Dealing with employment has never been an easy task for supply chain leaders. Recent challenges like the Great Resignation (also known as the Great Renegotiation), quiet quitting (workers doing the bare minimum), and the "soft life" (people that frequently start, stop, and start a job again) are causing headaches across the supply chain industry and beyond. What can supply chain and logistics companies do to navigate these challenges? During a roundtable educational session at the 2022 CSCMP EDGE Conference, Brian Gibson, executive director of Auburn University's Center for Supply Chain Innovation, along with 40+ attendees, offered strategies to help address current and future labor shortages.
The biggest common denominator that Gibson noted when he asks workers why they have left a job is a person's direct supervisor/boss. Who you put in front of your new hires makes a world of difference when it comes to attrition. Gibson and session attendees agreed that organizations should do more to have the right leaders on-board new hires.
The first 90 days are the most critical. One company conducted a recent retention experiment with their newly hired drivers. They had half of the new hires work with drivers based on seniority while the other half on-boarded with drivers (regardless of their years of experience) who were excited to work specifically with new employees. It came as no surprise when 90 days later the enthusiastic leaders retained a higher percentage of their new hires than those drivers who were chosen by seniority to on-board the new people.
Yet even if you have your best people recruiting and on-boarding new employees, there are other strategic to consider as you tackle your labor and talent issues. Here's a snapshot of the ideas presented during the roundtable discussion:
Academic institutions can do a better job of preparing students for the workforce by requiring internships and giving students experiences that can't be replicated in the classroom.
Take the time to create a culture within your organization. For example, align the culture in your warehouses to match the corporate culture. This makes new hires feel like they are a part of a team no matter where they work within your organization.
Consider a mindset shift. Gibson suggested, for example, that many companies should change their perception that they will hire lifetime warehouse workers. It's important to plan for obsolescence and turnover.
Let go of people that are not the right fit, even when you really need positions filled. For one company, retention increased when managers let workers go that could not learn the hourly job well after 30 days. Those workers who remained were thankful and let management know that their work environment was much happier with coworkers that could master the job training.
Consistently ask for feedback from employees. Find out what they need to do their jobs efficiently and effectively. Engagement is key to retention.
Consider a "day in the life" program, which is an opportunity for potential hires to experience what a specific job will be like before you hire them. Giving people visibility up front is a valuable tool.
To attract younger hourly workers, make sure to show them the benefits beyond the hourly wage. For some jobs it might be a discount, robust benefits packages, or guaranteed vacation time. One company gave everyone a free Spotify account, which was a huge hit with the younger crowd. Also consider giving hourly workers a "path to supervisor" pathway. Not everyone will take advantage but showing an associate a path might motivate them to stay longer and set goals for advancement.
Lead by example. One company requires all supervisors to spend 2-3 days a month working in a facility doing the jobs their employees do. When you actively experience what your employees experience during their workday, you not only understand what challenges your people face, you build trust.
Whatever the challenges you face within your supply chain when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, Gibson suggests that you remember to be relatable, give your workers value and purpose and proper training, and don't be afraid to get creative.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.