Meeting Today’s Challenges in Consumer Packaged Goods

The consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry is undergoing rapid change. Traditionally one of the most competitive verticals in the market, speed-to-market has long defined success. Today, however, persistent shortages of skilled talent are making that harder to achieve.

In this blog, I’ll outline the challenges facing the CPG industry overall — with some specific callouts for food and beverage — and explore what organizations can do to improve talent attraction, retention and workforce stability.

CPG Industry Overview

The U.S. consumer packaged goods industry is expected to see moderate growth through 2033, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 3.5%. Historically, this has been a sector defined by relatively steady, predictable demand; one where success has depended less on volume expansion and more on product innovation and operational execution.

That operating model is under strain. CPG leaders now manage a growing number of SKUs, shorter product life cycles and expanding omnichannel distribution requirements. Each of these pressures adds friction across manufacturing, fulfillment and supply chain operations.

When volume growth is limited, agility becomes the primary differentiator — and agility depends on a skilled, engaged workforce.

The Ongoing Talent Shortage

What many leaders experience daily on the plant floor is confirmed by industry research: skilled labor remains hard to find. For example, in ManpowerGroup’s consumer goods industry report, 73% of employers report difficulty finding skilled talent. The competition is stiffest for skilled operators and technicians. Another industry report found that 95% of CPG companies have difficulty hiring for these roles.

The Consequences of Understaffing

When leaders talk about “the talent challenge” in consumer goods, it can sound like a single problem with a single fix. In practice, understaffing is a system of interconnected pressures that affect operations leaders, plant management, supply chain and procurement teams alike.

Staffing Gaps Create Cascading Effects Across the Operation:

• Production – The impact appears first on the plant floor. According to a 2025 report from The Workforce Institute at UKG, 89% of manufacturers are experiencing productivity losses tied to staffing and skills gaps. When teams are stretched thin, throughput slows and consistency declines.
• Delivery – As production falters, distribution suffers. Manufacturers struggle to meet service-level commitments, creating delays that make it harder to recover lost ground, much less support growth or expansion.
• Costs – Understaffing drives up overtime, recruitment, training and compliance costs. Penalties tied to late or missed deliveries add further erosion to already-tight margins.

Key Workforce Realities in Consumer Goods

Below are the workforce realities I see most often when supporting consumer goods operations, including food and beverage, and why they matter strategically.

1. High-volume, highly variable labor demand

CPG organizations operate on calendars shaped by retailers, promotions, seasonality and shifting consumer behavior, creating demand spikes that rarely align with traditional hiring timelines. The strategic risk isn’t simply being short-staffed; it’s becoming reactive.

Manufacturers estimate that production lines are under- or over staffed 62% of the time, leaving just 11 days per month staffed appropriately.

Clearly, workforce planning needs to be treated as a core operational capability, with scalable labor pipelines and scenario-planning for peak periods. In food and beverage, this discipline is critical, as delays can result in spoilage, rework or lost retail slots.

2. Tight productivity pressures

Lean operations and aggressive productivity targets place pressure on every stage of the talent life cycle, from screening to onboarding, to day-to-day coaching. When any link breaks, productivity issues quickly surface as quality variability, absenteeism or turnover.

Importantly, productivity is no longer just an efficiency metric; it’s a retention metric. Workers stay when expectations are clear, training is effective and support is consistent.

3. Elevated safety and ergonomic risks

High-speed lines, repetitive motion, lifting and multi-shift operations create inherent safety exposure. In food and beverage environments, there are additional risks: wet floors, temperature extremes, sharp tools and sanitation requirements.

These risks increase when staffing is unstable, especially among short-tenure workers. High-performing operations treat safety as a performance enabler, reinforcing standards through repeatable onboarding and consistent leadership presence.

4. Compressed wage-to-markup tolerance

Margins are tight across CPG, and labor economics sit squarely at the center. When wages lag local market reality, recruiting slows, turnover rises and quality erodes — often before leaders realize what’s happening.

The strategic shift is transparency: aligning workforce models with real labor-market conditions and using levers like shift differentials, skill premiums and targeted sourcing rather than relying solely on base wage adjustments.

