Reducing Turnover In Distribution
How do you go about reducing turnover in distribution?
Let’s look at how we can reduce turnover and increase our employee engagement.
Generation X, Y, and Millennials Lack Work Ethics?
First of all, let us bust a myth!
There is a stigma that people tend to believe that Generation X, Y, and Millennial lack the work ethic of the boomers. You may even have the internal dialogue with yourself, “Hey, I am Gen X, and I resemble that remark, but that could be a problem, right?”. The belief that these generations are not as motivated as the older ones who came before them is simply not true.
There was a debate that broke out in one of our training programs between two supervisors regarding the work ethic of younger generations:
Supervisor One said, “You cannot get these young people to work anymore. They are just too soft!”
Supervisor Two, was equally passionate to say, “Actually, my younger guys are outproducing the more mature seasoned guys in the team.”
The belief that these generations are not as motivated as the older ones who came before them is simply not true. Share on X
Which Impression Do You Gravitate Towards?
Do you believe that young people are:
- Useless and not motivated?
- They are the future of our organization. Their youthful energy could really be tapped into to drive our success!
It is important for you to reflect on that as a leader.
How You Can Reduce Turnover In Distribution
Tip Number One: Make Them Feel Welcome
By making all of your people feel welcome, from the first day, you can give them a sense of belonging. When people feel that they belong, then they are less likely to quit halfway through their shift.
Someone once shared with us that she walked out on the second day of her warehouse job just because she realized that after a day and a half of working there that she had not interacted with anyone.
Make sure that does not happen by making people feel welcome.
When people feel that they belong, they are less likely to quit halfway through their shift. Share on X
Tip Number Two: Give Rapid And Frequent Feedback
Remember that what younger people want, maybe more than what the more senior people in your organization want.
A younger generation wants to have feedback given to them on a regular basis. They do not have to wait weeks or months to hear how they are doing. Let them know today, what they can do differently tomorrow to be more successful. You will discover that they are very open to that because most have grown up playing video games. This means they are used to receiving the instant feedback those video games provide.
So, deliver that feedback to them as a leader!
Tip Number Three: Help Your Team Grow
What most of us want from a job is a sense of mastery and growth. We want to feel like we are doing something and learning as we are doing it.
That breaks the boredom and monotony of many jobs. By helping your team members grow, you are showing them how they are progressing both in their training period and their overall capabilities.
Follow this up by asking yourself, “How are they growing as human beings just by working with me as their leader?”
What Happens Next?
Once you have figured out how to engage employees in distribution and other operational environments, you are going to want to work on some of your other leadership skills.
That is where we come in!
We have the market-leading Front Line Leadership program, which is the number one choice of many HR professionals for training supervisors in manufacturing and operations.
Check it out at our website, uniquedevelopment.com, and once we have a conversation about the kind of solution that would best serve your leaders, you can start enjoying the type of retention, engagement, motivation, and productivity that your leaders, when they are trained, can provide.
We want to be your partners in that leadership excellence journey!
