Trending Now

Will Carrier Qualification Become the Next Freight Procurement…

New Articles

7 Simple Ways to Boost Morale Among Supply Chain Professionals

boomerang employers
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

7 Simple Ways to Boost Morale Among Supply Chain Professionals

Leave a comment

Every workplace deals with people feeling burnt out or like their work doesn’t matter. When morale is low, employers must implement tactics to raise their employees’ moods.

If a leader shows they value their workers, employees will feel more welcomed and important — and their work ethic can reflect that notion. Supply chain professionals can try various techniques to ensure their employees know just how valued they are.

1. Listen to Feedback

To show staff they care, employers should try listening to all the feedback they receive. This evaluation will tell them whether they need to change something and how to do it. Executives can cultivate a community-type atmosphere where communication is encouraged and welcomed, even between peers.

The best way for peers to give one another feedback is for someone to teach them what quality dialogue looks like. Putting together a string of constructive comments is the best way to have a positive experience rather than a negative, destructive one. Employers can create a more caring environment by welcoming input as a part of workplace culture.

2. Support Employees Wholeheartedly

The greatest leaders want the best for their workers. It can be challenging to know what people need from time to time, so an excellent measure an employer can take is to support their staff wholeheartedly. By knowing their executive is in their corner, employees may be more likely to do a better job at work and take what they do seriously.

Sometimes, work can drag a person’s mental health down, which can then affect their physical health. Supply chain professionals should consider hosting monthly check-ins to see where their employees’ or contractors’ brains are. Having regular check-ins will normalize the topic of mental health in the workplace and help employees feel like they have somewhere to go when they’re in crisis.

Leaders should also prepare protocols for any instances where an employee has a mental health crisis. Executives should liberally share mental health resources around the workplace so anyone who needs help can access them. When an employer cares about their staff’s mental health, it shows how they run a business.

3. Opt for Flex Work

Flexible work is an excellent alternative to rigid work hours. As long as a company has plenty of work to be done at different hours, letting employees come in at staggered times according to what works best with their schedule would be a great idea. Doing so would allow workers with children to take their kids to school or pick them up in the afternoon. It would also enable them to care for or check in on loved ones.

Plus, some people work better earlier in the morning, while others are better suited to work evenings and nights. The time they’re most productive may not always fit with their schedule. If employees could choose their schedules more easily, they may be more likely to enjoy the place they’re working for.

4. Build a Trustworthy Company Culture

Company culture is everything to the people who work there. Executives want to make sure the environment is friendly and welcoming to everyone and work is a comfortable place to be rather than one that brings unnecessary stress. Employees who feel they can trust their coworkers could be more likely to get along with each other and enjoy the company culture their employer has fostered.

According to Glassdoor’s 2019 Mission & Culture Survey, more than 77% of adults in the U.S., UK, France and Germany said they would consider a company’s culture before they applied to work there. How a company is run and how tightly-knit the community is could determine whether people want to join the team. A close team can talk about their successes and setbacks together without fear.

5. Recognize Hard Work

Even when employers can’t give their workers a raise, they can still acknowledge all the hard work they’ve done. Recognition of good employee behavior can motivate those people to do better in the future and encourage others to emulate their actions. Nominating an “Employee of the Month” might be one way for employers to show appreciation for those who go above and beyond in their workplace.

Another way for supply chain executives to show they appreciate their employees could be by setting stretch goals. When everyone in a team reaches a particular quota — such as a productivity score or number of hours — they can have some reward. Implementing non-monetary prizes are still ways to get employees involved in the fun that work can be.

6. Advocate for Work-Life Balance

Employees can’t be expected to carry work with them throughout their lives. They have other responsibilities and worries — such as maintaining a fitness routine or taking care of a household — so they shouldn’t have to dedicate most of their lives to work. The employer who understands employees need a stable work-life balance may retain more workers in the long run.

Work-life balance is hard to attain for many people. Leaders should encourage workers to communicate when they feel overwhelmed or have difficulty separating their personal and professional lives. Employers should constantly look for ways to make their employees feel more comfortable in the workplace. This way, they can look to work as a space where they can expect less stress rather than a place that adds more of it to their lives.

