commitment to training during hard financial
times. That is a mistake. This strategy saves
money but stifles individual growth. Second,
many companies use internal “professional”
trainers to deliver content. That is another
mistake. Such individuals often train across a
broad range of topics and are not expert in any
of them. This is not a place to go cheap. Either
bring experts in, or send the employees to outside programs that will provide the educational
experience necessary for them to thrive in the
industry.
Turnover at the top. Another factor that may
contribute to the industry’s chronic problem
of finding and keeping talented managers is
that many large 3PLs have seen considerable
turnover at the top of the company. That was
clearly evidenced in the responses to one of our
annual surveys, when we found that the CEOs
who participated had been in their jobs an
average of just 3. 5 years at the time the surveys
were conducted. The issue of turnover at the
top is intensifying as the industry continues
to consolidate and grow through acquisitions.
Such change introduces a significant degree of
flux into those organizations, and it often leads
to dramatic changes in company strategies and
operations. That can be disconcerting to managers who are often uncertain as to what the
change in leadership will mean for them and
for their careers.
Poaching management talent. One final mar-
ket reality is that there is substantial poaching
of management talent within the 3PL industry.
In this year’s surveys, the large 3PLs reported
that, on average, 45 percent of their new hires
come from other 3PLs. In some cases that fig-
ure was closer to two-thirds. Much could be
written about the possible reasons for this, but
that is beyond the scope of this article.
WHAT ARE 3PLS DOING ABOUT TALENT?
In this year’s surveys the CEOs were also asked
if their companies had instituted a variety of
human resource management (HRM) programs aimed at finding and keeping talented
managers. Their responses on that topic are
shown in Figure 2.
As shown, the majority of the companies that
participated in the survey have active university
recruiting programs, formal training programs
for new employees, and mentoring programs.
But less than half of them offer job-rotation
programs for new employees, and relatively few
offer profit-sharing and employee stock-ownership programs.
Among the other related steps taken by some
large 3PLs during the past several years were:
x Expansion of internal recruiting efforts
x Use of outside firms to assist with recruiting
x Identification of “fast track” managers who
are given expanded training
x Introduction of new coaching, training, and
mentoring programs
x Development of succession programs across
regions
x Institution of companywide programs
emphasizing best practices, “stay” interviews,
and regular employee roundtables.
[FIGURE 2] 3PL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS AND
INITIATIVES
Programs/initiatives Number of respondents out of total ( 25) reporting
that program/initiative
University recruiting program 14
Formal training program for new employees 19
Initial job-rotation program for new employees 12
Formal mentoring program 15
Profit-sharing program 10
Employee stock-ownership program 8
SOURCE: 20TH ANNUAL 3PL CEO REPORT, 2013
