According to Dave Morris, a director of labour management software developer Vitesse, fulfilment centre and logistic jobs need to be made more attractive.
Office for National Statistics data showed that in July 2021, vacancies in the logistics sector were 338% higher than they were pre-Covid. In an article for SHD Logistics, Morris pointed out that the Covid pandemic and Brexit are not the only reasons for staff shortages.
For some time, the number of young people entering the workforce has been falling. Low wages and poor working conditions deter many. A recent survey by a robot picking manufacturer found that only 8% of warehouse staff see themselves working until retirement in the logistics sector.
Automating picking and packing using robots is a way to decrease the number of workers needed in a warehouse, but full automation is expensive and beyond the budget of many small to medium-size businesses. Most warehouses will continue to rely on manually operated warehousing packing equipment and picking trolleys.
Raising the hourly rate is one solution, but many warehouse owners work at very low profit margins and cannot afford a substantial wage raise for every worker. Morris said that the solution is a performance-related wage scheme that is self-funded through increased productivity. These schemes require labour management software to measure the productivity of every employee.
Morris claimed that organisations that manage their workers with fairness and intelligence will attract and maintain workers, which creates a competitive advantage over companies with poorer labour practices.
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