Tackling Labor Shortages and Behavioral Issues in Textile Manufacturing: How Would You Manage This?

Hi, I am Preeti. I am undergoing training at a Textile Manufacturing Company. I have observed numerous issues related to labor within this company. The supervisors are reluctant to take any risks associated with production. Approximately 50% of the workforce in this company comprises women. There is a perpetual manpower shortage, posing a constant challenge. One particular incident involved a lady who had been working for 7 months; when she lodged a complaint, the supervisor addressed it, leading to her resignation. Additionally, there are behavioral problems among the laborers, supervisors, and production managers.

Addressing Labor Issues in Textile Manufacturing

How can we address these issues for the long term? Could you please explain the grievance policy and provide guidance on how to effectively manage this situation?

Dear Preeti, you have mentioned that you are undergoing training in a textile manufacturing company. What type of training is this? Are you an Industrial Trainee, Management Trainee, or are you in regular employment but designated as a trainee for the initial period?

Upon reading your post, it appears that there are primarily two issues in your company. One is the manpower shortage, and the other is the lack of interpersonal skills. However, we should shift our focus from the problems and people to the organization.

Productivity Ratios

Could you confirm what kind of productivity ratios are measured in your company? Do you measure:

a) Labour productivity for each department/section
b) Machine productivity for each department/section
c) Multifactor productivity for each department/section
d) Cost of Quality
e) Cost of Poor Quality
f) Quality-Productivity Ratio (QPR) and so on

By measuring the above ratios, insights into the company's standing will be gained. Subsequently, it is essential for the workers to be engaged in identifying solutions to enhance the ratios. Indeed, for some solutions, workers may not need to be involved. Managers can take corrective action independently.

Currently, the focus is on the behavior of the people. However, once the emphasis shifts to the output that individuals produce, solutions on how to improve the output will start emerging. Training on teamwork or interpersonal skills could be part of the solution. Nevertheless, merely providing training to employees without measurement will not resolve the problem.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Dear Madam, it would have been better if you had mentioned the specific area of your training—HR or Technical. You have only touched the surface, addressing symptoms of some problem areas rather than the problems themselves. In fact, the issues seem to be deeply rooted and span wider areas such as company history, culture, policies, precedents, systems and procedures, quality of manpower, supervision, and management style, which may have broader implications.

While you have made a good attempt, it appears that you have only highlighted standalone symptoms without considering the interrelated factors causing them. As a trainee, it would be beneficial for you to accurately define the problem by analyzing the data before seeking solutions.

At this stage, it may not be worthwhile to comment on unrelated issues raised as they require supporting data and analysis to understand their size and identify root causes before developing any action plan.

Please consider working on this and provide more meaningful, data-based posts in this forum.

Regards, Vinayak Nagarkar HR and Employee Relations Consultant

I think one thing that you can do with immediate effect is to keep a suggestion box/complaint box, which only HR departments/Management (whomsoever concerned asked you to find a solution to this problem) has access to. Also, you can tell laborers that they can drop the message without disclosing their names. Always verify if the problem is real. This will help eradicate the behavioral problems to some extent.

Additionally, set individual targets for each laborer/supervisor/production manager to foster teamwork. However, fixing targets and production capacity is beyond your authority; it must be handled by the planning and production team, subject to approval by the Management. You can also include the labor attrition rate as a part of the Production manager's/supervisor's performance evaluation, where he/she should provide an explanation for every monthly resignation. These are immediate measures you can take to improve the situation.

Furthermore, explore innovative recruitment methods as labor shortages in the manufacturing industry are a genuine issue that cannot be completely prevented, but measures can be taken to mitigate it.

Regards,
Priya

Suggestion Box Implementation

You have suggested the installation of a "Suggestion Box." Have you implemented this idea, and what are your observations? Have you conducted any surveys on the effectiveness of the "Suggestion Box"?

I wish to share my views on the installation of the "Suggestion Box":

a) The "Suggestion Box" works well provided the company's culture is well-developed, and many employees know how to give suggestions and on what topics to give.

b) The position of the "Suggestion Box" also matters. Will the workers show interest in going to the HR Department to give a suggestion?

c) It is risky to install the "Suggestion Box" if there is tension among departments or personnel within the same department. The organizational culture at the company of the poster of this post is not very healthy, and it could do more harm than good.

d) What if the suggestion box is flooded with complaints against the supervisor or manager?

e) What if the suggestion box is flooded with anonymous complaints? What if someone drops abusive messages against the managers or even the management? What if the suggestion box becomes another wall in the toilet covered with graffiti?

