Originally posted by James Allen, Business Development Manager at Personal Group on Linkedin Contact James on LinkedIn

How do you combat the skills shortage within the UK Logistics sector

It is widely reported that there is a huge skills shortage within the logistics industry, so retaining and attracting the best people should sit high up on the priority list. Many sectors of the economy are experiencing skills shortages but logistics has been particularly affected. Key issues that have been identified include: a lack of funding for vocational training; driver medical assessment delays; and, the relative unattractiveness of roles in logistics (Logistics Report 2016 – www.fta.co.uk).

There is also a great body of evidence to suggest that low levels of engagement across an organisation can lead to higher rates of employee turnover, and vice versa. In fact one study showed that 66% of highly engaged employees reported that they had no plans to leave their company, while only 3% of them were actively looking, compared to 12% and 31%, respectively for disengaged employees.

The UK Logistics industry had a staff turnover of 26% versus the UK average of 15% in 2015/16 (www.xperthr.co.uk/survey-analysis/labour-turnover-rates-2016/161450/) and on average, it costs a UK business £30,614 to replace a departing member of the team, and can take a further 2 years for that employee to reach optimum output levels compared to an existing employee (https://www.insightsforprofessionals.com/blog/the-cost-of-hiring-an-employee). So clearly this is an area of concern and one that needs a solution.

In a survey titled ‘The UK Logistics Confidence H2 2016’ by Rob Riddlestone (Head of Transport & Logistics, Corporate Banking, Barclays) and Philip Bird (Partner, Corporate Finance, Moore Stephens), the difficulties of retaining highly skilled employees and high recruitment costs were highlighted by the respondents. It was also stated that the need to focus on attracting new talent and in particular employee retention is now greater than ever.

Therefore, the skills shortage results in businesses needing to create employee loyalty, and this can be generated through increased engagement levels. At Personal Group, we are currently working with many companies within the UK logistics sector, helping them to overcome some of these challenges and to achieve that exact goal.

How can Personal Group help ease this problem? Meet ‘Hapi’, our customisable and simple to use employee services platform.

The greatest tech won’t be able to improve your business unless people know about it, want to use it and see a value in it. Just having an employee services platform won’t reduce your attrition and improve employee engagement. With Hapi, we ensure your staff get a face-to–face conversation about the app, how to use it and what they can get from it. Our unique face-to-face approach means we can interact with your entire workforce via our 60-strong team of engagement executives. This combined with our industry leading technology drives increased engagement levels, increases user adoption of your benefits platform and, most importantly, provides you with an excellent communication tool so you can keep the conversation going with those hardest to reach non-PC facing employees.

Everything an employee needs is at their fingertips. We can put all of your existing core benefits, plus hundreds of retail & leisure discounts to help make employees’ salaries go further, access to health & wellbeing programmes, company newsletters, employee surveys, staff handbooks, charity information, job vacancies and so much more, all in one place. All of this sits in one, easy to access platform that is accessible on your computer, or in the palm of your hand through our app which is compatible with all smartphones and tablets.

The result? A more engaged, more loyal and ultimately more productive workforce.

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