30 DC VELOCITY JUNE 2014 www.dcvelocity.com
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an event attended by the company’s top executives, with a
new pickup truck as the grand prize. (Recognition was one
of the “things that would make me happier in my job” cited
by respondents to our 2014 Annual Salary Survey; see the
sidebar for more of the survey takers’ responses.)
Demonstrating that you value and care about employees’
personal well being also plays an important role in reten-
tion. Many companies offer wellness programs with such
features as access to fitness facilities, health and diet advice
and support, and employee assistance programs. Fortna’s
Rest and Recharge program goes a step further by giving
employees extra vacation time every five years. “This is a
business where people are on the road a lot. We don’t want
them to burn out,” Harris says. “They know we want them
to be healthy, not just productive.”
Any retention program depends on employee feedback,
often gathered through surveys conducted by a third party
to maintain confidentiality, for its success. But simply gath-
ering information is not enough. To get genuine benefit
from such research, the experts say, you need to analyze it,
share your findings with employees, and act on it.
Ryder, for one, conducts employee engagement surveys
worldwide. The surveys ask for employees’ opinions about
the company’s leadership and management, commitment
to employees, clarity of direction, recognition and rewards,
The value of this local angle should not be underestimat-
ed, says Bared. “Research has shown that organizations that
do this well address pain points at the local level. This is
where employees have a voice in identifying opportunities
for what we can do to make a better working environment
for them.”
While implementation may be local, corporate-level
executives should listen to what employees have to say and
be involved in developing solutions to problems identified
by the surveys. At Intelligrated, for example, Luers, the
CEO, president/COO, and CFO read and discuss every
response to the company’s annual employee engagement
survey. That’s as it should be, Luers says; employees need
to see that corporate executives—not just HR—hear them
and take their concerns seriously.
MAKE IT PART OF YOUR CULTURE
When it comes to attracting, developing, and retaining
employees, the consistently successful companies are those
that make talent management part of their overall business
strategy and treat it as a high priority, worthy of attention at
all levels of management. The companies mentioned in this
article, for example, religiously include human resources
topics in weekly or monthly leadership meetings.
Another attribute of leading-edge companies is that HR
and hiring managers work closely together to ensure that
everyone’s needs are met and to identify effective solutions
to any problems or gaps in staffing. At Ryder, that has led to
the creation of cross-functional, cross-division committees
and councils that represent management and employees in
such areas as talent management, diversity and inclusion,
and specific jobs (like drivers and technicians).
Ultimately, says Fortna’s Harris, success depends on
making a genuine commitment to employees a part of your
company’s culture. “You can have programs that look great
on paper, but if they’re not based on a set of principles that
people truly believe in, it’s like putting bells and whistles on
a car with no engine,” she says. “Leaders have to ‘walk the
walk’ when it comes to caring about people and supporting
them.”
Editor’s note: Want to learn more about current human
resources concerns in logistics and supply chain management,
and what strategies are proving successful at leading companies? The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals
(CSCMP) has published a three-part series on HR topics.
SCM Talent Development: The Acquire Process, The
Develop Process, and The Advance Process are available for
purchase from CSCMP at http://cscmp.org/products.
