How Recruiting Workers From Puerto Rico Can Help Manufacturers Solve Labor Shortages (And Build Better Companies)

In a recent appearance on the Manufacturing Insiders Podcast with Nate Wheeler, Isla Talent founder Clay Martin discussed how our recruitment process can help manufacturers across various industries address growing labor shortages.

Watch the interview on YouTube.

For manufacturers, finding good workers has become a problem that is increasingly difficult to solve using the same strategies they have always relied on:

Post another job opening.

Attend another job fair.

Increase the number of applications.

But the growing reality of the modern workforce, especially for industries like manufacturing, is that there simply aren't enough local workers interested in manufacturing to fill all of the positions a company needs.

Manufacturers may need to start looking beyond the traditional boundaries of their local labor market. One often-overlooked opportunity is much closer to home than many companies realize: Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is home to millions of U.S. citizens, including workers with experience in manufacturing, maintenance, machine operation, food and beverage production, pharmaceuticals, and other industrial environments.

For manufacturers searching for alternatives to H-2B workers or other visa-based recruiting programs, Puerto Rico offers a unique domestic workforce solution. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens and can work anywhere in the United States without a work visa or employment sponsorship, giving employers access to manufacturing talent without the immigration process associated with international recruitment.

The Manufacturing Labor Shortage Requires New Thinking

Manufacturing has spent years dealing with a workforce problem that doesn't have a simple solution.

Companies need people to operate machines, maintain equipment, assemble products, perform skilled trades, and keep production moving. At the same time, many manufacturers are competing for workers within the same limited geographic area. That can create a revolving door.

The company posts job openings, pays for recruiting, attends job fairs, conducts interviews, and finally finds someone. Then that employee leaves for another opportunity, and the process starts all over again.

Every manufacturer knows the expense associated with employee turnover. There is the cost of advertising positions, the time spent interviewing candidates, onboarding and training, lost productivity while positions remain vacant, and the institutional knowledge that walks out the door when an experienced employee leaves.

Isla Talent helps manufacturers recruit workers from Puerto Rico for positions in the continental United States.

Relocating from Puerto Rico to Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, or another state is a significant decision. Workers may be leaving familiar surroundings and, in some cases, eventually relocating their families. For employers, this can create an opportunity to build a workforce around candidates who have intentionally chosen to relocate for the position.

But it's important to remember that the goal isn't to find a cheaper source of labor. In fact, we emphasize that workers should be paid a fair local wage. The potential advantage is finding people willing to make a serious commitment to the opportunity while creating a company culture strengthened through diversity, support, and accommodation.

Recruiting Manufacturing Workers From Puerto Rico: An Overlooked Workforce Solution

When manufacturers think about expanding their recruiting efforts, they often think geographically: How far can we realistically recruit from?

The answer has traditionally been 20, 30, or 50 miles.

They rarely consider bringing workers in from farther away.

Isla Talent's recruiting process is designed around bringing groups of workers from Puerto Rico to a manufacturer rather than simply sending individual candidates into an existing hiring process.

The advantage of Puerto Rico, in particular, is that workers are U.S. citizens, eliminating many of the immigration hurdles companies can face when recruiting internationally through H-2B visa programs and other international recruitment options.

Additionally, we typically recruit in groups. Depending on the situation, we can recruit up to 10 workers within two weeks and can scale that to 50 workers within several weeks.

The workers aren't limited to one specific type of position either. We have recruited for entry-level production positions, machine operators, maintenance positions, mechanics, HVAC technicians, and electricians.

Puerto Rico has its own manufacturing industries, including pharmaceutical and food and beverage manufacturing, meaning some candidates already have experience that can transfer into other manufacturing environments.

For a manufacturer that has exhausted its local recruiting options, this creates an entirely different talent pool to consider.

Recruiting From Puerto Rico Forces Companies to Think About the Employee Experience

A manufacturer can't simply fly a group of workers into town and expect everything to work itself out.

These employees are arriving in a new environment and may need help with housing, transportation, language, and understanding workplace expectations. Our process takes those factors into account before the workers arrive.

Clients are expected to identify housing, arrange transportation, provide clear job descriptions and offers, and consider how language differences will be handled. Candidates can also receive photos and information about the facility before deciding whether the opportunity is right for them.

Language support is a key consideration, but that doesn't necessarily mean you need to hire a full-time translator.

During the interview, Martin described several approaches, including bilingual coworkers who may arrive as part of the group, translation technology, translated materials, and even part-time Spanish-speaking teachers or retirees who can help employees develop their English skills.

On the surface, these may seem like costly accommodations that add complications. But we ask you to consider a different perspective.

Ultimately, they can be managerial improvements that create a more appealing work environment for everyone. They're examples of what happens when a company starts asking:

What more can we do to ensure our workers succeed?

Better Support for New Workers Can Create a Better Culture for Everyone

The biggest cultural lesson from this recruiting strategy has little to do with Puerto Rico.

When a company makes an effort to understand what employees need, it can uncover problems that may be affecting the entire workforce.

Maybe local employees struggle with transportation.

Maybe communication from management was never quite optimized.

Maybe supervisors weren't properly equipped to work with people from various backgrounds.

Maybe workers have concerns they aren't comfortable bringing directly to management.

Addressing those problems for a new group of employees can help uncover opportunities to improve the workplace for everyone.

That's where recruiting becomes more than a workforce strategy. It can become a company culture strategy as well.

This Case Study Shows What the Process Can Look Like

During the interview, Martin shared the story of a business in Cleveland that exemplifies this effect.

The company recruited six workers from Puerto Rico. The initial experience wasn't perfect. Three of the six eventually left or were let go, and, as Clay explained, we worked with the company to find replacement recruits.

But the key takeaway came afterward.

Instead of viewing the situation as proof that the recruiting strategy had failed, the company took a different approach. It looked at what it could improve.

Why are they leaving?

What isn't clicking?

Is something getting lost in communication?

The company remained open-minded about cultural differences and focused on creating an environment built around empathy and respect for employees. Over time, the workplace culture reflected that effort.

Today, the company still has six employees recruited through Isla Talent: three of the original recruits and three replacements. Two employees are even planning to move their families to Cleveland, while another expressed interest in returning the following year with his family.

The transformation and subsequent success didn't happen because the company found a magical group of employees who never had problems. It happened because the company was willing to work through the challenges.

Solving the Workforce Problem Starts With the Workplace

There is no single solution to the manufacturing labor shortage.

Automation can help.

Training can help.

Higher wages can help.

Recruiting from new geographic markets can help.

But none of those strategies completely solves the problem if employees don't want to stay once they arrive.

That's why we emphasize the importance of company culture in this process. It challenges manufacturers to think differently about how they build their workforce.

A larger talent pool can help a manufacturer fill its open positions, but a better employee experience can help keep those positions filled.

When those two strategies work together, solving a labor shortage can become an opportunity to build a stronger company culture at the same time.

For manufacturers struggling with persistent labor shortages, expanding manufacturing recruitment beyond the local labor market can provide access to machine operators, maintenance technicians, skilled tradespeople, production workers, and other hard-to-fill roles.

Need Help Recruiting Manufacturing Workers From Puerto Rico?

If your company is struggling to fill manufacturing positions, Isla Talent can help you access a broader pool of U.S. workers from Puerto Rico.

We recruit for production, machine operation, maintenance, skilled trades, and other manufacturing roles based on your workforce needs.

Learn more about manufacturing recruitment from Puerto Rico or contact Isla Talent to discuss your hiring needs.