Workforce retention remains one of the most persistent challenges facing manufacturers today. While wage pressure and labor availability often dominate the conversation, recent research from Purdue MEP reinforces what many manufacturers experience firsthand: people most often leave managers, not machines or pay scales.
This article builds directly on Purdue MEP’s analysis, “Why People Leave Manufacturing Jobs,” and reflects GENEDGE’s on-the-ground experience working with Virginia manufacturers across regions and sectors.
What the Purdue MEP Research Tells Us
Purdue MEP’s article highlights a sobering reality. In some manufacturing environments, annual turnover can approach 40 percent, with a significant portion of new hires leaving within their first 90 days. Importantly, the research shows that companies with substantially lower turnover are not necessarily paying more than their peers. Instead, they differentiate themselves through stronger supervisory relationships, healthier work environments, and clearer expectations.
The findings point to several consistent themes:
- Employees leave when communication breaks down.
- Poor supervisor-employee relationships outweigh wage dissatisfaction.
- Workers are more likely to stay when they feel respected, heard, and supported.
- Engagement improves when employees have a voice in how work is organized and problems are solved.
In short, retention is a leadership issue as much as it is a labor issue.
The Overlooked Transition: From Technician to Supervisor
GENEDGE frequently sees a common, and understandable pattern in manufacturing organizations. High-performing technicians are promoted into supervisory roles based on their deep technical expertise, reliability, and work ethic. These promotions are often well-deserved.
However, the skills that make someone an excellent machinist, welder, or maintenance technician are not the same skills required to lead people.
New supervisors are suddenly expected to:
- Communicate expectations clearly and consistently
- Address conflict and performance issues
- Motivate diverse personalities across shifts
- Balance production demands with human dynamics
- Serve as the primary interface between leadership and the shop floor
Too often, these individuals are given a title, but not the tools. Without training in leadership, communication, and people management, even the strongest technical performers can struggle in supervisory roles. The result is frustration on both sides of the relationship, contributing directly to disengagement and turnover.
This is not a failure of the individual. It is a systemic gap in supervisor development.
Supervisor Capability as a Retention Strategy
Purdue MEP’s research reinforces what GENEDGE observes across Virginia: frontline supervisors shape the daily employee experience more than any other role in the organization. When supervisors are equipped to lead—not just manage tasks—employees are more likely to stay, grow, and contribute.
Effective supervisor development focuses on:
- Transitioning from “doer” to “leader”
- Building trust and credibility without relying solely on authority
- Communicating expectations and feedback constructively
- Recognizing and engaging employees as problem-solvers
- Understanding how leadership behaviors influence morale, safety, and productivity
These are learnable skills, but they must be developed intentionally.
How This Work Is Being Done in Virginia
At GENEDGE, this understanding has shaped how we support manufacturers across the Commonwealth. GENEDGE’s Bert Eades has worked directly with manufacturers to address this exact challenge.
Through targeted supervisor training and development efforts, Bert has helped companies:
- Prepare new supervisors for the people-leadership aspects of their role
- Strengthen communication between leadership and the shop floor
- Improve employee engagement and retention
- Reduce avoidable friction that often drives early turnover
This work is practical, grounded in real manufacturing environments, and focused on helping supervisors succeed—not by turning them into corporate managers, but by giving them the tools to lead effectively where it matters most.
Moving Forward
Manufacturers cannot solve workforce challenges through hiring alone. Retention depends on the daily experience employees have at work, and that experience is shaped largely by frontline supervisors.
Purdue MEP’s research provides a clear signal: investing in supervisor capability is one of the most effective levers manufacturers have to improve retention. GENEDGE’s experience across Virginia confirms it.
Developing strong supervisors is not about soft skills for their own sake. It is about building stable teams, protecting institutional knowledge, and creating manufacturing workplaces where people choose to stay and grow.
-Tony Cerilli, MEP Center Director
