The digital world has made the possibility of having everything delivered at your door step. This, however has created new set of challenges to companies which move the goods across the world.
Yes, the logistics providers irrespective of scale are faced with enormous challenge of keeping up with the ever increasing demand. One of the critical pain points in their business is retaining the talented truck drivers. Truck driver shortage is an universal phenomenon and some of the interesting approaches adopted by big players like DHL are inspired by practices from other industries.
Relay concept similar to athletics racing
One factor that has discouraged young people from entering the industry, and contributes to excessive turnover, is the need for drivers to be away from their home and families for extended periods. Adopting a relay approach to long routes in which multiple drivers transport the freight for one leg before returning home each night can minimize this. When forced to choose between a carrier that requires them to be away from home for days at a time versus one that ensures they can be home each night, most drivers will choose the latter. Interestingly similar problem solving pattern can be found in nature in the way ants carry the foods and relay to next member of their network. This phenomenon is also widely studied as ‘Swarm logic’.
Job rotation inspired by Retail
Retail industry is well known for providing opportunities to staff to move across different roles- right from retail store officer all the way to category management etc. Taking cues
from the industry, logistics providers are encouraging warehouse staff to take up lucrative truck driver roles.
DHL, for example, through its Dock-to-Driver, identifies warehouse workers that have shown the stability and commitment to advance in their careers and invests in them to allow them to make the transition from the warehouse to driving.
ResonVate Thought
Tackling the challenge of retaining truck drivers through practices in sports and retail
| I would like to ResonVate | |
| with ideas on | people in the forefront,staying competitive |
| which can be applied in | employee retention, customer loyalty, employee engagement |
| in areas like | Technology, Mining, Manufacturing, Utilities |
Reference
https://www.logistics.dhl/th-en/home/our-divisions/supply-chain/thought-leadership/articles/overcoming-talent-gap.html
https://colmobrienmotivation.com/relay/ (Image courtesy)
