For any business, inventory is the biggest expense. But the second biggest expense is the workforce, and efficient management of people is more difficult than managing the inventory and products. Especially manpower management and planning for warehouse and logistics systems can get tricky and challenging. The workforce takes up about 50-70% of the warehouse budget. It should be a top priority for people to manage the workforce efficiently to make the best of the capital spent on it and get the highest returns. So today, we’ll talk about some tips on managing manpower and planning things in a rather strategic way.
1. Be Diligent in Hiring the Right People
Some companies take this part more seriously than others, and the ones who do, have positive results to show for it. This is the single most productive way to increase turnover and improve efficiency. At every level, you need workers that are dedicated and care about their job. One good rule to focus on is hiring on the basis of attitude and not skills. There are plenty of skilled people on the job market, but the people with the right attitude will care enough about their job to be their best versions, no matter what the challenges are. These are the kinds of people who will take your company to new heights.
2. Be Mindful of Developing Better DC Managers and Supervisors
Your distribution centres have a high monopoly in terms of impact. Inside these distribution centres, there is a disproportionate impact that the supervisors and managers have on the productivity of distribution centres. Associates are happier when you have a manager who is good at his job. For the logistics workforce, these mid-level managers are who represent your company. So for the workers to be invested in their job, you must take your time and hire good managers and supervisors with great communication and management skills.
3. Prioritizing Workforce Retention
Workforce retention is necessary, especially in the logistics department. The more time your workers spend repeating your processes, the more they get adjusted to it. When associates keep rotating in and out of the company, a lot of resources, time, and capital is spent in training new people and replenishing the roles of the old workers. It could take some time to get new workers trained and effective at par with the productivity levels of old experienced workers. Thus, strategies and plans must be put in place to prioritize workforce retention.
4. Promotions from Within the Company
The thing about the logistics business is that it is very customized to every single company. Companies tend to look at outside hires whenever new upper management or mid-management positions open up and look for professionals with years of experience and impressive resumes. But it is always a better option to promote a lower-level worker who has been with the company for several years to that position. There should be programs in place to nurture your workforce to grow and take on more responsibility if needed. If nothing else, they’ll be better at their job.
5. Measurement of Individual Productivity
Data can never be a bad thing, especially if it is organized well and actionable. One such metric is productivity percentage which can be tracked using many software systems. Using this data, you can create an air of strictness without any strict actions, where workers will always keep a constant check on their performance. Doing this encourages everyone to perform better because they know that there will be statistics involved in their performance reviews. On the other side of the coin, companies can have a more detailed look at what holes to plug and which area needs more attention to improve productivity.