If you’re in the warehousing, distribution, or fulfillment end of the supply chain, chances are you’re struggling to attract, hire, and retain associates. In fact, you’ve probably been facing this staffing challenge for quite some time. And things are not likely to improve anytime soon.
The U.S. unemployment rate remains at a record low of 3.4%. Meanwhile, the industry’s need for hand laborers and material movers is forecast to grow 6% by 2031, with nearly 1.06 million job openings annually. With no foreseeable balancing of the labor market, how will you keep your business running amid staffing shortages?
On-demand labor is teams of experienced associates and supervisors who help stabilize an operation experiencing rapid growth, temporary staffing shortages, or seasonal volume spikes. By engaging and deploying on-demand workers to supplement an existing workforce, an operation’s management can refocus on its top priorities.
FHI NOW® is an on-demand labor solution serving a broad range of markets and geographic regions. As supply chain labor challenges have increased in recent years, FHI provides short-term reinforcement to keep your operations on-track. Operations in need of immediate help to stabilize their business can have a team at their site within 72 hours.
FHI works with an operation’s management to determine the type and number of workers needed to augment an existing labor force and address operational challenges. Based on those needs, FHI provides experienced, professional warehousing associates whose qualifications match the types of labor you need.
These include:
FHI NOW teams deploy in less than 72 hours, and each includes at least 10 associates and a designated onsite team leader. This frees up your internal team to focus on your business strategy and goals.
FHI NOW associates average more than 12 months experience working in manual, semi-automated, and automated logistics operations. Any necessary certifications are up to date, so the team arrives at your location ready to make an immediate impact.
FHI NOW team leaders average more than five years of experience in both warehouse operations and people management. They interface with operations leaders, answer questions, address concerns, and communicate any process changes or handling requests to the FHI associates. They also train their team on processes specific to the operation.
Currently, the FHI NOW on-demand workforce is more than 1,600 strong. Deployments include as many associates as a business needs. FHI has provided as many as 150 associates to one operation and has the capacity to provide more. Each on-demand deployment’s duration varies based on business’s demands and ranges from six weeks to several months.
There’s really no comparison. FHI NOW on-demand associates and temporary labor differ in five key ways.
Temporary workers rarely have experience in warehousing, and often don’t return a second day. This means the operation must dedicate its own resources to bring new groups of temps up to speed daily.
FHI NOW associates are highly experienced in receiving, picking, packing, order consolidation, replenishment, put-away, shipping and more so they can immediately support your full-time employees. Your internal team no longer has to dedicate extensive time, resources, and expenses to repetitive training for short-term labor.
We recruit FHI NOW associates throughout the U.S., so they are much more flexible and dependable than those sourced from temporary agencies. Their sole objective is to work in your facility. Further, this geographic diversity enables us to deploy FHI NOW teams to areas where the labor force is exceptionally limited.
Temporary workers are unlikely to have warehousing experience, which means they often perform tasks more slowly, with less accuracy, and with higher safety risk.
FHI NOW associates are trained “the FHI Way” and know how to work safely, efficiently, and accurately. Plus, with their warehouse expertise, their learning curve is extremely short. That makes them up to 75% more productive than temporary workers from day one.
The bottom line is that operations can hire fewer trained FHI NOW associates to do the work of temporary workers, saving money overall.
Unlike FHI, temporary agencies do not provide an onsite leader to train and guide their team. That means your operation’s own staffers must provide continuous support. In contrast, FHI’s onsite leadership manages FHI NOW associates, making sure they meet business needs and productivity goals safely, quickly, and efficiently — taking that responsibility off of the warehouse manager.
For a temporary worker, today’s job is just a job — not a career. FHI NOW team leaders and associates use their extensive warehousing experience to drive efficiency improvements in existing operations. They actively look for waste and implement lean processes that cut your costs and add value to your supply chain, such as streamlining inventory flow or improving ergonomics.
If we learned one thing during the pandemic and subsequent labor shortage in the overall workforce, it’s that labor never stabilizes. And without stable labor, an operation can flounder.
FHI NOW deployments help customers in a variety of situations:
Regardless of the challenge, FHI NOW will stabilize your operation so you can get back to business.
At FHI, we understand the unique stresses your operations face. For over 30 years, FHI has built a reputation in the distribution and logistics industry for delivering the highest levels of experience, professionalism, safety, and commitment to Hard Work Done Right®.
To leverage our experience, let us deploy a professional warehousing team that resolves your immediate labor shortage and addresses your short-term business needs.
Schedule a call and we’ll be happy to answer any other questions and offer additional details about how to put FHI NOW to work for you.