7. Get Together Regularly

All teams should try to get together regularly, whether they’re in-person or remote. Executives can try to host a get-together outside of work hours. They might opt for a virtual happy hour where employees can see one another on their screens or they could get together for team-building exercises.

Regular meetings can help staff feel like they belong to a team. Employees can feel free to share their weekly highs and lows at this meeting, whether about work or their personal lives. Employers can also organize team-building activities and other games their workers could enjoy together.

Boosting Morale Shows Kindness

Everybody wants to work for a company they know cares about them. When employers ensure their employees are comfortable, the staff could do a better job. Boosted morale might be as simple as making workers feel valued.

When people know they’re important, they may be more likely to do their jobs more efficiently and boost their productivity. Professionals are professionals for a reason — they just have to have the right working environment to perform to their best ability.

productivity supply chain 4.0 goods
Archives, Education, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

Ensuring the Productivity of Remote Supply Chain Employees: 8 Strategies

Leave a comment

Supply chain workforces are changing. This sector is leaning increasingly towards remote work like many others, letting more people work from home (WFH) and even hiring people across borders. While this shift has many advantages, managing remote productivity may challenge some organizations.

While WFH employees say they’re about 9% more productive at home than in the office, some encounter more issues. Helping workers reach their peak productivity looks different in remote environments than in-person ones. With that in mind, here are eight ways supply chain companies can ensure their remote employees remain productive.

1. Hire People Who Fit Remote Work Well

Ensuring remote productivity begins before people even start in their roles. If businesses want to make the most of a remote workforce, they must first look for candidates who work well in these environments.

Not every person is ideally suited for remote work. More than 60% of American workers who can work from home but choose not to say they do so because they feel more productive in the office. Supply chains must ensure they don’t place these workers in remote positions if they hope to maximize their productivity.

Companies should look for characteristics like self-motivation and strong communication skills in remote position candidates. Questions about applicants’ previous remote work experience, independence and deadline management can also help find ideal work-from-home candidates.

2. Communicate Thoroughly and Often

Communication is another critical consideration for boosting remote productivity. Without regular communication, staff may become distracted, feel isolated or lose track of upcoming major and minor deadlines. By contrast, consistent check-ins and meetings can help remote employees keep work at the top of their minds and remain engaged.

This communication should be both frequent and in-depth. If remote workers don’t understand what managers expect, they’ll struggle to stay engaged. To combat this, higher-ups should be as informative as possible when talking with their remote workforce. Encouraging these workers to ask questions can also help, as two-way communication will provide the most assistance for everyone involved.

3. Use Multiple Communication Channels

As supply chain managers communicate with their remote workers, they must remember to switch between different channels. Modern technology provides many remote communication options, each with unique advantages and downsides.

Video conferencing is the most engaging form of remote communication, but it shouldn’t be the only tool companies use. Nearly half of all professionals report high feelings of burnout from frequent virtual meetings — a phenomenon known as “Zoom fatigue.” Switching between communication channels will help avoid this, ensuring higher productivity.

Zoom and similar tools are ideal for regular check-ups and more in-depth meetings but not daily use. Email can suffice for more mundane, repetitive communication, while instant messaging is perfect for time-sensitive but simple requests.

4. Establish Routines

Flexibility is one of the primary draws of working from home. However, too much freedom in an employee’s working schedule can make it harder to stay engaged. While offering schedule flexibility is necessary, supply chain businesses should also establish some amount of routine to keep remote workers on track.

Putting parameters on remote work hours — such as giving an acceptable range of when workers can start and stop — is an excellent first step. Similarly, leaders can have virtual office hours that remain unchanged so the staff knows when they can contact them. Regular meetings and check-ins can also help establish routines.

5. Help Employees Build Their Home Offices

Another common productivity killer for remote workers is a lack of boundaries between their work and home life. It can be challenging to stay engaged in work when employees don’t feel like they’re in a work environment. The solution is to create a dedicated home workspace and organizations can help.

