What can you learn from the growing pains of e-commerce logistics?
As the world of warehousing, e-commerce and fulfilment continues to grow – from the likes of the US giants to the familiar doorstep deliveries such as Ocado – more of the UK workforce are involved than ever.
These large distribution sites can be overlooked due to their locations, and their 24/7/365 packing and distribution services are taken for granted by 87% of us who buy goods online.
As the sector grows, and with increased media focus and scrutiny, what are some of the issues?
A common misconception is that these larger businesses are completely software-driven, but people are often still at the core of these businesses. In fact, entirely robotic warehouses remain anomalies.
When working in a high-risk industry with 300,000 workers suffering from back pain, employee safety needs to be at the centre without the unnecessary multiplication of processes, spreadsheets, and paper.
How can the sector ensure their employees stay safe, get paid on time, receive appraisals and continued career progression support?
Problems facing the industry currently:
- Progression is delayed when information is scarce or patchy: e.g. how would new Manual Handling information from the HSE be communicated?
- How does everyone know information is received and acted upon? Perhaps area managers visit to check, but is that a good use of time, and is it always timely?
- Can management properly see the company-wide picture of employee satisfaction, risk assessments, and compliance if all sites do things differently?
- Are people being treated consistently and retained so talent stays in the business?
- Are the values of the company being reflected in day-to-day workplace culture, and how is that being demonstrated to everyone to make the organisation an even better place to work?
What is at risk?
- The reputation of the business
- Employee health, safety and physical wellbeing
- Heavy non-compliance fines (even prison sentences have resulted from HSE prosecutions)
- Higher than necessary employee churn, leading to increased recruitment and training costs
Reset and reassess
However strong your processes may be, there is always room for improvement.
- How are teams and departments working together well, and where have departmental silos developed?
- What good practices can be taken across the organisation, and what isn’t so good?
- Does integration feel strong, including system integration, or could it be rethought?
- What does successful change look like for your organisation: is it through a roadmap of incremental enhancements to add up over time, or totally revolutionary?
- What’s holding you back from achieving your integrations and improvements?
- Are your staff rewarded and praised for going above and beyond or simply consistently achieving?
Contact us if you have questions about any of these issues, or would like to speak to a member of our team.
