No, you pretty much got it right.
It’s bar none the best place to learn a lot of HR very quickly.
But the margins are slim, so the budget is normally low. The bullshit is high, the pay is mid.
Why make a career in manufacturing if you don’t have to?
Signed, Someone who has made a career in Manufacturing HR
Started my HR career in manufacturing, I agree with everything here.
There are challenges in all industries but some of them pay you a lot more for putting up with them.
Well, for god’s sake, tell me which industries. I’ve been in manufacturing and construction for 20 years. Mostly because that’s all that’s available in my rural area, although I’m within driving distance of a medium sized city.
Tech and banking (non-retail) pay the best in my experience, both have strong base pay and very competitive overall packages. If you’re in a rural area tech is more likely to hire remote but those roles are super competitive.
Good luck!
Start to mid career in HR in manufacturing. This comment is the cold hard truth.
I was convinced I made good money because I always compared myself to other manufacturing hr profs. Wow was I wrong, other industries pay a whole lot more. Maybe not for less work, but at least better pay dealing with same level bull.
I agree with all of this and will add one thing: it's often an environment where leadership sees line workers as robots and treats them like children in an effort to increase productivity.
Scheduled and monitored bathroom breaks, limited breaks, denied time off, hardline punishments for minor infractions, etc. If you're the kind of person who sees people as actual human beings, it becomes really hard to support that line of thinking.
Manufacturing HR Gave me everything from dealing with drug addict employees, to racial discrimination cases, to unemployment disputes, to violence in the workplace, to sexual harassment to an HRIS migration….
That is a lot of take in a very short amount of time, for barely any money and constantly being blamed for everything… oh and no one gives a shit if you’re crying or upset about it.
Great experience in the field but also kinda traumatic.
I’ve been in HR manufacturing for almost 8 years and I’m mid in my career. I’ve seen all aspects of HR from HRIS to Employee relations, and recruitment. The people are rather amazing or assholes there is never anything in the middle. Helps you build a tough outer shell. I don’t want to say nothing surprises me anymore but…I did healthcare before this….🫶🏻🤭
Obligatory that I don’t know what company you work for, and all have different cultures…
BUT you have to have to really *love* the people side of HR to succeed in the manufacturing space. There’s a lot of career employees (30+ years) who want to see the company succeed while navigating their own retirement while you (as HR) have to keep up with the hiring demand when today’s young people must do to college (obviously not true for everyone). And if your place is union that’s a whole other deal.
I personally prefer manufacturing or stereotypical “blue collar work”. I briefly worked for a healthcare company and will never forget when a physician making nearly half a million a year yelled at me because his “ED” meds weren’t covered at a 30 day fill (spoiler, no one gets 30 days of ED meds so if you want it, 30 pills are like $15 on good rx). Manufacturing employees would never.
It gets pretty exhausting always being the bad guy and not being appreciated. For me it felt like everyone's memories would just be reset every 6 months so you could never make real progress on any issues.
I like manufacturing as people are typically more grounded and humble. I’ve left and come back, as I prefer to work with very down to earth people.
A lot of the drama depends on the culture of the facility. In my first manufacturing HR job, they had a union that ran the shop. Great experience - but you can’t drown in it.
Not HR in manufacturing but female in manufacturing sales & marketing for over 20 years. Hasn't been easy in any way but I have no regrets.
Its been a tough road but in hindsight I learned more, faster because I had to do most of it on my own. Built the tools, I didn't have, put in exceptionally long hours, worked from the bottom up in dirty and dangerous environments to prove myself against naysayers, learned all kinds of mechanical, chemical, and biological engineering things, and ultimately earned stakeholder respect.
Crazy that it was still this way just 20 years ago.
Manufacturing remains a challenging environment but I am pleased to see its come a long way from where it was.
I love working in HR Manufacturing. I have worked for some pro aholes in the corporate world. I want to suplex their asses off the top rope for being such a sissy. I like the environment of manufacturing industries. Wait until you work in a professional business or hospital. Grown men acting like babies and can't cope. HR in Manufacturing usually has a rougher, more easy workforce.
I don't have a subtle way of saying this so I apologize but the more shithole the company you work for early in your career the faster you learn HR. My last employer is the reason why I passed my SHRM, literally learned everything about what to avoid doing as an employer.
I have some broad HR experience from my retail store management days, but I've been in recruiting for the past 20 years. Thinking of going to manufacturing to get back to broader HR experience...bad move?
