Strategies for Retaining Distribution Employees

In a highly competitive market for employees, warehouse managers and distributors know how important it is to retain knowledgeable staff members. Attracting new hires can be tough, and training takes time and increases the chance of errors that cost money – and can sometimes affect business relationships. In addition, customer-facing employees like drivers develop relationships with the businesses they serve, so experienced, knowledgeable employees add incalculable value as representatives of their businesses.

Cleanlink.com offers a number of strategies to help build a warehouse and distribution environment that can help attract and retain employees. Some are fairly straightforward, like offering a competitive compensation strategy – but pay isn’t the only way to create a great place for employees to work:

• Pay attention to the first three to four months of work for new hires, when they are forming lasting opinions about the work environment. Good training and interaction can help new employees feel secure in their jobs and build loyalty to the team and the business.
• Be creative about task rotation so that employees are learning more than one set of skills. This also means that managers have the flexibility to move workers around easily based on the workload.
• Ensure that the facility is welcoming to employees. A clean, healthy environment signals to employees that they are important to the business.
• Keep the lines of communication open – especially for late shift workers who can sometimes feel that their contributions aren’t visible to the rest of the business.

Read the whole article at Cleanlink.com.