How Skilling Can Make A Significant Impact Where Talent Is Scarce

New research reveals how industries with shrinking pipelines, like manufacturing, are driving measurable gains in productivity, retention, and revenue by aligning learning with business needs.

In this time of economic volatility and technological change, tight alignment between an organization’s learning-and-development (L&D) initiatives and its top business priorities is mission-critical – particularly in sectors experiencing severe talent shortages, like manufacturing. But the research shows that alignment isn’t enough, with the most innovative companies proactively building the infrastructure for measuring impact that they can frequently and accurately report to business partners.

Here’s how we know: Guild interviewed 500 CHROs and L&D leaders across various industries, with a deep dive into manufacturing, to better understand the role L&D plays in creating measurable business value. The findings were clear: The leaders who tie learning to their organization’s biggest business priorities are seeing outsized performance. They go beyond tracking completion rates and satisfaction scores; they measure improvements in productivity, customer experience, and revenue growth to build a data-backed case for learning.

This work is especially critical at a time when manufacturers expect just 1.1% growth in full-time employment over the next year, according to the National Association of Manufacturers Q1 2025 outlook. With higher-than-average input costs and pricing pressures, workforce investments must yield clear ROI.

The study revealed that many manufacturers are doing the hard work to measure that ROI in different ways. One respondent reported a 15% increase in productivity following leadership and technical training. Another attributed 40% of recent revenue growth to sales training that repositioned their customer service team as upselling experts. Others saw retention gains of 20% or more, thanks to targeted onboarding and supervisor-development programs.

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“We train employees to a greater level – and now we’re seeing higher customer satisfaction, lower turnover, and stronger financial results,” one HR leader explained.

The following responses were collected from CHROs and L&D leaders in manufacturing, automotive, transportation, and logistics sectors who reported that their learning investments had contributed to at least one key performance metric in the past year. Their insights reveal consistent, measurable links between L&D and business outcomes across productivity, retention, revenue growth, and more.

The big takeaway? High-performing manufacturing HR leaders treat L&D as a core business driver — one that improves people and performance in equal measure.

1. Productivity gains

Manufacturing leaders consistently linked L&D investments to measurable improvements in productivity, citing faster project completion, greater operational efficiency, and better resource management as key outcomes. “Upskilling investments improved resource management, enabling teams to meet deadlines and achieve targets with greater precision,” said one leader.

2. Retention and engagement

Targeted training — especially for supervisors and frontline managers — played a pivotal role in improving employee retention and engagement. Many organizations noted that upskilling efforts led to stronger connection, morale, and motivation. “Enhanced Supervisor Training has led to better engagement and retention,” according to one leader we interviewed. ”

3. Customer satisfaction and sales

Sales enablement and customer-service training emerged as surprising power plays in L&D strategies. Several leaders reported that learning investments helped elevate the customer experience and directly contributed to revenue growth. “Training our employees to be the best of the best in our industry directly supports customer satisfaction scores,” shared one leader.

4. Onboarding and new-employee ramp-up

Respondents highlighted onboarding as one of the most clear-cut cases for L&D ROI. Redesigning and formalizing early-stage learning improved ramp times, boosted early retention, and enhanced new hire effectiveness.

Said one leader, “Implementation of a new onboarding learning journey has reduced our 90-day turnover rate.”

5. Leadership development and internal mobility

For manufacturers dealing with turnover and a shrinking leadership bench, internal talent pipelines are a growing priority. Companies that invested in structured development pathways and cross-functional training saw gains in internal mobility, performance, and “bench strength.”

“We’ve trained teams to understand performance metrics and take action in their departments,” said one leader. “L&D helped us retain top talent through involvement, career growth, and upskilling,” said another.

Measuring what matters

Despite modest forecasts for growth — 3.4% for sales and just 1.2% for capital investment, according to NAM’s Q1 2025 outlook — many manufacturers are doubling down on workforce development to unlock productivity and performance from within. That’s why strategic learning programs are becoming a more essential lever in workforce planning and profitability. Our research bears that out: The organizations seeing real ROI are treating learning as infrastructure, not overhead. In doing so, they’re closing performance gaps and future-proofing their workforce at the same time.

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[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]

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