Remote workers can convert their garage into an office with the right tools. Converting a garage has a broad spectrum of benefits, including: 

  • Fewer distractions
  • Added home value 
  • Easy personalization 

Employers can provide the necessary equipment — like lights, computer monitors or office chairs — to help them create these workspaces. By easing the financial burden of building a home office, businesses make it easier to remain productive at home.

6. Provide Emotional Support

It’s also important not to overlook the impact remote work may have on workers’ mental health. While many remote workers enjoy the flexibility and improved work/life balance, many also find it isolating. That can make it hard to remain engaged, but now more online options exist to meet new people.

Regular check-ups are an ideal time to help provide the emotional support employees may need. Managers should be upbeat and friendly and avoid only talking about work on these calls. Asking workers how they’re doing and if they need anything to be more comfortable can go a long way.

Companies should also consider providing staff access to resources that could help them. That could include articles about managing remote work, self-care tips and tools, discussion groups or similar options.

7. Host Remote Social Events

As part of that support, supply chain organizations should host virtual non-work events, too. Social events are an excellent way to break up the monotony of a job and boost engagement in any working environment — remote work is no outlier. While these activities may look different than in-person ones, they can provide the same relief.

Casual video conferencing meetups are an excellent option. Companies can host virtual happy hours, play online games or do virtual teambuilding activities over the same platforms they use for work calls. It’s also essential to encourage employees to talk to each other and build stronger work relationships during these events to help boost productivity.

8. Measure and Reward Productivity

Supply chain businesses should set up systems to measure remote productivity. Setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and implementing tools to measure them can help reveal where the company falls short, providing a path toward improvement.

Thankfully, tracking remote productivity and time management has never been easier. The time-tracking software market is booming and could exceed $1.9 trillion by 2030, so plenty of tools are available to measure these KPIs.

Employers should also reward remote workers who meet and exceed goals based on these KPIs. Rewarding high productivity with cash bonuses or other incentives will help encourage increased engagement.

Follow These Steps to Maximize Remote Productivity

If supply chain organizations know how to manage them correctly, remote workers can be just as — if not more — productive than an in-person workforce. Following these steps will help employers and managers ensure their workers reach their full potential, regardless of where they are.

As working from home becomes more common, these steps will become increasingly important. Learning to maintain high productivity among remote workers now will help supply chains excel in the future.

purpose cash
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

Incentivizing Supply Chain Employees: 8 Effective Ideas

Leave a comment

Employee retention and engagement should always be a priority for businesses. However, incentivizing workers has become particularly critical for supply chains as labor shortages persist and output demand rises.

Lingering product shortages and delays have placed unusually high pressure on supply chains to act quickly and increase output. At the same time, 47% of shippers and 73% of third-party logistics cite difficulty finding, training and retaining qualified labor. Incentive programs can help supply chain organizations overcome these challenges by improving engagement, retention and productivity.

Here are eight effective ideas supply chain businesses can use to incentivize their workforce.

Incentives to Offer

The first and most straightforward way to categorize incentive programs is by rewards. A business’s unique workforce, project and budget considerations will affect different rewards’ efficacy, but these five incentives are among the most effective across workspaces.

1. Cash Bonuses

One of the most effective rewards to offer is also the simplest: cash. Generally speaking, wages have not risen as quickly as consumer prices, so many workers today are looking for higher pay. Raising base wages will help, but offering cash rewards for high performance can provide a unique and enticing incentive.

Cash has the unique advantage of meeting every employee’s needs and preferences. No matter what a worker likes or wants to achieve, more money in their pocket will help them. Cash bonuses may not be the most groundbreaking or creative reward, but they’re popular for a reason.

How much to give employees depends on a company’s budget. Regardless of the specifics, businesses should consider scaling rewards and offering more money for higher achievement.

2. Profit-Sharing

Cash bonuses are far from the only financial incentive businesses can offer. Profit-sharing is another effective option.

