Webster Robertson People believe that any logistics or transport company’s greatest asset is its staff. Every successful organisation in the sector will hold the same belief but is this self-evident truth being successfully conveyed to employees themselves? A survey to be carried out over three days at the Multimodal Exhibition at the NEC Birmingham (29th April – 1st May) aims to bring greater clarity to the issue of staff motivation.
22nd April, 2014
Webster Robertson People (WRP), consultants in the effective management of human assets, is aiming to measure the degree to which employees in the logistics industry believe they are valued by their company. The survey, brief and to the point, will represent a snap-shot of the mood of visitors to Multimodal, the largest gathering of transport and supply chain professionals in the UK. Careful utilisation of assets is an oft-repeated mantra within the industry but it is more normally applied to hardware; trucks, warehouses ships, aircraft, IT systems and the rest. WRP believes the most fundamental asset of all, a company’s people, are often overlooked because their attributes are harder to assess and their activity more difficult to manage.
WRP’s Principal and Managing Director, Alan Robertson is passionate about addressing what he sees as a fundamental shortcoming of the industry. “We have often heard the trite platitudes peddled by corporate management lauding their teams as the greatest asset of their organisation. However, we all can point to evidence of poor man-management, lack of training, the promotion of the inept and the unnecessary culling of the talented,” observes Alan.
Alan has a background of operational management in which much of his career was spent sweating mechanical assets to the fullest extent of their potential. However he has also experienced countless incidents of misuse of the experience, skills and knowledge of staff resulting in a decline in motivation and therefore productivity. While not alone among service industries in perpetuating these fundamental errors, WRP would strongly suggest that the logistics and transport sectors are among the poor performers when bench-marking employee motivation.
“Many transport services represent tremendous value for their customers. Constant attention to asset management in order to extract the maximum value is an unending challenge for logistics companies if they are to maintain what is most commonly a meagre profit. Yet there is little focus on the true value of the individuals that deliver the service. Aren’t we missing a trick,” asks Alan.
WRP was formed to answer such questions and to help the industry manage its fundamental assets more successfully. The survey at Multimodal will be just the beginning of a more insightful view. WRP hopes it will begin a better appreciation of not just employee satisfaction but to what extent these primary assets feel they are valued. And perhaps it will start to answer the question of how they can be better employed.
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
Webster Robertson:
Established by a team of logistics and freight transport professionals to advise on the most effective means of asset management, Webster Robertson provides a range of services from strategic planning and change management to equipment sourcing and inventory control as well cost minimisation and maximising resource utilisation.
Webster Robertson People (WRP) is a division dedicated to enhancing the effectiveness of company personnel through skills training, staff motivation, planned recruitment and advancement programmes and team building. WRP never loses sight of the fact that an organisation’s most valued asset is its staff.