What Manufacturing HR Leaders Say About Listening, Action, and the Manager Gap

U.S. manufacturing lost over 90,000 jobs in 2025 — the third consecutive year of employment decline. Revised BLS data suggest the actual losses may exceed 208,000 through mid-2025. The ISM Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 47.9 in December 2025, its lowest reading of the year and the tenth consecutive month of contraction.

In spite of those losses, labor productivity in manufacturing grew 2.4% year over year as of Q3 2025, the strongest gain since 2011 — driven partly by declining hours worked rather than rising output. Vacancy rates averaged 4.2% per manufacturer, with one in four reporting rates above 5%. Average hourly earnings reached $36.07 by December 2025.

Organizations are running leaner with fewer workers. Productivity expectations are rising. The remaining workforce carries greater operational importance. In that context, listening to employees — and acting on what they say — has direct consequences for retention, safety, and output. Our 2026 State of Employee Listening research surveyed 62 manufacturing HR leaders to examine how frontline listening, action planning, and strategic alignment shape employee experience in the sector.

Where Does Manufacturing Stand on Listening Maturity?

Manufacturing shows the strongest Stage 4 concentration of the industries covered: 29% operate at the highest maturity level, compared with 20% overall. Stage 2 (Structured Listening) holds the largest share at 32%, while Stage 3 (Integrated) is notably lower at 18% — 9 points below the overall average of 27%.

The distribution reveals a bimodal pattern: a sizable group of manufacturers have fully embedded listening into their operations, while another large cluster is still building structured feedback channels. Fewer sit in the middle ground.

Earlier editions of the study showed manufacturing respondents heavily concentrated in the most mature stages. The 2026 data reflect a broader sample, including organizations earlier in their listening development. That said, manufacturing's listening maturity remains among the highest of any sector Perceptyx has studied.

Foundational practices are solid: 82% report clear outcomes for listening, 74% have defined success metrics, 79% say their strategy evolved over the past year, and 84% say listening insights inform organizational strategy.

How Engaged Are Manufacturing Leaders?

Manufacturing respondents reported the strongest individual engagement of the industries highlighted in this year's study: 74% fully engaged vs. 69% overall. Individual indicators are high — 92% report personal accomplishment, 90% intend to stay, 87% are proud to work at their organization, and 84% would recommend it.

That 92% accomplishment figure stands out. It reflects the connection many manufacturing employees feel to tangible outputs — quality, craftsmanship, and operational results. Perceptyx benchmark data from manufacturing shows this intrinsic motivation is a durable strength, even as other aspects of the experience come under pressure.

What Business Priorities Drive Manufacturing Listening Programs?

Retention leads at 35% — 7 points above the overall sample of 28%. Cost control follows at 26% (vs. 20% overall). Innovation comes in at 24% (vs. 36% overall).

The retention emphasis carries particular weight in manufacturing. Experienced employees hold operational knowledge about equipment, production processes, and safety procedures that takes years to develop. Performance enablement research from Perceptyx shows that manufacturing employees have gained ground on decision-making authority and system effectiveness — but high turnover still disrupts production continuity, increases training costs, and creates safety risk.

The cost control emphasis (6 points above the cross-industry average) aligns with the current economic environment. Tariffs on steel, aluminum, and other inputs raised costs for downstream manufacturers throughout 2025. Organizations simultaneously managing workforce reductions and rising productivity expectations treat cost visibility as an operational priority, not an abstract concern.

Consider the most important finding here: 65% of manufacturing leaders say their organization still needs additional support identifying the specific business priorities their listening programs should address. When listening efforts lack a tight connection to defined outcomes, organizations struggle to move from measurement toward strategic use of feedback.

What's the Biggest Barrier to Progress in Manufacturing?

The data-to-action gap leads at 26%, followed by culture-strategy misalignment (21%), lack of leadership buy-in (19%), change fatigue (18%), and unclear ROI (13%).

However, the capability gap data tells a more specific story. When asked which gaps most limit listening effectiveness, 34% cite manager talent and skills — the highest single response and a barrier that is distinctive to manufacturing in this year's data. Action planning and follow-up processes (24%) and HR staff workload (24%) follow.

The manager finding is operationally consequential. In manufacturing environments with shift-based, deskless workforces, managers are the primary conduit between feedback data and frontline action. Even organizations with high-quality analytics cannot close the loop if managers lack the skills, time, or support to translate insights into team-level changes.

This aligns with broader Perceptyx research showing that only 58% of manufacturing employees believe change is handled effectively — and that employees who feel a strong sense of belonging are 2.4x as likely to feel supported in adapting to change. The manager layer is where belonging gets built or breaks down.

How Do Manufacturing Organizations Listen and Act?

Employee experience surveys remain the most common channel (65%), followed by lifecycle surveys (61%), crowdsourcing (37%), and behavioral measurement feedback (23%). 31% conduct annual census surveys, 32% use quarterly pulse surveys, and 26% collect crowdsourced feedback quarterly.

Results move relatively quickly. Senior leaders, managers, and employees typically receive feedback within weeks of a listening event. Most respondents report that employees begin to notice improvements approximately 3–4 weeks after feedback collection, though some report longer timelines.

The operational challenge is specific to manufacturing: sharing results and planning action with shift-based, deskless workforces is fundamentally harder than in desk-based settings. Organizations that solve for this through in-flow-of-work tools, simplified action planning, and visible follow-through report faster change and stronger credibility with frontline employees.

What Does Manufacturing Culture Look Like — and Where Does It Need to Go?

42% of respondents describe their current culture as collaborative (emphasizing teamwork, mentorship, and interpersonal relationships). When asked which orientation would best support future success, collaboration remains important (32%), but respondents want more emphasis on creativity and innovation (27%) and stronger operational structure and process discipline (18%).

That shift from 42% collaborative (current) to 27% creative (ideal) captures a tension specific to manufacturing: the need to maintain reliable processes, safety standards, and production efficiency while also encouraging continuous improvement. Organizations that treat these as competing priorities rather than complementary capabilities will struggle to move their culture toward the adaptive posture the data says leaders want.

What Can Manufacturing Leaders Learn From These Findings?

Manufacturing's listening maturity is among the strongest of any sector. The constraint is not data collection — it's the translation layer: manager capability, action planning capacity, and the operational mechanics of converting feedback into visible improvements across distributed, shift-based workforces.

Customer stories from Solenis (99.8% manager action plan completion, $4.7M turnover cost avoidance), American Woodmark (25-point retention gap identified, Intent to Stay now above benchmark), Arca Continental Coca-Cola SW Beverages (Leadership Index from 65% to 89.3% over five years), and Astemo (42% global turnover reduction) show what's possible when organizations invest in closing that translation layer — particularly through structured manager accountability and simplified action planning tools.

Download the full 2026 Manufacturing State of Employee Listening report.