The primary benefit of a profit-sharing program is that it ties rewards directly to company performance. Employees will enjoy larger bonuses if the business does better and profits rise. This direct cause-and-effect relationship can be a powerful motivator to improve productivity and engagement.

Higher wages may catch people’s eyes more than profit-sharing, but the latter can be more profitable for employees under the right conditions. If Amazon hadn’t substituted its profit-sharing scheme for higher pay, each worker would now own shares worth more than $350,000 on average.

3. Extra Vacation Time

Employee incentive programs can be effective without offering financial rewards. One of the best noncash perks supply chain organizations can provide is additional time off.

Worker stress has reached astronomical levels lately, with 77% of U.S. professionals saying they’ve felt burnout in their current positions. Consistently working long hours is one of the most-cited reasons for this exhaustion, so vacation time can be an enticing reward for today’s employees. The chance to get an extra-long break could easily push people to work harder in the meantime.

Supply chain managers must be careful with how they deliver these rewards. If employees must work more hours than they’d get off as a reward to achieve them, then the program is self-defeating.

4. Travel Programs

Similarly, creating company travel programs can also be an effective way to incentivize employees. Workers may want to travel more than ever after spending so much time at home and within the same area during the pandemic.

Not many companies offer employee trips as an incentive, so these programs can be a useful recruiting tool. Since these trips can apply to a group of workers, they’re also ideal for building stronger employee relationships. Those bonds can translate into higher engagement and productivity when people return to the workplace.

Travel programs are also surprisingly cost-effective, thanks to their customization options. Companies can send smaller groups on a more remote vacation, take a larger one on a day trip or do anything in between to match their budgetary restraints.

5. Schedule or Project Choices

Some supply chain managers may choose to reward top-performing employees with more choices. Letting high-achievers have first pick over their schedule or projects can be a tempting reward in places where workflows may frequently change.

Many supply chain employees lead busy lives, so the ability to pick a work schedule that better suits them is compelling. Alternatively, some workers may simply want to break up their routine by choosing a new project or workweek. In either case, offering these choices as an incentive for better performance can be a powerful motivator.

Control over schedules has become even more popular than remote work opportunities. About 95% of survey respondents wanted flexible hours compared to 78% who preferred location flexibility.

Incentive Program Types

Supply chain organizations can also revamp their incentive programs by rethinking how employees earn rewards. In general, they should tie directly to actions that benefit the company. Here are three of the best examples.

1. Quantity of Work

One way to run incentive programs is to reward employees based on how much work they accomplish. This option is ideal for supply chains facing tight deadlines or rising demand for higher output.

Not every job or metric is a good fit for quantity-based incentives. For example, truckers can only drive for 14 hours between 10-hour off-duty periods, among other restrictions. Consequently, logistics companies can only offer incentives for longer drives up to these legal limits.

Warehouse tasks are often a better fit. Businesses should choose whatever metric they need to improve most, such as picking rates, and define consistent goals and rewards to motivate employees.

2. Quality of Work

Supply chains can also reward workers based on the quality of their work. This may be a better alternative for transportation employees, using metrics like delivery times or safe driving habits to measure performance.

For many supply chains, completing tasks faster is one of the most practical ways to monitor work quality. However, reduced errors or improved safety statistics can also be helpful, relevant metrics.

Quality-based incentive programs are better at motivating employees to take more care and give more attention to their roles. As a result, these schemes can help supply chains impress clients and build positive work environments.

3. Retention

Some supply chain organizations may need to focus more on retaining employees than improving the quality or quantity of their work. Incentive programs can fit this goal nicely, too. This strategy is increasingly helpful, considering the industry had a 49% turnover rate in 2021.

Retention incentive programs are among the most straightforward to run, too. Employees receive increasing rewards for staying for longer periods. This won’t necessarily improve individual productivity, but it can help mitigate labor challenges.

