Nearly 60% of Polish manufacturing companies are struggling with excessive employee attrition. The standards you spent months building can crumble in a matter of weeks—if they're only in the minds of the people who just left.

Knowledge leaves with the employee

According to a 2024 report Antal and Sodexo Polska, more than half of manufacturing companies in Poland are struggling with excessive employee attrition. One in four surveyed companies hires more than 100 new people annually. The Polish Economic Institute estimates that between one million and 1.4 million Poles change jobs annually, and a significant portion of these are production workers.

This isn't a problem that can be ignored, especially if your facility has implemented 5S, Visual Management , or another system that relies on people understanding what they see and why it matters.

Because when an experienced employee leaves, they take with them something that isn't visible in the system. They take away context. They know that the storage bay is in a specific location, otherwise the forklift wouldn't be able to turn around. They know that updating the production board after each shift isn't a formality, and that someone based on this data decides the ordering of orders or stopping the line. A new employee may treat these tools as a waste of time, not understanding that such an approach can negatively impact the company's operations.

 

5 Signs Your Standards Won't Survive Another Personnel Change

1. New employees learn from their peers, not from their position.
   

   If the only source of knowledge about what "good" looks like is a senior colleague on shift, the standard depends on how much that colleague remembers and whether they have the time to explain. With personnel turnover, such knowledge quickly fades.

2. The markings are there, but no one knows what they mean.
   

   Tape on the floor, a frame at a workstation, a tool's shadow on a whiteboard. If employees treat them as decoration or ignore deviations from the standard, the signage isn't serving its purpose. Not because it's bad, but because no one explained its purpose.

3. 5S audits vary depending on the change.
   

   One change maintains the standard, the other doesn't. This is a classic symptom of a system that operates thanks to individuals, not structure. When those individuals leave, the standard goes with them.

4. Every new employee onboarding is different.

   If onboarding depends on who has time, then it's random. Employee A received a full explanation of the rules. Employee B was told, "Look what your colleague is doing." Employee C started alone because his colleague was on vacation.

5. Standards returned to baseline one year after implementation.

   This is the most common scenario. Implementation goes well, audits are positive, and then, after a few staff changes, the system reverts to its initial state. The signage remains, but the facility looks its pre-project self again.

 

Signage without training is just stickers. Training without signage is knowledge with nowhere to act.

This sentence sounds like a truism, but in practice, bets fall into one of two traps.

• First, they buy tape, stickers, shadow boards, and frames, and hope the hall will organize itself. It doesn't. Employees see the markings, but without understanding the system, they treat them as pre-imposed rules whose meaning is unclear. When production pressure first hits, these rules fall by the wayside.
• Second: they train people, explain the Lean philosophy, and engage the team, but the facility isn't ready. There are no signs that would remind them of the standard without words. After training, the employee returns to their workstation and has to remember everything on their own. Over time, they remember less and less.

Good signage is an external reminder of the organization. A shadow board indicates what's missing. Tape on the floor marks the boundaries of a zone. A frame at the workstation keeps the current manual where it's needed. These are tools that work regardless of who's on shift or how many months have passed since the last training.

But for this to work, people need to understand the system. They need to know that empty shadows on the board are a signal, not the norm. That the yellow zone on the floor has a specific meaning. That the card at the machine is there for a reason.

 

What causes the system to experience rotation?

The establishments that manage turnover without compromising their standards usually have three things going for them at once.

A hall that speaks for itself. The signage is consistent, clear, and designed so that new employees can find their way around without question. Any deviation from the standard is visible—because the standard is visible.

A structured way to impart knowledge. On-the-job training works the same regardless of who conducts it. It doesn't depend on the leader's mood or whether there's time. One method that works well in this context is TWI (Training Within Industry), an approach in which each operation is delivered according to a fixed structure: show, explain, check, supervise. If you're looking for a training company, Leantrix specializes in implementing TWI in Polish manufacturing companies.

Audits are a tool, not a requirement. Regular, short job reviews help identify deviations before they become the norm. A new employee who sees someone reacting to irregularities quickly learns that the standard is serious.

 

Before you onboard new employees again

It's worth asking yourself one question: is your facility capable of independently telling a new person what "good" looks like?

If so, the system is resistant to turnover. If not, each new face risks taking a step back from the standard.

If you want to check whether your facility's signage is ready to serve as an external reminder of your organization, start with an audit. We know what to look for.