BY TOBY GOOLEY, SENIOR EDITOR
HUMAN RESOURCES ISSUES IN LOGISTICS
ASK PROFESSIONALS IN LOGISTICS, WAREHOUSING,
and material handling what’s keeping them up at night,
and you’re likely to get a simple one-word answer: people.
With the baby boomers who shaped modern industry retiring in droves, and younger folks who
have grown up in a very different social,
educational, and technological milieu
replacing them in the work force,
companies are finding it difficult
to attract, develop, and retain the
right talent—not just to fill individual jobs, but also to manage
and lead their businesses. What
worked in the past may no longer be effective; what’s needed
now are human resources (HR)
strategies that speak to today’s
work force. To learn more, we
asked HR executives at three companies that are recognized leaders in
human resources management to tell us
about the strategies they’ve found effective.
REACH OUT AND FIND SOMEONE
To attract potential new hires, you have to
let them know what your company has to
offer them and what sets it apart from other
employers. You can do that most effectively
by “branding” your company, says Tom Luers,
senior director, corporate human resources at
Intelligrated, a Mason, Ohio-based company
that designs, manufactures, integrates, and installs
material handling automation solutions. “Branding your
company means showing why the company is exciting,” he
says. “If you have an innovative company that’s growing,
the best people will want to hitch their wagon to it.”
One way branding manifests itself, Luers continues,
is through a company website and social media, includ-
ing Facebook, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn. But anything
you do online must have real substance behind it.
“You can have sexy, glitzy branding, but if it
doesn’t resonate with the job seeker you
want, you’ll miss an opportunity,” he
explains. Instead of beautiful scenery
or stock photos of attractive models,
show real employees working at
real jobs and highlight what your
company actually does, especially
what’s cutting-edge and innovative. “You have to have a good
story to tell about your strategy
and products,” Luers says.
A diverse work force has many
different ways of communicating, so effectively reaching today’s
job seekers requires adapting to their
preferences, says Eric Stewart, group
director of recruiting at the Miami-based
logistics and transportation giant Ryder. To
a large degree, that means making use of websites, e-mail, texting, and social media. Ryder
also holds an online career fair that’s been quite
successful. But Stewart cautions against buying
into the stereotype that only young, college-edu-cated people are adept at social media and other
means of electronic communication. “Even
those demographic groups that are not seen as
tech-savvy are using smartphones,” he observes.
“You can no longer look at it strictly along generational or
economic lines.”
Although electronic communication is a given nowadays,
Stewart warns against letting technology “dehumanize”
specialreport
HR strategies
that WORK
When it comes to attracting, developing, and retaining talent, what worked in the past may no
longer be effective. Here are some human resources strategies that speak to today’s work force.
