaders effectively manage their age-diverse workforce, companies will enjoy a competitive edge.

 

By Ben Cheeks, with the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Leadership, Workforce Development

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