Keep Employees Engaged With These Strategies

Supply chains must do all they can to motivate, grow and retain their workforce. These eight incentive program ideas provide plenty of opportunities for organizations to achieve that goal. The industry could move past its current labor-related obstacles as more businesses implement these reward schemes.

supply chain MHI
3pls, Archives, Commentary, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily

How to Identify and Address Productivity Gaps Among Supply Chain Employees

Leave a comment

Productivity has always been a leading concern for supply chain companies. As the industry grows increasingly competitive and faces mounting disruptions, it’s become an even more pressing concern.

A recent survey found that nine in ten supply chain leaders say they need to increase hiring to meet peak demand. Ongoing labor shortages can make that difficult, so organizations must also make the most of their current workforce. They need to maximize their productivity.

Boosting productivity begins with finding areas where it needs improvement. Here’s how supply chains can identify and address productivity gaps.


 

Identifying Productivity Gaps

It can be difficult to know where to begin with productivity optimization. Supply chain leaders may feel they’re already at their peak efficiency. Alternatively, they may notice room to improve but not understand what specifically to address.

Supply chain organizations can identify productivity gaps through a few different means. Going through these three processes and comparing the results can help uncover where the most critical areas to address are.

Benchmark Against Competitors

The first step in finding productivity gaps is comparing key performance indicators (KPIs) to competitors. Recent SEC guidance requires KPIs to come with disclosures like clear metric definitions and how a company calculates them. Companies can take that information to understand their competitors’ success and how they measure it.

Once supply chain organizations have these benchmarks, they can compare them to their own KPIs. It’s important to account for any discrepancies between the companies’ metrics and measuring techniques to provide the most accurate comparison.

Comparing KPIs can reveal where some productivity gaps may lie. Even if a company outperforms competitors overall, it may fall behind its benchmarks in one or two specific areas. Those areas could be home to productivity pain points. While these differences can arise from many places, any shortcoming warrants further investigation.

Compare Goals to Results

Next, supply chain leaders can look internally. A company may perform well compared to others in the industry, but that doesn’t mean there’s no room for improvement. Reviewing goals and how recent results compare to those targets can reveal more shortcomings.

The easiest way to perform this analysis is to compare current KPIs to past goals. Has the company met the targets they’ve set in the past? Are they on track to meet future goals? The categories that show the largest discrepancies between expectations and results are likely where the largest productivity gaps lie.

It’s important to break KPIs into specific categories to isolate problem areas. At the same time, businesses must also map the relationships between KPIs to see how they affect each other. One category’s performance may hinge on another’s, so it’s important to understand these relationships.

Survey Employees

Employees are an excellent but often overlooked resource for identifying productivity gaps. While workers may not have a complete picture of management processes, they understand their specific workflows intimately. This familiarity can give them insight into areas for improvement that management lacks.

Studies show that happy workers are 13% more productive, so the source of lackluster performance may lie in employee satisfaction. Regular surveys and interviews can help reveal which factors impact this satisfaction, both positively and negatively. Common themes between workers’ responses are likely key productivity blockers.

Similarly, employee surveys can ask about workflow improvements that workers think could help. It’s highly likely that at least one worker has noticed how part of a process slows their work down. If multiple employees talk about the same process hindering their productivity, it’s worth looking into.

Addressing Productivity Gaps

After identifying productivity gaps, supply chain organizations must work to fix them. The most effective strategy will depend on the specific gap in question, but these generally fall into a few distinct categories. Adjustments in training, work environments and technology can maximize productivity in virtually every area.

Emphasize Training

Productivity gaps often result from skills gaps. That could mean that employees lack technical knowledge and abilities to streamline their work, or it could apply to soft skills. In either case, more comprehensive training can help remove these productivity barriers.

Seemingly small adjustments can make a considerable difference here. For example, teaching warehouse employees proper lifting techniques and the importance of using them can prevent burnout from repetitive stress. Employees will then be able to work longer before getting tired, maximizing their productivity.

Similar methods can work with office staff, too. Employees should look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds after every 20 minutes of looking at a computer screen. This will reduce eye strain, preventing the loss of productivity and focus that comes with it. Teaching office employees tips like this can help them consistently perform their best.