Final Comments

The problems in the company of the poster of this post are well-known and understandable. What is the point of asking workers to give suggestions on what is so obvious? Is it not akin to a Hindi proverb, "Haath Kangan Ko Aarsi Kya?" If we start confirming what is evident with the workers, what was the point of studying management in general and HR management in particular? This does not mean that we should not take feedback from ground-level staff or disregard upward communication. Both are important in their own right; however, one should rise and start correcting the anomaly.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Nature of Duties in a Spinning Company

Firstly, I wish to clarify the nature of duties in a spinning company. Every worker has to stand during all working hours; no bench or stool is provided by any management in India or anywhere worldwide. This is the first problem.

Employment of Women and Children

Secondly, all the workers we generally see are women and young children. Why? Because they have tender palms and hands for achieving smoothness in the cotton threads coming from spindles. The women or child worker has to use her open palms to smoothen the cotton thread while working on the product. So, all women and child workers are engaged for that purpose.

Prohibition of Child Labor

Thirdly, employing children in work is prohibited.

Reasons for Employment Troubles

It is hard work producing threads continuously for hours in a standing position. Therefore, women employees can't continually work in such a spinning mill factory. Moreover, supervisors often perceive women workers as mere moving dolls, leading to instances of teasing and sexual harassment.

Suggestions for Improvement

Hence, I suggest appointing a committee to assess the working conditions of the spinning mill. Consider providing sitting facilities during duty or rotating employees every 2 to 3 hours for spindle thread smoothening with bare palms. Employing women supervisors might yield better results. It's crucial to avoid teasing women workers by management cadres.

All the best.

I agree that the suggestion box has its drawbacks. What I actually meant was a grievance addressal box. Alternatively, we could also suggest an email address instead of a suggestion box, which would be ideal in this digital era. The purpose is simply to raise any grievance to the management or concerned authority.

One valid point I would like to make is to include the labor attrition rate as a KPI; this will somewhat contribute to creating a more feasible working environment.

Regarding Gannahope, I am not sure if that was the point Ms. Preeti was mentioning.

Regards, Pria

It is a problem of human conduct. I would suggest finding loopholes in the communication hierarchy. It might be possible that the workers are either not being heard or feeling that they are not being heard.

It's not a new thing to mention, or it might already be there. But if the workers are already receiving Performance-Based Incentives, then we might look to deep dive into finding a solution to the core. If they are not availing any such benefit, then provisions like such might be helpful for enhancing both productivity and conduct.

Thank you

Types of Problems in Your Organization

I believe there are two types of problems you are facing in your organization:

1. Manpower Shortage
2. Teamwork & Interpersonal Behavior

These types of issues are common in every organization. I suggest you start implementing employee motivational activities with rewards such as Attendance Award, Best Employee Award, and Best Productivity Achiever Award. Additionally, consider initiating a monthly exchange meeting on the shop floor involving all workers, supervisors, managers, and the management team to discuss the achievements and defects of the month in front of all employees.

Plan to provide training to all employees on team management and behavioral skills. These are fundamental concepts to help avoid such issues.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Initially, you should start by collecting data from each department and try to find out the root cause. Focus on all parameters such as existing policy acceptance/gaps, job role understanding, training and development, interpersonal skills, teamwork, etc., and then approach solutions.

Regards, Zyn
www.haya.co.in

Addressing Common Labor Issues in Manpower-Oriented Industries

The problems mentioned in your post are very common and exist in most manpower-oriented industries like textiles. As an HR representative, we generally try to address these issues by improving interpersonal skills through regular meetings with the Production Manager and Labour Supervisor. There must be an exchange of information regarding deficiencies in production targets and recognition of good work done by the respective workmen. The HR representative plays a vital role as a bridge between the Production Department and Labour Supervisor. Furthermore, most manpower-oriented companies introduce various incentive schemes to achieve production targets.

Congratulations on raising a very useful issue and best of luck.

Thanks & Regards,
RK Bajpai

Addressing Labor Issues in the Textile Industry

Segregate all the problems into separate individual issues and determine whether any legal action or case can be initiated for the redressal of such problems under relevant Labour Laws. Take appropriate action accordingly.

Regards, S. K. Mittal

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