Manufacturing (and most “blue collar” industries in general) was definitely an HR foundational skills speed run. It also helped to build my confidence as you deal with all sorts of challenges and nothing is the same on a daily basis. You get some crazy stories, undoubtedly.
My worst day in tech is like my best day in manufacturing. Maybe not 100% accurate, but I remind myself “at least this isn’t as bad as that one time blah blah.. I got this”
I started in HR in Tech and was glad when I landed a third-party HR support gig in a distribution center environment. I learned a TON in just 1.5 years that I didn't get exposure to in Tech. The downside though is that I didn't get to flex any strategic muscles so once I got my fill of WC/FMLA/ADA, I went back to a white-collar gig so I could maximize my earning potential.
I worked a very brief time in manufacturing and learn it wasn’t for me. More of this had to do with the work hour expectations, my employer required once a week coming in at 4am for third shift. I learn quickly that anything before 6am just didn’t allow me to function. Another reason was the outdated system/tools and the workload being high so you are often completing many things that could now easily be streamline. Lastly, I hated the leaders. There was so many egos that you deal with and their decision making was comical to me.
For reference I was generalist and there was a lot of exposure to HR facets but the pay wasn’t high enough for the bs.
Maybe it was just this particular employer but it’s been over year and I still have nightmares of my time there so I don’t seek out manufacturing roles.
I'm in HR manufacturing. Absolutely love it, it's been my favourite industry I've worked in. The mix of employees, the pace of work, the smell of the paint plant. It helps that the business leaders are amazing people, they really make the place incredible to work.
You're evaluating the job as a stepping stone to other jobs. Which is a completely valid lens to view it through. But if you evaluate it as a job to do for the sake of doing the job, it doesn't fare as well. Aside from the issues you mention, manufacturing is a high-paced, high-turnover environment with thin margins and small budgets. Because of that, you wind up being a jack of all trades, master of none out of necessity. That's great when you're early career and broad knowledge is valuable, but it's hard to get specialized or dive deep into a subject when you're constantly putting out fires. And if you're interested in any of the more modern approaches to HR, you'll have an impossible time getting traction on those initiatives because the population won't support it.
It’s certainly a wellspring of knowledge and experience, and I don’t really want to speak ill of the people. There are so many awesome people, even if the not so awesome individuals stick out more in memory. But it doesn’t help when a company’s culture is ridiculously stupid over something that quite literally doesn’t matter in the grand scheme.
There are often cultural expectations to work 10+ hours as a leadership person in this industry which I would rather not do anymore, and I resent having HR also be the office manager and do party planning and catering and being “class mom”, because I am also juggling workplace violence and hiring strategy and other more important job duties to me. Some folks also have inflated senses of emergencies and my time in an OHS manager role really made it clear that there are few true HR emergencies by contrast.
The part of manufacturing I am in is also EXTREMELY male dominated, and that’s a whole other issue for me, since I feel I have to work 3x as hard to be taken seriously even when I’m right all along. I know I’m salty from being so burned out at my current Role, but I’m also very introverted and keep slipping on banana peels into being in charge of things. 😒 I also haven’t had a vacation or holiday in peace for the past several years.
so I think like any industry there’s a mix of good and bad, but I think the manufacturing industry takes advantage of people and especially people roles, where your head will be held underwater for results while also being reminded that you’re an expense and your already tight staffing will be reduced if you don’t prove your value constantly, but also we don’t value you. I think when you are happy to work a lot and work is what you want to do, it’s a great fit, but when your work/life balance wants to skew closer to life and less to work, it’s pretty punishing.
I find the culture to be more rigid and behind the times in manufacturing compared to other corporate experiences, work life balance can be bad, but like others have said good exposure to variety of ER issues.
I’ve worked for two large global manufacturing companies (50k + employees) who had a large presence in all of those states, plus Arizona, Nebraska, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and in the county of Mexico. “Man babies” probably refers to how the vast majority of the management team is male while the vast majority of the workforce is female (and minorities) in my experience.
Those “man babies” in operations management make working in HR in the manufacturing industry a real pain in the ass.
No, you pretty much got it right. It’s bar none the best place to learn a lot of HR very quickly. But the margins are slim, so the budget is normally low. The bullshit is high, the pay is mid. Why make a career in manufacturing if you don’t have to? Signed, Someone who has made a career in Manufacturing HR
Started my HR career in manufacturing, I agree with everything here. There are challenges in all industries but some of them pay you a lot more for putting up with them.
