how to attract logistics workers

Ecommerce has experienced significant growth since the pandemic began. In fact, global ecommerce sales grew by 27.6% in 2020. This growth was not limited to just one global market, but nearly all markets experienced some level of growth during the pandemic. For example,

• Latin American ecommerce sales grew by 36.7% in 2020
• North American markets saw a 31.8% growth in ecommerce sales in 2020
• Central and Eastern Europe ecommerce sales increased by 29.1% in 2020
• Asian-Pacific ecommerce markets grew by 26.4% in 2020

Even with the pandemic starting to subside, global ecommerce sales are expected to grow by 14.3% in 2021.

As the demand for supply chain services increases, the need to fill open positions becomes more dire. Some companies are taking steps to invest in more workplace automation technology to fill in the gap. While this strategy may reduce the overall demand for workers, it will increase the demand for these companies to hire skilled workers who are capable of working side-by-side with this technology.

Ultimately, the global shortage of skilled workers is making it extremely difficult for logistics employers to recruit top talent at a time when filling open positions is more important than ever.

While attracting, recruiting and retaining high-quality candidates may be more difficult in today’s competitive job market, it’s not impossible. In fact, with the right resources and hiring strategies, supply chain companies can make great strides in recruiting the talent it needs to be successful in a post-pandemic market.

At Randstad, our top priority is to help clients not only find talent but to find the right talent. We have identified the top three tips for attracting logistics workers, despite the current competitive job market and notable skills shortage.

offer competitive salary and benefits packages

If your company is struggling to attract and recruit skilled workers, one of the first steps you should take is to reexamine your current compensation package. According to our Employer Brand Research 2021 report, 62% of today’s workers consider salaries and benefits as the most important factor when looking for new job opportunities.

This accounts for more than two-thirds of the job market, including both active and passive candidates. If you want to attract these candidates, you must offer a competitive compensation package that includes optimal salaries and meaningful benefits.

competitive salaries

As with any market, as the demand increases so do costs. In this particular example, an increased demand for skilled workers equates to higher salaries. Employers in the supply chain industry must come to realize that the job market has shifted.

Today’s candidates are more informed than perhaps at any time in history. They have no problem researching companies, reading reviews and comparing salaries. The reality is that if your company does not offer competitive wages, the most qualified workers will simply look elsewhere. Even worse, without a competitive compensation package, your company may risk losing its current workers as well.

The good news is that higher salaries don’t always mean increased costs. When done right, your company may actually end up saving money through reduced absenteeism and overtime hours, by offering competitive wages. The trick is to determine the optimal salary for your specific market. Salaries that are too low may make it impossible for your company to attract top talent, while salaries that are too high might prevent the company from investing in other crucial areas.

It’s important to use in-depth market research analysis to calculate the optimal salary offerings for your company. This tactic will enable your business to remain competitive in today’s job market and entice prospective candidates to apply for your open positions.

meaningful benefits

Competitive salaries are just one part of the employee compensation package. Benefits also play a major role. In fact, the pandemic has spurred workers across the globe to reevaluate what types of benefits and perks are most important to them. It’s crucial for employers to understand this shift and to provide the types of benefits that are most meaningful to their current workers as well as potential candidates.

Here’s a look at some of the leading benefits employees want.

work-life balance

The pandemic brought new light to the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. As many people found themselves learning to work from home, caring for elderly parents and homeschooling their children, they recognized the need for flexibility in the workplace.

While remote working can be difficult for some logistics employers, such as those in warehousing and transportation, it’s important to look for ways to help employees manage a better work-life balance. Perks, such as increased paid time off and shift swapping, are just some extra benefits employers can offer.

health care

With more than 178 million people directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s only natural that candidates are putting a greater emphasis on employer-sponsored health care and supplemental insurance options. This benefit is particularly important for candidates seeking employment in countries without state-regulated health coverage.

While health care costs seem to continuously increase year after year, employers should take steps to compare their options and provide their employees with various supplemental health care options or competitive health care packages that cover medical, dental and vision.  

career development

Our employer brand research also revealed that more than 50% of the global workforce considers career development a key driver when seeking new job opportunities. This percentage jumps to 57% for workers aged 25 to 34.

