Factory Workers Don’t Care About Their Company’s Mission

But they care passionately about their jobs and their communities

C suites and strategy teams around the world spend a great deal of time on their companies’ mission statements. A mission is one of the key elements of employee engagement, and having a sense of purpose is crucial to individual well-being. Unfortunately, many companies, especially those in manufacturing, have difficulty motivating employees with their company mission statements.

This experience is backed by Gallup research, which indicates that only slightly more than one-third of U.S. workers strongly agree that their company's mission or purpose makes them feel their job is important.

In manufacturing settings, it’s an even greater struggle. The percentage of manufacturing and construction workers that strongly agree with the statement is 10 percentage points lower than U.S. workers overall. The percentage for manufacturing and construction workers is also lower than almost all other job types. That’s a meaningful difference, but it’s rare to see a meaningful solution.

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Comments

Who is closer to reality?

A nice article. Although the focus of the article is mission statements, the analogy can be expanded to other business aspects. The folks who handle the product are much closer to reality. My definition of product is in the abstract sense. It could be a service, or something tangible, or a fixed asset for that matter. Executives are charged with seeing the big picture and painting a vision for the organization. Those who are good at it are true leaders and usually have the ability to relate to the workers, engineers, scientists, etc., and gain their respect.

The opposite is true when ego gets in the way of common sense. Father knows best, right? I'm sure many readers have experienced examples when this is the case. When a miscalculation is made, the higher up one goes in the organization, the more profound the impact. I am amazed when decisions are made and workers are not involved or consulted. At least take some time to get their input. Sometimes it will save much time and money and make everyone's life easier, including the executives. It may also be a career saver.