Onboarding in Supply Chain: Expert Tips & Practices
Tags: logistics, supplychain, onboarding, software
Published: 2023-10-23 10:56:23

In this article we’re going to talk about benefits of optimized employee onboarding in supply chain management, and share the best strategies with you. Get ready for insights!

**Benefits of Optimized Onboarding**
Onboarding is essential to companies’ success, especially in times of labor shortages in the supply chain.

Brandon Hall Group [Research](https://b2b-assets.glassdoor.com/the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire.pdf) shows that organizations with a strong onboarding process retain new hires at an 82% higher rate and improve productivity by over 70%.

And when you consider that 11% of candidates change their mind about an offer within a few hours or days after the offer is signed, having a good onboarding process is a must.

Employee training also can’t be underestimated, because happy staff means retained staff.

According to Canadian association [Go2HR](https://www.go2hr.ca/training), around 40% of employees who don’t get enough training end up leaving their post within a year.

There are real-world examples.[ Motorola ](https://hbr.org/1990/07/motorola-u-when-training-becomes-an-education)calculated that for every dollar spent on staff training programs, they gained 30% in productivity.

No wonder, that [Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development](https://www.cipd.org/globalassets/media/knowledge/knowledge-hub/reports/resourcing-and-talent-planning-2020_tcm18-85530.pdf) found that 95% of hiring managers considered efficient employee onboarding and training as a key retention tool.

The good news is it doesn’t cost much to provide employees with this enrichment, but the advantages are significant.

When workers learn and develop, they will be more engaged in their work, which leads to higher customer satisfaction and productivity.

**A Few Words about Online Training**
With the expanding technology, it has become easier to train employees faster and more efficiently. There is a lot of advanced software such as [**LMS/ LXPs**](https://aristeksystems.com/industries/lms-development/) to assist you.

Several reasons to consider using elearning software:

1. Corporate training software ensures sustainability. It’s an opportunity to go green and reduce the line items for office and training materials in your budget, while making training processes faster.
2. Therefore, using elearning software also ensures time and cost-saving.
3. By teaching staff members in groups, the money spent on corporate training software may be optimized to multiply efforts.

**Best Onboarding Practices: Scientific Approach**
Scientific [studies](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/371762436_Processes_of_staff_onboarding_in_the_Supply_Chain_Management_of_industrial_enterprises_a_comparison_of_best_practices_and_literature) on onboarding in the supply chain found out that job descriptions, checklists, and induction plans with clearly defined process goals are one of the best onboarding practices used by the surveyed companies.

The companies focus above all on trust and appreciation, social induction and integration. To ensure these, they use sponsorship, mentoring, or buddy programs.

[Institute of Supply Chain](https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/news-publications/inside-supply-management-magazine/blog/2023/2023-05/addressing-new-workers-concerns-job-skills-and-safety-gaps/?_t_id=qiO_P2_7pmbulPJ8EwoYNg==&_t_uuid=sbxvsrReTZ2YidEZRlFaEA&_t_q=onboarding&_t_tags=language:en,siteid:ef1869c7-82ba-46ac-b99a-724a91f8f01d,andquerymatch&_t_hit.id=ISM_Models_Pages_MagazineArticlePage/_f9f2cf76-a4d6-485b-9aca-0ab74166420d_en&_t_hit.pos=1) also proves claims peer-to-peer mentoring is a valuable tool in onboarding and training new employees, focusing on job-critical skills and fostering positive safety attitudes, while also ensuring immediate feedback and correction.

Moreover, companies studied in the research, prepared their induction process before employment, ensuring administrative readiness and necessary software provision.

This customizable process is considered a good practice for staff onboarding, although it may not directly represent a staff onboarding method.

A [Glassdoor report ](https://b2b-assets.glassdoor.com/the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire.pdf)provides top 3 tips applicable to any type of company. The best onboarding programs are:

**- Using software**
Advanced learning software in effective onboarding programs leads to 300% higher satisfaction, time-to-proficiency gains, and increased new hire retention compared to lower-performing peers.

**- Emphasizing assimilation**
In order to ensure fast assimilation of new hires, 2 in 3 high-performance programs include formal mentorship and coaching in their onboarding.

**- Fostering socialization**
The most efficient onboarding programs understand the power of connections. 33% of high-performance onboarding programs build social networking into new employee onboarding.

**Onboarding: Experts’ Tips**
Caroline Chumakov, [Gartner ](https://www.gartner.com/en/supply-chain)expert in Supply Chain and Logistics, provides the following approaches to onboarding in times of labor shortages:

**- Reflect on your hiring and onboarding processes**
Open requisitions offer an opportunity to reflect on how to improve the quality and purpose of a role. Therefore you should thoroughly consider why people are leaving this job.

Consider the tasks owned by this role. Could they be **[automated](https://aristeksystems.com/blog/logistics-automation/)** or optimized by cutting-edge software?

**- Emphasize hiring based on talents**
Instead of focusing on recruiting based on geography or credentials, consider part-time workers, people from different departments or sectors, upskilled, self-taught and others.

![Image description](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ymg4o4h91ceginr0noc0.png)


Working with HR departments, supply chain planning leaders should identify talent pools that reflect the desired competencies and focus their outreach on key attraction drivers.

**- Hire for the team, not the job**
Supply chain managers frequently select candidates based on the same competencies as current team members. Prioritize recruiting to cover for abilities that the team lacks or that may come in handy down the road.

You can also consider organizing onboarding committees that are more knowledgeable and concentrated on team skill gaps.

