October is National Manufacturing Month: Why Frontline Recognition Matters in Manufacturing

This October is National Manufacturing Month. In the U.S., manufacturing workers account for nearly 11%Opens in a new tab of the annual GDP. This entire industry runs on the key contributions of frontline employees. Yet many of these workers - more than half - spend their days away from a desk, without the same access to workplace communications and tools as their desk-based colleagues.

That creates a challenge for organizations trying to make employee recognition accessible, timely, and meaningful for everyone. Especially considering the Workhuman iQ research that found those who work on-site and do not partake in a recognition program lead the way in feeling:

• Mentally exhausted and drained
• Disconnected to their organization's culture
• Lower levels of psychological safety

This should concern every leader in the industry.

For manufacturing organizations, recognition offers an opportunity to transform the employee experience into a lifelong, fulfilling career or vocation. In fact, the 2026 Humans at Work Barometer found that for recently recognized deskless workers, 77% see a career path vs 46% of those not recognized. That's a 31-point career confidence gap driven by recognition.

Read on to see how several of our manufacturing customers are using recognition to drive meaningful results for their employees.

At Eaton, about 50% of its 80,000+ employees are offline without access to a computer. Nevertheless, every 65 seconds a recognition moment is captured through its Workhuman platform, E-STAR. When asked, 79% of Eaton employees agree that their recognition awards make them feel their work is valued and appreciated, directly improving employee sentiment. This same employee survey found that the more recognition an employee gives and receives, the better they feel about Eaton.

“E-STAR is a powerful way for us to acknowledge employees who are supporting our brand promise and demonstrating behaviors aligned to our leadership attributes,” says Jennifer Sweda, former compensation manager at Eaton. “E-STAR is really embedded into the culture of the organization.”

The thing is, it’s not just employee sentiment that rises with recognition. Like Jennifer from Eaton shared, alignment is impacted, too. We found in the 2025 Workhuman Global Research Study: Recognition as an Engine for Strategy that when employees were recognized in the past week, they were 67% more likely to say they understand their company values and 2.5× more likely to say they feel aligned to those values.

At Morgan Truck Body, 70% of sites that properly used the recognition program have seen improvements in productivity, safety, and quality year over year. What’s more is that 90%+ of sites that properly used the recognition program report an internal promotion rate greater than the company average. The link between recognition and promotability is an important element to developing frontline team members.

Additionally, researchers with Workhuman iQ have studied the impact of recognition on lost time incident rates with customers. For example, one manufacturing customer found that locations with highly recognized employees see significantly fewer lost time incidents. In a manufacturing context, recognition reinforces safety behaviors. At plants where employees have received more of these reinforcements, it’s only natural that fewer lost time incidents are reported.

💡Discover how Hyliion’s recognition program reinforces a culture of safety through Safety Awards for employees who proactively identify near-misses.

Workhuman research across 34 clients and more than 67,000 offline workers shows frequent recognition - receiving 5+ awards per year - is correlated with 4x lower turnover if at least one recognition moment has monetary value.

At Barilla, HR Manager Jessica Sharpe, shares that frontline worker adoption of recognition is one of their biggest wins. “Where we had the most doubt about the program - they're [frontline workers] using it almost just as much as the corporate team.”

Similarly, at PepsiCo, recognition went from its worst-rated survey question to a highly rated one. By expanding access and connection for its frontline workforce through platform integrations, the organization experienced more than 3 million recognition moments in the first three years.

Make recognition accessible to every employee

For frontline recognition to work, employees need ways to participate wherever and however they work. That’s why we’re excited to share our newest offering, Frontline Recognition, is designed to extend recognition beyond the desk through:

• Multiple ways to recognize via email, SMS, QR, physical cards, kiosks
• Digital and physical recognition securely captured in one place
• Built-in admin, reporting, and spend management for real-time oversight
• Ability to connect contractors, vendors, and contributors to your values
• One intuitive, world-class recognition experience for everyone ❤️

Request a demo today.