Can AI and the Mentor Mindset Solve Your Employee Retention Challenge?

The production line keeps moving, but you’re short three workers again this week. Your floor supervisor sees a skilled machinist — thirty years on the job — rush through quality checks to meet the day’s quota. Should he say something? Risk pushback from someone who was running this equipment before he was born? So he stays quiet. Parts move forward without proper inspection. By week’s end, you’re explaining to your best customer why their delivery will be late and why some components didn’t meet spec.

This scenario is all too familiar across manufacturing. With unemployment near historic lows and competition for skilled workers high, many plants face annual turnover rates of 70 percent or higher. But what if the problem isn’t finding good workers? What if it’s how you’re managing the ones you have?

The Enforcer Trap

Dr. David Yeager, a behavioral scientist at the University of Texas, has spent years studying workplace motivation. His research identified a critical mistake that drives employees away: what he calls the “Enforcer Mindset.” Supervisors with this mindset set high standards, which manufacturing demands. But they pair those standards with low support. They focus on catching mistakes, enforcing rules and controlling behavior through criticism and consequences.

These managers aren’t jerks. They’re under pressure and default to a negative feedback model. But this approach backfires, especially with younger workers. When critical feedback threatens their sense of competence and respect, it doesn’t motivate improvement. It triggers disengagement. Workers shut down, do the bare minimum and start browsing job listings on their phones during lunch break.

A Better Approach: The “Mentor Mindset”

Dr. Yeager offers an alternative he calls the “Mentor Mindset.” It’s simple but powerful: maintain high standards while providing high support.

Think about the best supervisor or trainer you ever had. They held you accountable and expected excellence. But they also made you feel they were invested in your success. They coached you toward improvement instead of just pointing out failures. They believed in your potential to grow.

That’s the Mentor Mindset in action. When machinists, assemblers and quality technicians feel genuinely supported and appreciated, they deliver better work. They take ownership of their roles. They stay longer. Your best managers do this. But how do you share that knowledge and experience across the factory?

How AI Scales That Mentor Mindset

Here’s where technology enters the picture. I’ll use a real-world example from an industry with even higher labor challenges, fast food. One restaurant chain faced high turnover challenges and partnered with behavioral scientists to create an “agentic AI” coaching tool for their managers. This was a mobile phone app that made it easy for managers to ask questions in everyday language and provided customized guidance based on proven behavioral science principles.

Scientific and “Real-World” Training

The tool was trained on Dr. Yeager’s research about motivation, respect and effective feedback. It was also trained on real examples from their best managers, who naturally embodied the Mentor Mindset. Supervisors asked questions anytime from their smartphones and received specific guidance grounded in both psychology and proven practices. Immediate advice on what to do to correct the problem in a way that makes the worker feel respected and appreciated. A formal pilot study with control groups was launched across 30 locations (15 using the solution, 15 not using it), with restaurants carefully paired by comparable performance metrics, and showed promising early results.

The solution saw over 75 percent adoption across 15 locations in the first two months. Attrition dropped by double digits. Workplace morale improved and the managers started applying the Mentor Mindset across their work.

The Need is Enormous

Manufacturing is ripe for the Mentor Mindset, made scalable with AI. Your second-shift supervisor faces a quality issue at eleven o’clock. Instead of defaulting to criticism or avoiding the conversation entirely, he pulls out his phone and asks: “How do I address repeated measurement errors without demotivating my best inspector?” The AI provides guidance based on behavioral science, suggesting he start by asking questions to understand what’s happening, acknowledge the inspector’s usual strong performance and work together on solutions. It’s specific, actionable guidance available exactly when needed.

Practical. Actionable. Essential. Pick Three.

The need for effective management and worker engagement is even higher for manufacturing than in other high-turnover industries like restaurants. Every plant needs to retain hardworking, skilled employees who can operate complex equipment safely, maintain quality standards and adapt to new technologies. The constant churn of training new hires while experienced workers leave creates real costs that impact your bottom line.

The Mentor Mindset offers a practical solution, and technology can enable it to help every leader. Every day, in every shift. It gives every supervisor, regardless of their natural management ability, access to proven behavioral science principles exactly when they face difficult situations. It’s a great example of how AI augments your people and grows their talent.

Engaged Employees Stick Around

When workers feel valued, appreciated and supported in developing their skills, the benefits extend throughout your operation. Retention improves, reducing the substantial costs of recruiting and training. Quality increases as experienced workers stay and refine their skills. Safety performance strengthens when workers feel comfortable raising concerns and supervisors respond constructively. Revenue grows as your operation runs more smoothly with a stable, engaged workforce.

It’s hard enough to get today’s ‘best and brightest’ workers to embrace manufacturing roles. Dr. Yeager’s research gives you a proven strategy to make them feel respected or supported in becoming better at what they do. Address that fundamental need and you address the root cause of turnover.

About the Author

Ray Hsu is Vice President of Industrial AI Solutions for RapidCanvas. He helps companies find ways to leverage AI to drive output and excellence by unlocking human potential. He can be reached at ray_hsu@rapidcanvas.ai.

Rapid Canvas is an MMA Premium Associate Member and has been an MMA member company since September 2025. Visit online: rapidcanvas.ai.