Implementing a career development program can not only increase your potential to attract high-quality candidates, but it can also reduce your need for skilled workers. With the right training program in place, you can work toward closing the skills gap within your company. Best of all, a comprehensive career development program can also improve retention rates across the board.

strengthen your employer brand

One of the best things your company can do to ensure it stands out in the fast-paced, growing logistics industry is to strengthen its employer brand. Today’s candidates have access to more information about employers than ever before. Between social media, employers’ dedicated career pages and online employer review boards, candidates can gather unique insights from both current and former employers.

Unfortunately, just one negative online review could prevent some of the best candidates from applying to your open positions. In fact, studies show that 75% of jobseekers take the employer’s brand reputation into consideration before applying for a job.

These statistics make it crucial for companies to take proactive measures by building a strong and positive employer brand. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. conduct an employer brand audit

It would be nearly impossible to strengthen your employer brand without first taking an honest assessment of your current brand. Conduct an online search of your brand to identify any problem areas and utilize pulse surveys to better understand how your current workforce views your brand. You should also perform in-depth market research to evaluate the status of your competition.

With this information, your company should be able to identify two or three areas of improvement. Use strategic planning to tackle these issues. For example, if your research detects several negative employer reviews online, take strategic measures to counter these negative reviews with positive comments from current workers.

2. develop a strong Employee Value Proposition

One of the key components of any employer brand strategy is the development of a strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP). An effective EVP simply explains why a candidate would want to work for your company. It should clearly define what benefits and perks the company provides its employees in exchange for their skills and talents.

It’s crucial for your EVP to be relevant, transparent and accurate. When an employer’s EVP aligns with the overall company values and goals, it can not only improve its recruitment efforts but can also help to reduce turnover rates by enticing employees to stay with the company.

3. encourage employees to be brand ambassadors

Don’t underestimate the value of your current employees or their power to be strong brand ambassadors for the company. According to recent studies, more than 65% of job seekers trust employee reviews more than any other source when it comes to understanding the company culture.

You can use marketing techniques, such as storytelling, to enable your top employees to highlight what it’s like to work for your company. Additionally, employee referrals provide some of the best leads to prospective candidates.

4. market your brand

Recruitment is definitely not a post-it and forget it process. Instead, it requires a planned marketing strategy that ensures your job posting reaches your target audience. Much like marketing to consumers, recruiters must know where and how to reach their ideal candidate pool.

Use various posting options, including online job boards, social media and professional association boards to extend your marketing reach even further. In addition, be sure to develop a dedicated career web page to provide interested candidates with more information about the company’s goals, values and brand.
 

invest in HR tech

The complexities of managing a workforce in the logistics industry have only intensified during the pandemic. Companies can alleviate some of this stress by utilizing the tools, resources and services offered by workforce management solutions. Fortunately, these solutions are known to increase retention rates and boost productivity.

These aren’t the only benefits workforce management solutions offer. Here’s a look at some more.

improved hiring outcomes

HR technology offered by staffing companies is specifically designed to help employers attract and recruit the right candidates for the right jobs. This technology can filter through applicants by searching for candidates that match the company’s set criteria. For example, Relevate Reference helps companies to secure talent faster by speeding up the reference checking process.

When partnering with a staffing agency, such as Randstad, your company can instantly gain access to our HR tech tool and a talent pool of qualified, pre-screened candidates. HR partners can even help companies fill temporary and seasonal positions.

simplified workforce scheduling process

As demands in the logistics market continue to fluctuate from week to week, the need for flexible scheduling remains great. Workforce scheduling solutions can help to simplify this process by providing a clear overview of all available workers and an easy-to-use scheduling software.

Depending on your company’s unique needs, workforce scheduling solutions, such as those offered by Randstad Inhouse Services, can even provide on-site support to manage shift workers and handle the scheduling process as well as many other day-to-day workforce management tasks.

faster assimilation

Some workforce management service companies, including Randstad, can even handle the onboarding process for logistics employers. This process includes new hire orientation, required training and assimilation efforts.

Allowing these professionals to follow the candidates through to the onboarding process can improve both retention and productivity rates. In fact, according to our Randstad USA research, a strong onboarding process can improve new-hire retention rates by more than 80%.These improved retention rates can also lessen the stress for logistics companies to recruit new talent.

Most experts predict that the staffing shortage is only going to intensify in the upcoming years. It’s vital for employers, especially those in the logistics industry where the competition to recruit top talent is high, to take steps now to prepare their business for the post-pandemic job market.

Find these tips useful? We've compiled a list with a summary of our top tips to attract logistics workers, so you can keep them on hand for quick reference.