Address the Work Environment and Culture

A distracting work environment is another common cause of productivity loss in supply chains. Softer but more consistent lighting and comfortable working temperatures can minimize environmental distractions that hinder productivity. Similarly, white-noise machines can drown out distracting noise in office settings.

Workplace culture plays a substantial role in this area, too. One of the most important things to address in this regard is communication. Employees and managers must consistently communicate so everyone knows what others expect of them and people learn of changes or issues faster. Holding regular meetings and using instant messaging platforms can help.

Making sure the workplace is engaging and empowering is another crucial step. Listen to employees to learn what they need or would appreciate to feel more respected and engaged. When workers feel satisfied in their work environment, they’ll be more productive.

Capitalize on Technology

If workplaces face more concrete productivity challenges, technology may be the answer. Automation is one of the best tools for improving productivity, as it minimizes repetitive, non-value-adding tasks, letting employees accomplish more and remain engaged.

Some of the most valuable automation applications in warehouses are picking and material moving. Walking accounts for more than 50% of picking time, so these workflows are ripe for automation. Robots can easily handle many of these processes, and human workers can then focus on other, less inefficient tasks.

Automation can benefit office workers, too. Robotic process automation (RPA) can handle repetitive tasks like scheduling, data entry and file organization to give employees more time to perform more value-adding work. Programs that consolidate multiple processes to reduce clicking between windows are also helpful.

Optimizing Productivity Starts With Finding Gaps

Supply chains today must be agile, but to achieve that, they must address shortcomings within their operations. Recognizing where they can improve is the first step to becoming more productive.

When supply chain leaders understand and follow these steps, they can make the most of their workforce. They can then accomplish more work in less time, outperforming their competitors and ensuring future success.

supply chain
Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

How to Make Supply Chain Employees Feel More Invested in Their Work

Leave a comment

Supply chain operations typically involve a lot of long hours and repetitive work. That can make it difficult for employees to feel invested in their jobs, leading to errors, lower productivity and burnout.

If supply chains want to optimize their operations, they can’t overlook employee investment. Here are eight ways that management can encourage their employees to invest more in their work.

1. Help Workers Reach Their Own Goals

One of the best ways to get workers invested in the company is to invest in them first. Management should start by helping employees define and pursue their personal professional goals. This will show that the company cares about their development and is willing to put effort into it, encouraging reciprocation.

This process starts with talking with individual employees to help quantify their specific goals. Studies show that those with defined goals are ten times more likely to succeed than those without them. After that, management can create progress charts to monitor growth, encouraging hard work from employees and pushing them to their full potential.

As workers strive toward their individual goals, they’ll become more invested in their day-to-day work. The company as a whole will benefit as a result.

2. Provide Paths for Upward Mobility

Another crucial factor for employee investment is career advancement opportunities. Just 29% of surveyed employees say they’re satisfied with their workplace’s opportunities for career advancement. If workers don’t have anything more to reach for, there’s not much reason for them to invest heavily in their performance.

By contrast, if there are plenty of paths for upward mobility, employees will have the motivation to work harder. Supply chain organizations can promote from within rather than finding outside hires for upper-level positions. That way, workers will know that they can work their way up, encouraging them to invest in the business.

3. Enable Lateral Movement

In that same vein, supply chain organizations should also enable lateral movement. In addition to being able to move upward, workers should be able to change areas or departments. This will help keep satisfied, productive employees if they decide they want a career change or to apply new skills.

Some workers may start to feel burned out in their current role but have skills and interests that apply to another. Letting them change jobs to work in another department could help them find work within the company that compels them. When employees can find the role that fits them the best, they’ll invest more in their job.

4. Reward Investment

Some strategies to help supply chain employees feel more invested are remarkably straightforward. By rewarding those who invest more heavily in their work, employers can motivate employees to do so. Management should establish a system for rewarding hard work, such as productivity bonuses or an employee of the month scheme.

Monetary incentives are particularly powerful, but they’re not necessary if they’re outside a company’s budget. In one survey, 37% of workers said that more personal recognition would drive them to produce better work more often. Recognizing professional and personal achievements, especially in front of others, can provide the encouragement employees need to feel invested.

