This proposal seeks funding under the NIST MEP competitive awards program to address worker shortages in the manufacturing industry with new approaches to employee retention

This $5,000,000 Cooperative Agreement award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (CFDA 11.611) program seeks to address worker shortages in the manufacturing industry by developing and deploying new approaches to employee retention. The three-year project, led by Kansas Manufacturing Solutions, will involve a six-state MEP center collaboration to create a workforce retention toolkit that includes practical applications of the U.S. Department of Commerce's Job Quality Toolkit. The project aims to assess existing retention methods, identify best practices, and implement interventions such as culture analyses, HR consulting, leadership development, and skills training to enhance job satisfaction and reduce turnover for small and medium-sized manufacturers. The expected outcomes include serving 150 companies, creating or retaining 2,000 jobs, and sharing the resulting products and activities with the broader MEP National Network.

The project, led by kansas manufacturing solutions, is a six-state MEP center collaboration that will develop and deploy a holistic approach to employee retention applying practical application of U.S. Department of commerce's job quality toolkit and best practices from around the MEP national network.activities: the three-phase project includes program development to analyze existing workforce retention methods and tools and determine gaps, identify practical applications of the eight key drivers of the job quality toolkit, and create tools such as assessments, roadmaps, and a benchmarking-capable database to enhance operational performance and employee development. Project deployment to utilize the tools identified above to assess gaps and needs of individual small and medium-sized manufacturers (smms) in each geography and initiate interventions/projects that address employee retention; project types will vary based on each center's capabilities but may focus on culture analyses, HR consulting, employee engagement, employee onboarding, quality management systems enhancements, succession planning, leadership development, hiring best practices, instructional design, coaching, team building, emerging leaders, hands-on skills training, quality jobs, trauma-informed approaches to culture change, and programs for people with barriers to employment in manufacturing, including women, unemployed individuals, underemployed individuals, justice-involved individuals, and underserved communities. Evaluation/reporting/best practice sharing which will include NIST/meis reporting for completed projects, consolidation of the tools and methods identified above into a workforce retention toolkit that can be shared, along with findings and success stories, with the MEP national network through webinars and apply for presentations at the national MEP conference.outcomes: the expected outcomes of this project aim to create immediate and long-term benefits for the manufacturing sector: economic impact: 2,000 companies touched, 150 companies served (projects), and 2,000 jobs created/retained. Upskilled workforce: company leaders, management team, and employees will gain new skills and competencies, aligning with the demands of modern manufacturing environments. Reduced turnover: enhanced job satisfaction and engagement through targeted retention strategies will lower turnover rates. Added capacity to MEP national network: products and activities from project will be shared with the MEP national network.beneficiaries: the primary beneficiaries will be the smms and incumbent workers in the manufacturing sector across the six states involved in the project. The initiative will provide these stakeholders with advanced tools, knowledge, and strategies to tackle workforce retention challenges.subrecipients: the project will be executed in collaboration with MEP centers across six states, spearheaded by kansas manufacturing solutions (kansas MEP). Subrecipients include: catalyst connection (part of pennsylvania MEP), magnet: the manufacturing advocacy and growth network, INC. (part of ohio MEP), manufacturer's edge (colorado MEP), michigan manufacturing technology center (michigan MEP), and polaris (rhode island MEP). These partners will lead various components of the program, from development through assessment and implementation, leveraging their regional insights and expertise to maximize the project's impact and share best practices across the MEP national network.