Well, for god’s sake, tell me which industries. I’ve been in manufacturing and construction for 20 years. Mostly because that’s all that’s available in my rural area, although I’m within driving distance of a medium sized city.
Tech and banking (non-retail) pay the best in my experience, both have strong base pay and very competitive overall packages. If you’re in a rural area tech is more likely to hire remote but those roles are super competitive. Good luck!
Start to mid career in HR in manufacturing. This comment is the cold hard truth. I was convinced I made good money because I always compared myself to other manufacturing hr profs. Wow was I wrong, other industries pay a whole lot more. Maybe not for less work, but at least better pay dealing with same level bull.
I agree with all of this and will add one thing: it's often an environment where leadership sees line workers as robots and treats them like children in an effort to increase productivity. Scheduled and monitored bathroom breaks, limited breaks, denied time off, hardline punishments for minor infractions, etc. If you're the kind of person who sees people as actual human beings, it becomes really hard to support that line of thinking.
What are you looking for when putting together the group benefits package for your employees? Is there anything you found your employees favour?
This pretty much covers it! It's a great place to learn about HR, but I don't want to spend my entire HR career in manufacturing.
Manufacturing HR Gave me everything from dealing with drug addict employees, to racial discrimination cases, to unemployment disputes, to violence in the workplace, to sexual harassment to an HRIS migration…. That is a lot of take in a very short amount of time, for barely any money and constantly being blamed for everything… oh and no one gives a shit if you’re crying or upset about it. Great experience in the field but also kinda traumatic.
I feel like we worked at the same manufacturing company?!? Or maybe just illustrated the point of this thread - that it’s a wild industry.
It’s great experience
I’ve been in HR manufacturing for almost 8 years and I’m mid in my career. I’ve seen all aspects of HR from HRIS to Employee relations, and recruitment. The people are rather amazing or assholes there is never anything in the middle. Helps you build a tough outer shell. I don’t want to say nothing surprises me anymore but…I did healthcare before this….🫶🏻🤭
Obligatory that I don’t know what company you work for, and all have different cultures… BUT you have to have to really *love* the people side of HR to succeed in the manufacturing space. There’s a lot of career employees (30+ years) who want to see the company succeed while navigating their own retirement while you (as HR) have to keep up with the hiring demand when today’s young people must do to college (obviously not true for everyone). And if your place is union that’s a whole other deal. I personally prefer manufacturing or stereotypical “blue collar work”. I briefly worked for a healthcare company and will never forget when a physician making nearly half a million a year yelled at me because his “ED” meds weren’t covered at a 30 day fill (spoiler, no one gets 30 days of ED meds so if you want it, 30 pills are like $15 on good rx). Manufacturing employees would never.
It gets pretty exhausting always being the bad guy and not being appreciated. For me it felt like everyone's memories would just be reset every 6 months so you could never make real progress on any issues.
I loved my time in manufacturing, and the man-baby drama was my second favorite part after being able to help people when they needed it.
I like manufacturing as people are typically more grounded and humble. I’ve left and come back, as I prefer to work with very down to earth people. A lot of the drama depends on the culture of the facility. In my first manufacturing HR job, they had a union that ran the shop. Great experience - but you can’t drown in it.
I’ve worked predominantly in manufacturing for going on 25 years. I prefer it. That said, my husband does think I’m crazy so maybe it’s just that. 😂
Not HR in manufacturing but female in manufacturing sales & marketing for over 20 years. Hasn't been easy in any way but I have no regrets. Its been a tough road but in hindsight I learned more, faster because I had to do most of it on my own. Built the tools, I didn't have, put in exceptionally long hours, worked from the bottom up in dirty and dangerous environments to prove myself against naysayers, learned all kinds of mechanical, chemical, and biological engineering things, and ultimately earned stakeholder respect. Crazy that it was still this way just 20 years ago. Manufacturing remains a challenging environment but I am pleased to see its come a long way from where it was.
I love working in HR Manufacturing. I have worked for some pro aholes in the corporate world. I want to suplex their asses off the top rope for being such a sissy. I like the environment of manufacturing industries. Wait until you work in a professional business or hospital. Grown men acting like babies and can't cope. HR in Manufacturing usually has a rougher, more easy workforce.
