The American Bakers Association (ABA) and the American Society of Baking (ASB) have released their joint study, 2022 Workforce Gap in U.S. Commercial Baking: Recruitment and Retention Challenges & Best Practices. Conducted in October 2021 and February 2022 by Cypress Research, the study assesses challenges and best practices for workforce recruitment and retention in the U.S. commercial baking industry. 

An update to 2016’s Workforce Gap in U.S. Commercial Baking: Trends, Challenges and Solutions, the 2022 findings help baking employers better understand the current retention trends for hourly, skilled production employees and how they have changed in the past five years. 

The key findings and opportunities discovered in the study were presented at ABA’s Annual Convention. 

“ABA and ASB Members can use this study as another resource to find opportunities in their workforce retention efforts,” said Robb MacKie, ABA president and CEO. “The results show specific action items our industry’s employers could consider implementing to help retain workers.” 

“The information in this study will help ASB and ABA Members understand specifically how the industry’s retention best practices have changed in the past five years and what the next five years might hold,” said Kent Van Amburg, ASB executive director. “Equipped with these findings, companies can discover potential retention strategies for their business.”  

The 2022 Workforce Gap in U.S. Commercial Baking: Recruitment Trends & Best Practices study was produced jointly by the American Bakers Association and the American Society of Baking, in conjunction with Cypress Research, as a resource for ABA and ASB Members. 

ASB members can obtain the full study by contacting Kent Van Amburg at kvanamburg@asbe.org. ABA members can access the full study soon on AmericanBakers.org.