The Holy Grail of Logistics: How to Fight Burnout and Stop Turnover

Reports of employee burnout have been rife in recent years. These statistics are true in nearly every department in the country. The logistics industry is tasked with solving complex problems in a fast-paced, diverse environment that never sleeps. It’s not easy, and it takes a toll on the people who step up to make things happen.

Unfortunately, this part of the puzzle is not going to change. It will likely only accelerate as e-commerce and digital solutions proliferate.

But as leaders in this field, we can always do something to help. No matter what external factors are weighing on our teams or the industry, we always have the opportunity and the capacity to make a positive difference. And for all their hard work, we owe our teams more than despair and endless job searches.

As leaders, it is our responsibility to bring out the best in them, so they can deliver the best possible experience to our customers.

Here’s how:

Be responsible

Too often, leaders view accountability as a one-way street. Our teams are accountable for their tasks and deadlines, that’s true. But as leaders, we are also accountable for meeting the needs of our teams.

Some of the major contributing factors to the burnout and turnover rates mentioned in the above study were career stagnation and the perception that management was not interested in employee growth.

These statistics are telling. They indicate that exhausted and disengaged workers are not trying to avoid work; quite the opposite. They are employees who are actively seeking to improve themselves and take on more responsibility. It is the denial of this opportunity that is the problem.

So let’s help them.

Instead of contributing to turnover by constantly hiring, let’s invest in the people we have today. As leaders, we need to hold ourselves accountable for dedicating time, energy, and resources to upskilling. We need to sit down with our teams and help them plan the next steps in their growth journey, and make sure they have a clear path forward.

Accountability starts at the top. By successfully setting this standard and modeling this behavior, teams stay engaged and motivated. It’s the fastest and surest way to drive growth across the entire company.

Communicate

While accountability is essential to retention and growth, communication is the foundation upon which they are built. Effective communication between team members and management is critical to a company’s success in many ways:

• Increases commitment to long-term vision and strategies
• Allows services to pivot efficiently when disruptions occur (this is logistics, so pretty much all the time)
• Improves employees’ psychological safety and creative problem-solving abilities

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There is no modern industry that doesn’t involve digital or in-person communication. Taking these interactions and the skills required to optimize them for granted will only create burnout and cause valuable team members to quit.

Pro Tip: Digital communication is becoming increasingly important. Effectively managing your inbound universe and efficiently prioritizing your inbox is quickly becoming a differentiator for logistics leaders looking to level up and improve performance.

Practice empathy

This may be the hardest tactic to master, but it’s also the most important. The numbers on employee turnover and attrition speak for themselves. The costs associated with a never-ending sequence of hiring, training, and leaving are staggering. And that’s without even considering the lost productivity due to employee disengagement during their tenure with the company.

But the human costs of this vicious cycle are even harder to bear. It’s easy to forget, but our work gives us the opportunity to be present and make a positive impact on the lives of others. Often, that’s all our team members are looking for: a chance for their work to matter. Denying them that opportunity, whether through lack of leadership or apathy, is not only wasteful, it’s downright cruel.

Practicing empathy with our teams and understanding that there are real people behind these role and responsibility matrices is the best way to retain and develop talent within our organizations. It’s also the best way to spread a little more joy around the world, which is really fun too.

Burnout and turnover pose serious threats to the financial and emotional health of any organization. Resisting these consequences is not easy, but leaders can take a few simple steps to help their teams combat this phenomenon:

• Be responsible
• Communicate
• Practice empathy

Ultimately, people stay with companies and stay engaged in projects where they feel their work is meaningful. And at the most basic level, that’s what any leader’s job is: creating environments where their teams can do meaningful work and helping their team members understand that mission.

It’s not an easy task, by any means. But understanding the costs associated with burnout and turnover and practicing a few simple skills to cultivate a culture ready to combat these threats is the best way to create a sustainable, profitable business.