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Why manufacturing employees leave and how to understand why
Operators, technicians and supervisors leave for reasons that sit in shifts, skills and supervision. How to ask, read the pattern by shift and act on it.
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Aerospace and Defence Components · Avionics Hardware Makers
HR for Avionics Hardware Makers: Boards, Harnesses, Test Benches and Rework
Avionics hardware makers build circuit boards, harnesses and boxed electronics that fly in aircraft, so every joint and test is recorded. Their people problem is a small group of skilled solderers and test technicians on whom every shipment depends.
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Share your requirementsAn avionics hardware maker assembles circuit cards, wire harnesses and boxed units such as controllers, displays or data units. The flow runs from kitting and component stores to board assembly, hand soldering and inspection, conformal coating, harness build, box integration, test benches and final packing with a build record. Most work is low volume and high mix. Hand soldering and rework on small parts need steady eyes and years of practice. Test technicians must read a fault from a test result and decide what to touch next. Engineers send revisions often, and the floor has to keep up. A handful of people carry skills the owner cannot easily buy. See also HR for manufacturing.
- Plan
- Hire
- Onboard
- Manage
- Develop
- Perform
- Engage
- Retain
- Exit
- Improve
When HR is weak in avionics hardware makers, you may see
- A few solderers carry the quality
- Test technicians learn on faults, not manuals
- Eye strain and posture limit long careers
- Revision changes confuse the bench
- Kitting errors look like operator errors
- Static and cleanliness habits slip when no one is watching
These are the places the people side of this kind of business tends to give way. The rest of this page works through them.
Who does the work in avionics hardware makers
HR here has to work for each of these groups, not only the office. The set-up below is written with all of them in mind.
- Hand soldering operators
- Surface-mount line operators
- Harness builders
- Conformal coating staff
- Test bench technicians
- Rework specialists
- Visual inspectors
- Kitting and stores staff
- Production engineers and supervisors
Where HR strains in avionics hardware makers
A few solderers carry the quality
The best hand solderers and rework specialists are few, and when one leaves, rejection and delay rise within weeks.
Test technicians learn on faults, not manuals
Diagnosis is learned by repair experience, so a new technician needs months beside a senior before being trusted alone.
Eye strain and posture limit long careers
Microscope work and fine soldering tire people early, and shifts without breaks push skilled operators out of the trade.
Revision changes confuse the bench
An engineering change reaches the planner before the operator, so boards are built to an older revision and caught late.
Kitting errors look like operator errors
A wrong or missing component reaches the bench, work stops, and the operator is blamed for a stores problem.
Static and cleanliness habits slip when no one is watching
Wrist straps, mats and clean handling are easy to skip on a busy day, with damage that shows only at test.
HR topics for avionics hardware makers
Start with the topics that matter most here: Learning and Development; Retention and Attrition Management; Compensation, Payroll and Benefits. Then work through the rest. Each topic is written for manufacturing, not in general.
Learning and Development
Training planned from need rather than from the calendar.
Retention and Attrition Management
Who leaves, when, why — and which of them mattered.
Compensation, Payroll and Benefits
Salary structure, payroll inputs and a month that closes on time.
HR Strategy and Workforce Planning
How many people, in which roles, by when — and what they will cost.
Organisation Design
Structure, reporting lines and who is allowed to decide what.
Recruitment and Talent Acquisition
Requisition to joining, the same way every time.
Onboarding and Probation
A first day that is the same for the fifth joiner as the first.
Employee Administration
Records, attendance, leave and the day-to-day HR that must simply work.
Performance Management
Goals, reviews and ratings that hold up in a conversation.
Career and Succession Management
Named backups for the roles that cannot be vacant.
Employee Engagement and Experience
Communication, recognition and the conditions people actually work in.
Employee Relations
Two routes — one for complaints, one for conduct — kept separate.
Policies, Compliance and Governance
Policies a manager can apply, and obligations with owners and dates.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Induction, records, incident reporting and follow-through.
Exit and Alumni Management
Resignation to relieving letter, in a defined order.
HR Technology and Automation
Records that survive people, and approvals that do not queue.
HR Analytics and Management Reporting
A short monthly pack management actually reads.
HR Operations and Governance
An HR function that runs the same way every month.
What a working HR set-up looks like
The pieces a avionics hardware makers business puts in place, in an order that makes each easier. Open any card for the detail.
Certify solderers by work sample, not by years
Test each operator on a defined sample under your seniors' eyes and record the result by grade.
What this coversHide
Certify solderers by work sample, not by years
Test each operator on a defined sample under your seniors' eyes and record the result by grade.
What this coversHideTest each operator on a defined sample under your seniors' eyes and record the result by grade. Link grades to pay through compensation benchmarking.