5. Be Charitable

Another way to help employees feel more invested is to create a company spirit that they want to invest in. If employees can see how their work contributes to a cause they care about, they’ll be more willing to put more into it. Supply chain businesses can foster this by donating to charities or helping local organizations provide community services.

It’s important to ensure these efforts go beyond one-time actions. They should be ongoing, in-depth initiatives so workers know they’re contributing to meaningful change, not just a publicity stunt. For example, some organizations donate profits to education departments, as well as partner with education organizations. This broader but still unified scope helps make a more substantial impact.

6. Be Sustainable

Another way that companies can help employees contribute to things they care about is through sustainability. Since transportation is responsible for almost a third of all greenhouse gas emissions, supply chains often have considerable carbon footprints. Embracing sustainability initiatives can help make up for this and encourage more investment from employees.

Investing in electric vehicles or renewable energy infrastructure can help supply chain companies become more sustainable. As these efforts grow, workers will see that their efforts within the company contribute to a greener future. Publishing sustainability goals and achievements will help raise awareness and drive further investment from employees.

If possible, try to tie these directly to workers’ achievements. That way, employees will have more concrete encouragement that their actions lead to more eco-friendliness.

7. Organize Team Building Events

Even if companies follow other steps, employees will struggle to feel invested if they feel distant from their coworkers. Businesses can fix that issue by planning regular social events to help build a more communal spirit. When employees feel closer to their coworkers, they’ll feel more engaged at work, driving more investment.

These activities don’t have to look like traditional corporate team-building exercises. They can be as simple as an after-hours party where management provides food, drinks and activities. The more casual and less work-related these feel, the better, as that will help develop closer, friendlier relationships.

8. Listen to Employees

Finally, supply chain organizations should seek employees’ advice on what would help them feel more invested. If management doesn’t take the time to listen to workers’ feedback, the employees will feel undervalued and won’t put in as much effort. Employees may also have good insider advice for the company, so regular surveys can fuel ongoing improvements.

Workers should have an accessible, always available means of giving feedback. While 64% of HR leaders think such a tool is essential, only 20% have one in place. Creating an HR chatbot or comment box is a simple fix that will help employees feel valued.

It’s important to follow up on these comments, too. Asking for feedback won’t lead to any meaningful change if management doesn’t also act on it.

An Invested Workforce Will Drive Success

When supply chain workers feel more invested, they’ll give more to the company. They’ll be more productive, produce higher-quality work and foster more positive workplace relationships. In an industry that can easily become dull and disenchanting, those benefits are impossible to ignore.

These eight steps can help any supply chain business motivate and encourage its employees. They’ll invest more heavily in their work as a result.

traveling
Archives, Departments, Executive Getaways, Global Trade Daily

10 Safety Tips for Supply Chain Employees Traveling Abroad

Leave a comment

Supply chains are global, interconnected networks. It’s only natural, then, that supply chain employees must occasionally travel abroad. Whether it’s for meetings with international partners, inspecting remote warehouses or something else, international travel is a standard part of supply chain management.

While traveling abroad may be an industry standard, it can still pose some risks. In light of those risks, here are ten tips for supply chain employees to stay safe while traveling.

1. Research the Destination

The first step to any international trip is to research the destination. Different countries have different laws and regulations, so employees should know these ahead of time to avoid complications. For example, international COVID-19 travel requirements may differ from the U.S., some resulting in denial of entry for failure to meet them.

Employees should also research cultural taboos to avoid and local crime statistics. Learning a few key phrases in the native language can be helpful, too.

2. Create Backups of Essential Documents

Employees traveling abroad will likely have various important documents with them. In addition to their passports and IDs, they may have hotel reservations, health information or contracts and other work-related documents. Losing these could have severe consequences, so it’s best to have backups.

Employees should have both paper and electronic copies of all their essential documents. Travelers should store digital copies on secure, encrypted cloud services to keep them safe from cyberattacks. Keep in mind, though, that some countries restrict imported encryption software, so employees should ensure their encryption service is legal first.

