Chinese New Year

For most of 2019, the labor shortage has worsened. With ever increasing e-commerce sales and unemployment at the lowest rates in recent history, the labor gap has only widened over the course of the year.

The increase in labor demand continues to rise, while at the same time warehouse and fulfillment employment is down and turnover rates are higher than they have ever been. A lot is going to have to change for warehouses to continue to meet fulfillment demands, so our team put together some of the things you can do to lessen the blow.

Focus On Your Culture
Take care of the people on your team. At a time when people are leaving their jobs at a higher rate than ever before, it is increasingly important to make the people in your organization feel valued. Create structures and policies that empower your employees, encourage cross-training, and provide opportunities for professional development.

Rewarding and incentivizing your team is a great way to keep engagement and job satisfaction high. Work with your HR team to identify appropriate pay for performance programs you could implement. A happy workforce is a productive workforce. A culture that cares about its people is also great for recruiting and retaining top talent.

Automate, Automate, Automate!
Technology and automation are the direction of the future for the supply chain. These are also advances that you can start implementing now to lessen the gap in the labor shortage.

One of the ways to incorporate automation is by investing in self-guided vehicles to stage and load product.

Another is to move from pallet picking systems to piece picking systems. Full integration to a piece picking system sets the stage for robotic picking that can mechanically pull individual items.

Automation is both a short- and long-term strategy that will offer significant competitive advantage. In the short term, it differentiates your business and shows you as an early adopter. In the long term, it becomes a barrier to entry for your competitors that have failed to adapt and, because of that, have been left behind.

The TOC Logistics team fully understands the struggles of the current labor market and is here as a partner for our customers. Are you interested in learning more? Reach out to a team member today.