These are most often people who are the first to see that the process breaks, that the same delay is repeated, that the material is late, that the tool is searched, that the plan has nothing to do with the real situation and that every week we talk about the same problem.
Such a worker usually doesn't shut up right away. He says first. Then suggest. Then explain it again. Sometimes three times the same thing. But if he gets an answer every time „ we'll see“, „ it's not the moment now“, „ we've been doing this for years& # 8220; or if the proposal just goes into the drawer, he learns a very clear lesson: his opinion doesn't change anything.
In a serious system, the proposal of the worker is not an ornament on the board. If someone who does work eight hours a day says that something is bothering them, that they are wasting their time, that they have to go around, search, wait or improvise, that is not a complaint. This is information from the process. If the company ignores this information, it does not just ignore the worker. It's a waste of time, money and trust.
The biggest mistake of management is to interpret the silence of the best worker as calm. Maybe he's not talking anymore because everything's fine. But very often he doesn't talk anymore because he gave up. It's still working. He's still finishing the job. It still holds quality. He no longer believes that anything will change.
When a man like that leaves one day, the company is surprised. And you shouldn't. Quitting is just the last step. The Problem started much earlier, when the best worker stopped saying what was wrong.