Engaging and Retaining Top Talent in Logistics and Freight Forwarding
Most hiring managers and HR business partners we speak to are always interested in being educated in the specific market we are helping them recruit in, and for us, that is logistics and freight forwarding.
In a highly competitive and candidate-driven market, it can be hard enough to hire someone for your role, let alone retain them long-term and ensure they are consistently engaged in the workplace.
For argument's sake, we will only talk about permanent employees, as dealing with labour-hire is another blog post altogether.
1) Benefits & Perks
Benefits and perks are all well and good, but go the extra mile and tailor them to the specific employee to fit their needs. A competitive package is essential, but options such as flexible working hours or working from home demonstrate you value their needs outside of the workplace as well.
2) Encourage Employee Development
Make sure you have a defined career path for your new hire. You can also encourage professional development outside of work and tuition related to their role in logistics or freight forwarding.
3) Set Clear Expectations and Goals
This is crucial and needs to be defined before the person has even had their first day. Setting clear goals and objectives gives the new employee a sense of purpose and ensures everyone is on the same page from the outset.
4) Foster Open Communication
In our experience working with large enterprises with solid layers of middle and senior management through to smaller/medium-sized businesses with relatively flat structures, the smaller businesses seem to excel in the communication department. Ensure everyone is included in the critical discussions relating to the business so all can work towards a common goal.
5) Have Regular One-on-Ones
We don’t necessarily mean the overly formalized process-driven meeting conducted by HR with a set list of questions. This could even be done over a coffee in a café or by having a drink in a pub (preferably conducted on the first drink). The main goal here is to find out what the business is doing well and what areas need improvement.
If there is anything else that has worked in your business, we’d love to hear your thoughts.