Operations and Warehouse Hiring Design

Operations and Warehouse Hiring Design:

Accelerate Hiring, Reduce Spend, Improve Communication

"I have an idea," the Director of Talent Acquisition said when she called. Her high-performing teams were outperforming expectations and had the capacity and know-how to take on more.

Together, we reviewed the hiring process for Operations within the company's largest division. We streamlined agency relationships and improved reporting and communication with business leaders. The business leaders were highly collaborative and the change happened fast. We were able to roll out the new process to several locations successfully. After that, we went to work on hiring for the warehouse - a major effort involving a large, cross-functional team and multiple project managers. We wanted to take over recruiting without risking the relationship with agencies the company had always leaned on for these hires. Communication was our greatest resource and we probably over-communicated most of the time. We mapped the process, identified key players, and worked out marketing plans, job descriptions, schedules, and more. We started with a small cohort and grew from there.

So many wins! One, in particular, was simple, but a game-changer for the business: with Covid raging, most employees were working remotely. That meant hundreds of contractors had the company's equipment in their homes and they were slow to return it at the end of a contract. "Have you asked the agencies for help?" That simple question took us quickly from problem to solution. The agencies agreed to assume responsibility for the equipment, we shored up the equipment return tracking on our end, and those lost laptops found their way back to the office. It's not always that easy to turn something around, but this time, it worked.