3. Arrange All Travel and Lodging Ahead of Time

Transportation and lodging are some of the most potentially risky parts of international travel. The best way to prevent any costly mistakes with these considerations is to organize them before leaving. As employees research their destination, they should also find safe, trusted transportation services and hotels and reserve them ahead of time.

When employees are in a new country, it may be difficult to understand which transport services or lodging options are the safest. Looking them up ahead of time gives time to read reviews and get a better understanding of the situation. Reserving them then ensures they don’t have to worry about making arrangements once there.

4.  Don’t Trust Public Wi-Fi

While physical security might be more prominent, cybersecurity is also a concern during international travel. As employees travel, they’ll likely encounter many public Wi-Fi networks in airports and hotels. These networks are often not as secure as they should be, so it’s best to avoid them.

If workers must use public Wi-Fi for work purposes, they should use a virtual private network (VPN). VPNs encrypt internet traffic and hide devices’ IP addresses, helping protect users on networks with minimal other defenses. Employees should also avoid clicking unsolicited links, visiting unencrypted websites or entering personal information on these networks.

5. Keep Essential Items Separate

Travelers often keep items like wallets, passports and cellphones close together for convenience. While this is certainly convenient and can feel safe, it could pose a greater threat than people realize. If everything is in the same area, pickpockets or other criminals could steal them all at once.

Keeping essential items separate helps mitigate this problem. If a criminal does steal from someone’s pocket or cuts into part of their bag, the victim won’t lose everything. Consider storing passports, wallets and other essential items in different parts of a bag or keeping them in different pockets.

6. Choose the Right Type of Luggage

Some bags are easier to break into than others, so traveling employees should keep this in mind. For example, hard-sided security bags are virtually impervious to thieves, while soft bags are vulnerable to cuts and tears. If workers bring any valuable items or documents with them, they should consider using harder bags.

Similarly, bags with multiple latches and places to put locks are ideal. While it may be less convenient, if it’s harder for an employee to get into it, it will be harder for a thief, too. Some bags may even come with hidden pockets where workers can place particularly sensitive items and documents.

7. Try to Blend In

When employees reach their destination, they should try not to stand out. Criminals may target people who look like tourists or seem unfamiliar with their surroundings, as they make easier targets. Blending in with the locals helps pass under the radar of would-be thieves.

Part of blending in is simply avoiding being flashy. While an expensive suit and a gold watch might impress potential business partners, they also communicate to criminals that someone is a valuable target. While not in meetings, employees should dress casually, adopt the behaviors of locals and try to avoid looking lost or surprised.

8. Share Itineraries

Another best practice for traveling safely is to share itineraries with other trusted parties. When an employee goes abroad, they should give their manager or another colleague a copy of their flight and meeting schedule. That way, they can check on delays or other disruptions without having to contact the traveler.

It may also be a good idea to share some of these details with anyone the employee is meeting. That way, if they miss an appointment, the others in the meeting will know something is wrong and can help address the situation.

9. Stay in Contact

Along those same lines, it’s important to stay in contact with people back home. Whenever an employee lands, boards a flight, checks in to their hotel or hits any other points on the itinerary, they should let someone know. This gives companies peace of mind and helps them respond to any potential risks faster.

If an employee doesn’t check in by the time they should, the company will know something may be wrong. They can then look into the situation sooner, even if it’s something as mundane as a delayed flight.

10. Consider Insurance

Finally, businesses should consider getting travel insurance for their employees. Since 15% of international travelers encounter a medical issue while abroad and many people have ongoing medical needs, ensuring they’re insured is crucial. Many U.S. health insurance plans don’t apply internationally, so travel insurance may be necessary.

On top of covering travelers’ baggage, travel insurance often includes short-term healthcare coverage.That way, if something happens to them or they need to care for ongoing needs, they can do so affordably.

International Travel Doesn’t Have to Be Risky

Traveling abroad can seem intimidating, but proper preparation mitigates risk. If supply chain employees follow these ten tips, they can stay safe no matter where they go. They can then accomplish what the company needs without worry.