Hiring, Training, and Keeping Your Workers

Hiring and retaining good unskilled labor isn’t quite as hard as getting good office workers. But despite China’s vast numbers of laborers, getting your factory workforce right may not be as easy as you think. You have to deal with a large difference in capabilities between Chinese factory workers and those in the West.

However, if you put the proper training and quality assurance systems in place, you can have a top-notch operation in China. This section discusses hiring and managing workers for a factory setting. For more general labor information, please see Chapter 9.

Encouraging teamwork

The blunt approach to finding factory workers is to go to job fairs or contact the local labor bureau. However, the smart approach is usually to hire shift and production managers first. Then have each manager hire his or her team. (When hiring production and shift managers, you should thoroughly test their mechanical abilities and reasoning. See Chapter 9 for tips on evaluating job applicants.)

Hiring managers who then hire their own teams means that the teams will likely work well together. The downside to teams is that if you lose or fire one team member, you’re likely to lose the entire team. Closely-knit teams of workers often stick together.

Chinese workers tend to have an us-versus-them mentality. Often, “them” is the foreign employer. You can redirect those attitudes, instead having teams who work the same shift compete against one another: Simply give small rewards and recognition to the better-performing team. This technique has the advantage of putting some of the workers’ negative energy to good use. Also, this system creates incentives for the teams to handle problems internally instead of having the factory management deal with them.

Expecting skills gaps

Be realistic about the capabilities of your unskilled workers. In the West, unskilled workers usually have some mechanical aptitude. In China, that’s often not the case. Unskilled workers often come straight from the farm, where they’ve had little — if any — experience with machinery (these farms are mostly manual). Workers who haven’t had exposure to machines often find many mundane factory tasks challenging.

In addition, unskilled Chinese workers are often educated only through the sixth grade or so. You should expect that the farther you go into China’s interior, the less skilled the workers will be (although the labor will be cheaper).

Training

In general, expect a worker to take at least two to three weeks to come up to speed on operating a simple machine. Often, factories have team or production managers train new hires. Training how to use the machines isn’t always the hardest part.

Drumming up enthusiasm for your corporate culture

Chinese factory workers generally don’t know anything about your brand or your corporate culture unless you teach them. When starting your factory, having more than just machine training is critical. You should have human resources and other people meet with workers and teach them about the culture of your company.

Without selling the culture to the workers, you’ll likely have a Chinese-style factory in China that won’t help your brand and won’t communicate or work well with your home offices. A number of Western companies have had to completely revamp their China factories because the workers didn’t receive adequate cultural indoctrination.

Start up your factory under managers who’ve been with your company for a long time and who understand it very well. Consider having some of your most senior managers in China for startup and for your several years or so of operations.

Providing safety and environment training

Chinese workers need a lot of training on safety and environmental issues. (We talk more about managing your company’s safety and environmental risks in Chapter 17.) Most of your Chinese hires don’t understand moving parts or electricity very well. They’ll often take careless risks, such as not replacing safety guards on machines or welding without a visor. You need to repeatedly train workers on even basic safety precautions.

Train your workers how to dispose of wastes properly. If you don’t explain these things upfront, don’t be surprised to find out that workers have been pouring waste into the river or ground. Many of China’s environmental regulations are tougher than the U.S.’s, so be proactive about teaching the proper ways of handling environmentally sensitive materials so your workers don’t get your company into serious trouble.

Treating your workers well

Worker turnover can be one of the largest hidden costs to manufacturing in China. If you want to keep your workers, you need to treat them well. (For information on workers’ legal rights, see Chapter 9.) Here are some areas of consideration:

✓	Wages: The going wage varies by area. The local labor bureau can often tell you the local average wage for various functions. Some FIEs make it a policy to pay a few hundred RMB per month more than the average wage. (See Chapter 9 for info on wages and benefits.)
✓	Housing: If you have workers from other provinces, you may have to house them in a dormitory. Many FIEs that are known for treating their employees well put no more than four workers in one dorm room. They also provide each dorm room with a private bathroom. Some factories reduce the pay of workers who live on site in order to cover the housing costs.
✓	Employee appreciation: Show workers that you care. You can do so in easy ways. For example, when the weather’s really hot, you can bring a bunch of sodas and popsicles down to the factory floor to share with the workers.
✓	Professional development: In general, factory workers want the same things that office workers do: They’re hungry to learn and develop. When they go to work in your factory, they expect you to empower them and train them in your culture and technology. Hold up your end of the bargain! Give them clear paths to advancement and give them the sense that they can grow with your company. However, make sure your workers don’t have it both ways. If they want to be paid and empowered, then they have to take on more responsibility. Make your workers maintain their own machines and sweep the floors around them as well as handle other tasks.

Many customers insist on inspecting their suppliers’ facilities from time to time. Also, a lot of multinationals insist on privately interviewing their suppliers’ workers to ask them about working conditions. First and foremost, customers (especially multinationals) want to avoid damage to their reputations from buying from sweatshops. They also know that worker unhappiness can translate into production problems. If your company doesn’t treat its workers well, your clients may find out and go elsewhere!

If your worker turnover hits 20 percent, assume something’s wrong at the factory. At that point, you should be closely evaluating your managers to see whether they’re causing the problem.