According to Epicor's new “Future of Work in Manufacturing” report, a significant gap exists between how manufacturing managers and frontline workers perceive workplace morale. In 2024, 57% of managers rated their morale as high compared to only 45% of workers, highlighting a potential disconnect in understanding and addressing employee engagement.
Bridging this morale gap to ensure alignment between managers and workers is especially critical given the projected 3.8 million manufacturing employee workforce shortage, and the need for leaders to address current challenges and prepare for future demands. Separately, the report found there is a disconnect in upskilling efforts, with 91% of managers but only 70% of workers recognizing it as a priority, highlighting the need for enhanced communication and implementation.
Epicor surveyed more than 1,400 manufacturing leaders and 1,200 manufacturing workers worldwide to uncover critical trends and strategies that will shape the industry’s future. These findings are meant to inform and guide C-suite leaders, operations managers, manufacturing supervisors, IT leaders, and HR leaders in creating and implementing strategies to successfully scale their manufacturing operations.
Key Findings:
Strategic Insights for Leadership
The "Future of Work in Manufacturing" report offers strategic recommendations for manufacturing leaders, emphasizing the importance of:
"Manufacturers are navigating an era of significant change and challenge," said Kerrie Jordan, Group Vice President of Product Management at Epicor. "Our latest report provides actionable insights that can help organizations align their people, processes, and technology to fine-tune their operations. By gathering and analyzing perspectives from both workers and leaders across the globe, we've gained robust insights that guide us in crafting strategies to enhance operational efficiency and embrace future opportunities."
For a detailed look into the findings and recommendations, download the full report here.
Survey Methodology
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the manufacturing industry's successes and challenges, we analyzed data from four key reports:
The surveys were conducted online via Pollfish using organic sampling. Learn more about the Pollfish methodology here.
About Epicor
Epicor equips hard-working businesses with enterprise solutions that keep the world turning. For 50 years, Epicor customers in the automotive, building supply, distribution, manufacturing, and retail industries have trusted Epicor to help them do business better. Innovative Epicor solution sets are carefully curated to fit customer needs and built to flexibly respond to their fast-changing reality. With deep industry knowledge and experience, Epicor accelerates its customers’ ambitions, whether to grow and transform, or simply become more productive and effective. Visit www.epicor.com for more information.
Press contacts:
Meghan Witmer
U.S. PR Lead
512-278-5351
