Every industry has its challenges—but the transportation and logistics industries face some incredibly unique ones. Coordinating routes, scheduling employees, and paying out wages and reimbursements can quickly become difficult and frustrating. Without proper solutions, employee engagement and retention can suffer.
At Branch, we hear from transportation and logistics companies struggling with these issues every day. So, we decided to team up with our partner Quinyx to have a conversation about how the world is changing, the unique issues within transportation and logistics, and best practices to both solve these issues and create a winning environment for your employees.
The world—and the workforce—is changing
We all know that the world has drastically changed over the course of the year. Health and wellness are hot topics and are now more important than ever. Without healthy employees, your business cannot continue to successfully operate. But, traditional practices have prevented employees from being able to easily swap or shift schedules—which has led to 74% of hourly workers coming into work sick. Employees coming into work sick is not only unsafe for the rest of your teams, but can have negative impacts on your operations as well.
Even aside from health and wellness, the workforce wants greater flexibility and communication. Everyone experiences emergencies, family events, or just the need for a mental break. Allowing your employees to have a voice in their schedules, and letting them easily pick up or swap shifts helps them become more engaged and invested.
Existing technology and practices have not kept up
While the workforce demands more scheduling flexibility and independence, most legacy systems cannot accommodate these demands. Without instant visibility, quick and easy communications with your employees, and shift-bidding or self-scheduling options, you’re already behind the curve.
Make sure that the systems and technology you have in place allow for things like instant communication, so you can quickly push out important information to your employees when you need. On top of that, ensure your systems can help balance labor demand and availability by allowing shift-bidding and self-scheduling capabilities.
Health is crucial, but so is financial wellness
Prior to COVID, 78% of the American workforce was living paycheck to paycheck. This is largely due to hourly workers traditionally having pay fluctuation week over week with variable hours, tips, and mileage reimbursement. And of course, this can greatly impact the transportation and logistics industries especially, as people can often be paid based on variable aspects such as routes, miles, or hours.
Consider a solution that will allow your employees to access their wages instantly after they’ve completed shifts. By allowing quick, flexible payments of both wages and any mileage reimbursements, your employees are better set up for financial success—plus, instant payments encourage your team members to pick up more shifts.
Branch + Quinyx
So, what does this all mean for Branch and Quinyx? With Branch and Quinyx implemented, you can solve the challenges around scheduling and pay that many transportation and logistics companies face. We allow your employees to easily:
- View their schedules
- Pick up and swap shifts
- Get paid wages and mileage upon shift completion
Flexibility creates happy employees—and better business
By allowing employees to gain more control over their schedules, you help them become more invested in your organization and give them the tools to better balance work and life. And, by giving them the money they earned at a quick, flexible pace, you reduce the financial stress that many Americans are living with. These small changes lead to a much happier employee base as a whole. Plus, you’ll see better shift coverage, less turnover, and less time and money spent on scheduling and hiring. A true win-win.
