Survey: 70% of industrial workers feel their safety and finances in conflict during pandemic

WorkStep, a company that helps large industrial employers source, hire, and retain frontline workers, today released a survey that finds that the majority of industrial workers (70%) feel their safety and their family’s financial security are in conflict through the COVID-19 pandemic.

WorkStep surveyed more than 600 industrial workers across the country for the survey, “COVID-19 and Flight Risk in the Industrial Workforce.” Key findings include:

• Significant impacts. 56% of industrial workers report COVID-19 having a negative impact on their job. Additionally, of those respondents, nearly 40% stated they did not feel like their work environment is safely protecting them from the virus, while 37% do not feel their employer offers adequate flexibility to manage through the pandemic.

• Worse for women, but bad for all: Nearly 80% of women in the industrial workforce (78%) feel their safety and their family’s financial security are in conflict, compared to 66% of men,

• Workforce turnover risk: 58% of workers have sought employment at another company and nearly half of respondents (48%) have not continued to work full time due to the pandemic.

• Desire to air frustrations: 94% of industrial workers stated they are more likely to stay at a company they feel listens to and encourages feedback, yet over a quarter (26%) do not feel they have an adequate avenue for providing feedback about their supervisor or the workplace in general.

“From the Industrial Revolution through the COVID-19 pandemic, the industrial workforce has been the backbone of the U.S. economy. These heroes make sure there is food on our plates, our packages arrive on time, and our buildings stand strong,” says Dan Johnston, CEO and cofounder of WorkStep. “Yet, while we call these workers essential, the industry has high and increasing turnover rates and ranks the lowest in overall workforce satisfaction. Ensuring that companies have the ability to find - and retain - skilled frontline workers is critical to the success and overall economic health and wealth of our country.”

To help employers address these challenges, WorkStep, has launched RETAIN to provide real-time feedback, benchmark insights, and suggest actions to drive improvements in the workplace to increase employee retention. RETAIN uses a milestone-based check-in system to give frontline workers the opportunity to provide feedback via pre-populated and custom surveys sent directly to their mobile phones. In its beta-stage, RETAIN has shown promising results, with a projected annual turnover reduction of 18% and a labor cost decrease of 3 %.

“RETAIN provides valuable feedback at key length-of-service milestones to help us improve retention,” said Kim Smith, VP of Human Resources at TransPak. “The insights RETAIN helps us uncover not only provide actionable steps we can take, but also demonstrate to frontline workers that their feedback is important and can make a difference.”