**- Prioritize knowledge management**
Since turnover results in knowledge loss, pinpoint high-risk areas and designate roles for knowledge management.

Optimize onboarding processes and use an agile learning strategy centered on iterative interventions and profound software.

**- Keep in mind former employees**
Create a supply chain alumni network to stay in contact with former employees and partner with HR to develop return processes. This may enable those employees to come back more easily if they are willing to.

**- Build internal and cross-company career paths**
Suppliers, external manufacturers or logistics providers, retailers, consulting firms could serve as partners in creating cross-company career opportunities.

**- Improve performance management**
Creating development plans can help boost an employee’s performance. Select development goals that form the intersection between business needs, the employee’s current performance and their career aspirations.

**- Enhance learning and development**
The 70-20-10 model can be instrumental in encouraging adult learning and development in supply chain planning.

**How It Works**

1. On the job learning opportunities (stretch assignments and job rotations) should make up 70 percent of personal development.
2. Relationship-based learning (mentorship, manager-led coaching and sharing best practices with peers) should be 20 percent.
3. Formal training sessions (seminars, e-learning and certifications) should be no more than 10 percent.

Using cutting-edge software (LMS/LXP) to assist your employees’ learning process will contribute both to their personal development and company’s success.

Tisha Danehl, vice president of Ajilon, suggests a list of tips for logistics managers that need help onboarding and retaining workers.

**- Optimize the hiring process**
Hiring process usually takes almost two full weeks longer than candidates expect. Take opportunities to shorten their hiring timeline to avoid missing out on valuable talent.

It’s especially necessary, when it comes to carrier onboarding as a carrier job is a crucial part of supply chain productivity.

Carrier onboarding is the process of integrating a new carrier into a company’s supply chain network. This involves establishing contracts, setting up communication channels, and ensuring compliance with regulations.

Efficient carrier onboarding is essential for seamless coordination and maximizing overall productivity in the supply chain.

This is where utilizing software comes to rescue. By automating manual processes, it allows onboarding carrier networks quickly and efficiently, as well as sourcing new carrier workers to replace those who are not in compliance.

**- Focus on retention strategies**
This will help you stand out among your competitors and make employees feel that they’re invested in their professional development.

Shift the talent search to cater to the younger generations
A recent Google Consumer Survey conducted by Ajilon found that 31% of employed millennials are open to new job opportunities.

**- Provide executive leadership programs**
Nowadays more and more women are being hired by SC companies. It’s important to connect women with industry leaders for their guidance and provide efficient onboarding programs to help them grow and advance their careers.

**- Focus more on the benefits package**
Salaries will continue to remain competitive, so companies will need to evaluate their benefits to recruit top talent.

Companies are providing signing bonuses, tuition credits, and other benefits to keep workers from leaving when they find better employment opportunities such as an extra dollar or two per hour.

They’re saying ‘come to us and we’ll pay you a competitive wage and help you acquire new skills and advance in your career,” 
**Tom Derry, CEO at Institute for Supply Management (ISM)**. “That seems to be an effective strategy.”

Some companies have improved their performance using this approach. For example, [FedEx ](https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/fedex-earnings-hiring-efforts-network-on-track-peak-season/611405/)pointed to pay premiums, more paid time off and onboarding incentives to attract seasonal employees.

These recruiting and onboarding efforts paid off, with FedEx hiring at a rate of 10,000 to 12,000 employees per week since Q2.

Finally, one of the biggest supply chain companies globally, [DHL Supply Chain](https://www.dhl.com/us-en/home/supply-chain.html), provides strategies for onboarding and retaining skilled personnel across the board, from a carrier to an executive role.

**Minimizing Turnover**
Enhancing onboarding, training, scheduling flexibility, and educating managers on how to engage with hourly workers to meet customer expectations and personal objectives, DHL has decreased turnover.

For these purposes, they have a Dock-to-Driver program that offers training to warehouse workers, helping them transition from warehouse to higher-paying positions and providing a valuable incentive to prevent job hopping.

**Attracting the Next Generation of Leaders**
The supply chain talent pool is limited, but broader than initially thought. Academic institutions that provide operations management programs strive to assist college-level supply chain businesses and deliver first-rate supply chain education.

**Optimizing Efficiency**
The talent gap is a supply-demand issue, and optimizing processes across the supply chain can help manage demand. Techniques like consolidation and cross-docking can reduce LTL shipments, increase capacity, and reduce miles.

Emerging developments like truck platooning and warehouse **[automation](https://aristeksystems.com/blog/logistics-automation/)** also improve performance. Using data and analytics, automation, and shared-use warehouses can help manage productivity across multiple organizations. Carrier onboarding software helps eliminate paperwork and streamline the onboarding process so your carrier can get on the road faster.

Supply chain organizations must continuously improve by intelligently applying software and expertise to all operations.

**Automating Onboarding Processes**
The industry must adopt operational excellence in recruiting, and retaining human resources, using advanced software from application to onboarding, to expand qualified applicants and meet high seasonal demand.

It’s vital, because it saves plenty of time, money and makes onboarding independent of location. For example, now you can onboard any carrier when they are on the road.

**Conclusion**
Labor shortages have been an issue for a while now. Streamlining employee onboarding and training processes turns out to be a good solution. Fortunately, there are different great strategies and approaches to choose from. Selecting efficient onboarding software is one of the best ones.

[Book](https://aristeksystems.com/contact/) **a free consultation with our experts**, who will answer all questions you may have and help boost your business’ productivity.