Pair every new test technician with a named senior
Set a list of faults to be diagnosed with help, then alone, and sign off in stages.
What this coversHide
Pair every new test technician with a named senior
Set a list of faults to be diagnosed with help, then alone, and sign off in stages.
What this coversHideSet a list of faults to be diagnosed with help, then alone, and sign off in stages. The learning and development process can arrange it.
Plan breaks and bench rotation
Short breaks and a rotation between microscope and non-microscope tasks keep skilled people longer.
What this coversHide
Plan breaks and bench rotation
Short breaks and a rotation between microscope and non-microscope tasks keep skilled people longer.
What this coversHideShort breaks and a rotation between microscope and non-microscope tasks keep skilled people longer. Reflect it in the attendance, shift and leave process.
Check revision at the bench each shift
The supervisor confirms that the build sheet at each bench matches the engineering list before the first board starts.
What this coversHide
Check revision at the bench each shift
The supervisor confirms that the build sheet at each bench matches the engineering list before the first board starts.
What this coversHideThe supervisor confirms that the build sheet at each bench matches the engineering list before the first board starts.
Make kitting accountable
Stores sign off complete kits, and shortages are logged by cause so the stores team and the bench stop blaming each other.
What this coversHide
Make kitting accountable
Stores sign off complete kits, and shortages are logged by cause so the stores team and the bench stop blaming each other.
What this coversHideStores sign off complete kits, and shortages are logged by cause so the stores team and the bench stop blaming each other.
Start by checking where you stand
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These checks take an afternoon and tell you which of the topics above to start with.
Share your requirements- Count how many solderers pass your hardest sample and how many cover the rest of the work.
- Ask your senior test technician which faults only he can find, and who is learning them.
- Check the last month of rework and note how many cases began with a kitting or revision error.
- Look at how long operators work at a microscope before a break.
- Walk the bench at a busy hour and check straps and mats are in use.
- Confirm with a qualified professional the registration, record-keeping and employment obligations that apply to your avionics hardware makers business.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
How GullyHR helps
The services below fit this kind of business best. Each starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes.
- Compensation benchmarking
Solderer and test technician grades set against nearby electronics units, so scarce skills are paid with a visible logic.
- Learning and development process
A staged route for new technicians from supervised fault-finding to independent work.
- Recruitment process consulting
A hiring process with a short work sample for soldering and a fault-finding conversation for test staff.
- Employee retention and attrition management
A look at why trained solderers and testers leave and what would plausibly keep them.
Start with a free conversation, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
Our HR transformation approach
- 1
Assess
Understand the business, its workforce, current processes and HR challenges.
- 2
Identify gaps
Find the missing, weak, inconsistent or person-dependent processes.
- 3
Design
Create the structure, processes, policies, SOPs, dashboards and systems needed.
- 4
Implement
Help HR and department managers actually adopt the new system.
- 5
Automate
Digitise repetitive and approval-based workflows where it is worth doing.
- 6
Measure
Track hiring, attendance, employee cost, performance, training and attrition.
- 7
Improve
Strengthen the people-management system continuously, not once.
Blogs worth reading first
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in manufacturing, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
HR Process
The training calendar nobody attends: fixing the learning and development process
A calendar of courses, a budget spent by March and no record of what any of it changed. What a learning and development process contains when it starts from need rather than from the catalogue.
7 min readRead article
HR Management
How to recognise and address employee workload problems
How to spot an unmanageable workload before it becomes an exit or an error, what to look at, how to talk about it and what to change, without guessing.
5 min readRead article
HR Management
Salary bands for SMEs: building grades when you have never had any
Most salary structures grew one negotiation at a time. How to build grades and bands from what you already pay, without repricing everybody at once.
8 min readRead articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Questions owners ask
Recognise their skill in a grade and in pay, protect their eyes and posture with planned breaks, and give them a say in how the bench is run. Most leave from fatigue or feeling unseen.
It depends on the range of units tested, but many shops use months, not weeks. Write a list of faults to be mastered in order and sign them off one by one.
Often yes, with training. Start them on simpler boards and harnesses, check each stage by work sample and pay as skills grow. Avoid placing them on rework until they are ready.
Usually not. Varied jobs and high quality demands make piece rates hard to set fairly. A fixed grade with a team measure for right-first-time work is easier to defend.
Agree one release routine between engineering, planning and the floor, with a sign-off at each bench. Keep the routine short enough that people follow it.
We would count solderers who pass your hardest sample, ask your senior test technician what only he can diagnose, and review a month of rework by cause. A good first piece of work is a grade scheme and a staged training path for test staff. Scope is agreed in writing afterwards.
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