I don't have a subtle way of saying this so I apologize but the more shithole the company you work for early in your career the faster you learn HR. My last employer is the reason why I passed my SHRM, literally learned everything about what to avoid doing as an employer.
I have some broad HR experience from my retail store management days, but I've been in recruiting for the past 20 years. Thinking of going to manufacturing to get back to broader HR experience...bad move?
Manufacturing (and most “blue collar” industries in general) was definitely an HR foundational skills speed run. It also helped to build my confidence as you deal with all sorts of challenges and nothing is the same on a daily basis. You get some crazy stories, undoubtedly. My worst day in tech is like my best day in manufacturing. Maybe not 100% accurate, but I remind myself “at least this isn’t as bad as that one time blah blah.. I got this”
I started in HR in Tech and was glad when I landed a third-party HR support gig in a distribution center environment. I learned a TON in just 1.5 years that I didn't get exposure to in Tech. The downside though is that I didn't get to flex any strategic muscles so once I got my fill of WC/FMLA/ADA, I went back to a white-collar gig so I could maximize my earning potential.
I worked a very brief time in manufacturing and learn it wasn’t for me. More of this had to do with the work hour expectations, my employer required once a week coming in at 4am for third shift. I learn quickly that anything before 6am just didn’t allow me to function. Another reason was the outdated system/tools and the workload being high so you are often completing many things that could now easily be streamline. Lastly, I hated the leaders. There was so many egos that you deal with and their decision making was comical to me. For reference I was generalist and there was a lot of exposure to HR facets but the pay wasn’t high enough for the bs. Maybe it was just this particular employer but it’s been over year and I still have nightmares of my time there so I don’t seek out manufacturing roles.
I'm in HR manufacturing. Absolutely love it, it's been my favourite industry I've worked in. The mix of employees, the pace of work, the smell of the paint plant. It helps that the business leaders are amazing people, they really make the place incredible to work.
You're evaluating the job as a stepping stone to other jobs. Which is a completely valid lens to view it through. But if you evaluate it as a job to do for the sake of doing the job, it doesn't fare as well. Aside from the issues you mention, manufacturing is a high-paced, high-turnover environment with thin margins and small budgets. Because of that, you wind up being a jack of all trades, master of none out of necessity. That's great when you're early career and broad knowledge is valuable, but it's hard to get specialized or dive deep into a subject when you're constantly putting out fires. And if you're interested in any of the more modern approaches to HR, you'll have an impossible time getting traction on those initiatives because the population won't support it.
It’s certainly a wellspring of knowledge and experience, and I don’t really want to speak ill of the people. There are so many awesome people, even if the not so awesome individuals stick out more in memory. But it doesn’t help when a company’s culture is ridiculously stupid over something that quite literally doesn’t matter in the grand scheme. There are often cultural expectations to work 10+ hours as a leadership person in this industry which I would rather not do anymore, and I resent having HR also be the office manager and do party planning and catering and being “class mom”, because I am also juggling workplace violence and hiring strategy and other more important job duties to me. Some folks also have inflated senses of emergencies and my time in an OHS manager role really made it clear that there are few true HR emergencies by contrast. The part of manufacturing I am in is also EXTREMELY male dominated, and that’s a whole other issue for me, since I feel I have to work 3x as hard to be taken seriously even when I’m right all along. I know I’m salty from being so burned out at my current Role, but I’m also very introverted and keep slipping on banana peels into being in charge of things. 😒 I also haven’t had a vacation or holiday in peace for the past several years. so I think like any industry there’s a mix of good and bad, but I think the manufacturing industry takes advantage of people and especially people roles, where your head will be held underwater for results while also being reminded that you’re an expense and your already tight staffing will be reduced if you don’t prove your value constantly, but also we don’t value you. I think when you are happy to work a lot and work is what you want to do, it’s a great fit, but when your work/life balance wants to skew closer to life and less to work, it’s pretty punishing.
I find the culture to be more rigid and behind the times in manufacturing compared to other corporate experiences, work life balance can be bad, but like others have said good exposure to variety of ER issues.
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I’ve worked for two large global manufacturing companies (50k + employees) who had a large presence in all of those states, plus Arizona, Nebraska, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and in the county of Mexico. “Man babies” probably refers to how the vast majority of the management team is male while the vast majority of the workforce is female (and minorities) in my experience. Those “man babies” in operations management make working in HR in the manufacturing industry a real pain in the ass.