Workforce Focus

Minimizing incidents has been a key goal across the logistics industry for years, and today’s employee-centric organizations also prioritize mental wellbeing as well as proactive, data-driven health and safety (H&S) management aligned closely with the needs of employees.

Physical accidents are, unfortunately, still a continuing reality in logistics operations. Forklift drivers have accidents and employees are injured by pallets or incur musculoskeletal damage from excessive physical stress, resulting in serious challenges both in and outside the workplace, and high costs for employers. Measures to improve H&S are typically taken on the basis of past events. Technology developments can help to prevent incidents proactively before they occur. For example, deploying exoskeletons and using data-based H&S management. Here at DHL, we are testing and piloting artificial intelligence (AI)-driven computer vision solutions such as Protex AI to proactively identify dangerous behavior and hot-spot areas within warehousing before any incident occurs.

Considered equally important as physical health, mental health is no longer a taboo subject and it is particularly important to the younger generation of employees. Research shows 17% of sickness absences are caused by mental health issues and, regardless of whether the cause is work related, logistics managers must appreciate employee mental wellbeing contributes to a satisfied, productive workforce and affects an organization’s ability to attract talent. Training courses, awareness days, and access to mental support services are all useful to logistics providers, along with a range of innovative solutions from startups, including app-based resilience training and comprehensive counseling services to supporting the mental wellbeing of employees.

To foster an organizational culture and strategy that prioritizes employee wellbeing and engagement requires future-forward leadership. To complement existing leadership skills and qualities, logistics managers today must also further develop emotional intelligence, employee autonomy, and change management skills.

Looking at these in turn, emotional intelligence (also known as emotional quotient, EQ) enables logistics leaders to effectively navigate complex and high-pressure situations, build strong relationships with team members, and inspire trust and collaboration. And as technology advances and automation is more prevalent, EQ will become even more important in the logistics industry. Leaders with emotional intelligence will be better equipped to deal with change, adapt to new technologies, and foster a positive and resilient work culture as industry demands evolve. They will nurture a culture of psychological safety and although they may not always know how to do things, they will be able to integrate employee feelings and thoughts into their own actions.

Employee autonomy is a success factor to attract and retain talent, as almost half of employees would give up a 20% pay raise for greater control over how they work. Logistics leaders must adapt to this increasingly important development. Managers should provide individuals with the flexibility and freedom to make decisions and must trust their employees to manage their work in a way that suits their strengths and preferences. With the rise of remote work and the growing emphasis on work-life balance, employee autonomy becomes even more crucial. Logistics leaders will succeed by prioritizing and supporting employee autonomy and empowering their teams to achieve higher levels of productivity, engagement, and satisfaction. Together, this will contribute to the future growth and resilience of the organization.

In addition, constant change management will become an increasingly important attribute of logistics leaders. In a faster-paced world saturated with information, successful leaders will pierce through the noise and guide teams with minimal disruption through periods of great change and consider the individual employees and their needs and wishes. Digitization projects are a good example of this. Leaders need to be clear about the different digital personas (from all-digital/tech-savvy to traditionalist) and their characteristics in the team to succesfully formulate a common way forward and create employee centricity. In this way, a common way forward can be developed, and employee centricity can be created.

In the past, training and upskilling have played an important role in the logistics industry to attract and retain talent; in future, we expect these will become even more important. Employees in logistics operations and offices rate training and development among the top three incentives to stay with their current employer. In this context, more than 60% of employees see their employers as being (co-)responsible for organizing courses. And to remain competitive, logistics organizations must deliver continuous training and upskilling to keep everyone up to date with rapidly changing technical and regulatory conditions.

Companies can achieve employee-centric training and upskilling with a new skill-based learning and development approach. Appropriate in this era of artificial intelligence (AI), digitalization, and automation in which some tasks will be automated, this approach enables thinking beyond traditional job roles to categorize talent based on skills and experience (gained not just at work but also from other life events) and more effectively match individuals with evolving industry needs. This enables organizations to proactively address the skills gap, foster continuous upskilling and reskilling, and ensure an agile workforce that is well-equipped to navigate the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Employer-driven training and development is key to retaining and attracting talent and having a highly developed workforce. To provide employee-centric training and upskilling, all measures must be closely aligned with the needs and skills of employees, not with rigid plans or job positions. There is no one-size-fits-all model for training.

Two organizational workplace values are key to an employee-centric strategy: a technology-forward mentality and a sustainable-forward attitude. These values underpin and support long-established values of leadership and teamwork.

One out of six young employees claim they left a job due to a lack of proper technology. In both the office and the warehouse environment, a technology-forward mentality helps attract and retain talent and has wider impact – a suitable working environment (which includes the right technology) contributes directly to increased productivity. Logistics leaders need to stay on top of technology developments, seeking out and deploying the best digital tools to enable their teams.

Research shows 71% of employment seekers are more likely to apply for and accept jobs with environmentally and socially responsible organizations – and nearly half would accept a lower salary to work for companies with a sustainable-forward attitude. Clearly this is central to attracting and retaining talent. Also, employees are increasingly wary of greenwashing so, to align with these employee expectations, logistics organizations must create tangible and transparent sustainability actions and policies, establishing a culture of trust.