Manufacturing companies might be hyper-focused on streamlining operations to increase profitability, but there is one place they’re losing money without realizing it. Hiring and training employees only to have them leave after a short time is shockingly expensive: Replacing a worker costs employers up to twice that person’s annual salary, according to one source.

Across the workforce, about a third of Gen Zers plan to switch employers in the next two years, according to Deloitte. Why? They’re looking for purpose and meaning in their work, and they’ll jump jobs until they find it.

“When you think about Gen Z—and Gen Alpha, who’s right behind them—technology is changing every day, social media has rewritten the rules constantly on how to interact with other people, the news is in your face, and everything’s urgent,” says Christina Griffin, director of learning and organizational development at MSC.

“What they found in these studies is that Gen Z, especially, needs an anchor to feel safe. And that anchor is purpose. They define purpose in two ways: How am I contributing to society, and how am I improving myself and my career?”

When younger generations look at manufacturing jobs, they don’t necessarily see purpose.

“Younger workers view a lot of manufacturing roles as more transactional,” says Tom Birchard, MSC’s vice president and general manager of MRO. “They think of assembly lines and repetitive tasks. Those jobs are still out there, but that’s not the majority anymore. Manufacturing companies have evolved over the years, and I think a lot of people don’t understand that.”

The Hidden Cost of “Just a Job” Thinking

When employees think of their job as temporary, it’s costly on several fronts.

“If you roll up things like recruiting, onboarding and training, those major elements could easily add up to 50 to 200 percent of somebody’s annual salary,” Birchard says, referring to research by the Society for Human Resource Management. “That’s the direct financial hit. But there’s an indirect cost, too, related to productivity, morale and institutional knowledge.”

Employees who lack purpose can feel stuck. They’re not able to see a future for themselves at the company, and that’s a problem.

“If I don’t see a clear investment in me—if the company is not providing learning opportunities—I start to feel devalued, and the longer that goes on, that’s going to trigger a self-protection of sorts,” Griffin says. “You’re going to see defensiveness. You might see conflict. It’s that us-versus-them thinking. Loyalty takes a hit. Stress builds. It comes out as absenteeism, or quality or production issues, or even their health could be impacted.”

There’s also quiet quitting, a popular term for employees doing a minimum amount of work, which Griffin says is misattributed to laziness. “It’s really a coping mechanism—it’s a way to preserve your energy when you feel like you’re not getting a return.”

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Why Workforce Development Matters: Purpose, Belonging and Value

If you want to build a sense of purpose and value at work, focus on relationships.

“There’s a saying in HR circles that the best way to retain people is to ensure that they have a friend at work and feel connected to a community there,” Griffin says.

Gil Truesdale, leader of safety services at MSC, puts it this way: “Have you ever been somewhere where people cared about you that you didn’t enjoy?”

Birchard adds, “When you’re creating an environment at work that people really enjoy what they’re doing, they come with energy, and that’s what drives productivity, output and quality—all those things that are measurable.”

To address younger employees’ desire for purpose in contributing to society, leaders can explain how the work they do is connected to the broader impact of the company—for example, how the goods and services they produce enrich people’s lives. “It could be building the infrastructure that we all rely on every day or making the products that improve our quality of life,” Griffin says. “This is the first step in attracting and retaining employees, and it should be continuously reinforced.”

Making Career Paths Visible and Credible

Career growth might be stifled at your company not because it’s impossible, but because it’s invisible.

“Don’t make the career development program a mystery, or talked about behind closed doors, or that some other group like human resources handles,” Birchard says. “Make that visible, and have it be part of conversations.”

The performance management process should be structured and published.

“When you look at a job description, the idea is you have a job family, and there should be some obvious progression upward from your current role, as well as insights into related roles to consider,” Griffin says. “Job descriptions can sometimes be vague or poorly written. Many companies struggle with this, regardless of their size.”

Simpler, more achievable solutions are to announce and celebrate anytime someone makes a lateral move or is promoted and to profile more senior leaders’ career paths to illustrate the moves that lead to their success, she says.

Birchard adds, “Make a bigger deal about that than you might think you should, so that people can see examples of their peers or even associates they don’t know but know who they are. That’s powerful.”

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The Manager’s Role: From Supervisor to Developer

Career development often falls on managers, who are also tasked with other key responsibilities of the business.

“I really feel for managers,” Griffin says. “Not only are they pressured to deliver—to keep productivity high and get the work done—but they have to care for and cultivate their people as well.”

Two ways that managers undermine career development—sometimes unintentionally—are overfocusing on the work and not checking in with employees about their career aspirations, Griffin says.

“Have a dedicated conversation, not tacked onto an existing one-on-one or an existing team meeting,” she says. “Dedicated time on a regular cadence is key, because it tells that employee that you are investing your time in them.”

During these sessions, managers might shy away from giving feedback or be vague about it, thinking it’s best to avoid tense conversations. “That is very detrimental to developing their people,” Griffin explains.

“Reframe that to a caring exercise, not a punishment. If you really care about your people, you’ll make sure that they understand what’s expected of them, when they’re doing things right and when they’re not. I’d hate to be the employee who’s not doing well and doesn’t know it.”

Similarly, when someone interviews for an internal job and doesn’t get it, properly delivering feedback can turn disappointment into a career-shaping moment.

“Just saying, ‘Sorry, you didn’t get the job’ is basically dismissing their aspiration,” Griffin says. “You have a chance here to tell them how they can prepare for the next opportunity, actually give them a path and make them more likely to take it.”

Practical Ways to Turn Jobs into Careers, Starting Now

Creating a career culture is possible even for small to midsize companies, and it starts from day one.

Truesdale says it’s critical to keep promises made during the interview process. “Everything that you told them you would do but don’t show them, they remember,” he says. “To get somebody to walk into a career, the company has to deliver post-interview.”

Truesdale and Griffin agree that mentors can show new employees the road map of what lies ahead for them at the company.

“I’m a big fan of mentoring, especially in smaller organizations,” Griffin says, “because you don’t need a lot of technology or infrastructure or even coordination for it if you do it right.”

Shadowing and apprenticeships are other ways for employees to gain experience on the job.

“Whenever you can, provide a role-based learning pathway,” Griffin says. “It doesn’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t have to be formal training, either. Some way to expose them to other roles within the organization just to see if there’s interest and overlap with what they’re good at.”

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