5. Multi-shift coverage and attendance challenges

Night, weekend, and rotating shifts expand capacity, but they also widen the distance between leadership and the workforce. Engagement drops off-shift, communication gaps grow and attendance volatility increases.

In food and beverage, attendance fluctuations can disrupt sanitation schedules, QA coverage, and production sequencing, quickly putting throughput at risk. High-performing operations treat off-shift coverage as a leadership discipline, not an afterthought.

6. Rapid onboarding with complex skill demands

When understaffed, the temptation is to onboard new employees ASAP. But when important training is missed or rushed — or when job expectations shift without reset — misalignment happens fast.

Faster starts only create value when readiness is real; otherwise, speed simply transfers cost into rework, safety incidents, and early exits.

7. Uneven operational maturity

Operational maturity varies widely across CPG sites. Some have disciplined training frameworks and clear supervision; others rely heavily on tribal knowledge and informal processes. When maturity is uneven, workforce outcomes become uneven, especially at scale.

Standardization matters. Not every site needs identical processes, but every site needs repeatable fundamentals: onboarding, safety reinforcement and stable performance expectations.

8. Industry-wide high turnover

Turnover has long challenged consumer goods, but today it has become a structural constraint. Physical demands, rigid schedules, and wage competition all contribute. Consumer goods workers are the most likely (39%) of any industry to say they plan to voluntarily leave their employer.

Leading organizations are shifting from isolated retention initiatives to retention design — building roles, schedules, coaching models and mobility pathways that support sustained performance.

Why Onsite Workforce Management Has Become a Strategic Lever

As CPG operations grow more complex, workforce distance matters. When recruiting, onboarding, safety reinforcement and performance management are handled remotely, small gaps can quickly turn into operational risk.

This is why onsite workforce management has gained traction. Embedding workforce leadership directly within operations improves visibility, shortens feedback loops, and aligns labor decisions with production realities. Instead of reacting after issues emerge, onsite teams can anticipate demand shifts, reinforce expectations in real time and address challenges before output is disrupted.

However, onsite presence alone isn’t enough. Without governance and shared best practices, onsite models can become siloed or overly dependent on individual managers.

How Manpower’s Onsite Center of Excellence Brings Stability

Manpower’s Center of Excellence (COE) is the core of our onsite management solution for CPG. Designed to bring discipline, consistency and scalability to environments defined by volatility, the COE embeds workforce expertise into day-to-day operations.

The COE approach helps stabilize performance across sourcing, onboarding, safety and workforce management — while maintaining the flexibility needed to respond to demand swings.

At its core, the COE model introduces governance and operational rigor where variability often undermines results.

• Standardized onboarding and training improve readiness and reduce early attrition.
• Ongoing performance and safety reinforcement support productivity without increasing risk.
• Real-time labor market insight helps align expectations around pay, availability and attendance before gaps become disruptions.

Most importantly, the COE shifts workforce management from reactive to intentional — giving leaders better visibility into workforce stability and performance trends, and enabling faster, more confident decisions.

Success in Practice

One multinational consumer goods client faced weekly turnover as high as 25% in some locations. After implementing Manpower’s onsite COE recommendations, including wage adjustments, supervisory layers, assignment length changes and safety improvements, the organization achieved:

• 91.33% fill rate
• Turnover reduced from 5.43% to 3.69%
• $76,000 in savings in under one year

Take the Next Step

If these challenges resonate, a conversation about workforce strategy is a practical place to start. Let’s connect.

About the Author

Kelli Heath Stanton, Head of U.S. Sales, Manpower

Kelli is responsible for driving growth, strengthening client partnerships and aligning sales execution with the evolving needs of today’s labor market. She brings a pragmatic, customer-focused approach to helping organizations solve complex workforce challenges, from scaling talent to adapting to rapid market change. Known for her collaborative leadership style, she is deeply committed to building high-performing teams and fostering alignment across sales, operations and clients.

Passionate about leadership development, growth strategy and the future of work, Kelli regularly contributes to conversations on how organizations can better connect people, opportunity and performance in a changing world.