I Think everybody in the logistics & transport industry can agree that mental health has been declining lately amongst many of us: constant deadlines, pressure to deliver high-quality work, too much workload, unrealistic management expectations, separation from family & friends, longer drive times for truckies, picking during night times to keep-up with online sales and the list goes on. Its been a tough year for most in the industry and that too after several years of mounting pressure to deliver in a booming economy.
A highly competitive industry which literally never stops to deliver the actual promised goods to its customers. A constant rush to increase service levels and reduce costs for its clients. On top of that is that it’s also a highly transactional business: top management gets rewarded with major bonusses won under their guidance by the sales & solutions teams. These men & woman have a highly desirable skill set which takes years to develop, requires a lateral way of thinking, experience is key, and the best people develop the most innovative solutions. This leads to a constant race for the best talent in the business to be able to land the biggest opportunities. Recruiters are having a blast and are constantly on the lookout for that next talented candidate.
Logistics is the big player behind the curtains, you don’t really notice it’s all ongoing until it stops. The pandemic hit the globe and quickly spread from China over all the other continents. Wreaking havoc, disrupting supply chains, disrupting global travel and disrupting the global economy. Suddenly there is a spotlight on logistics & supply chain because the shelves are not filled-up anymore in the supermarkets. Hoarding of product presents an issue for general & grocery retailers to get product on the shelf as quickly as possible to meet the demand. The finite maximum capacity of the supply chain is breached and suddenly the population thinks there is no more toilet paper available in the country!
More trucks need to be loaded; warehouses are going into 24/7 shifts just to get the product in these trucks asap. An already mentally exhausted workforce now must deal with increasing volumes while also trying to socially distance during work. Work conditions are thus becoming more difficult during Covid-19, increasing anxiety and stress for employees. White-collared personnel is working from home and we all know the intricacies of Zoom and Teams these days. We started with video on but as the pandemic progressed, lockdowns got worse; most of us couldn’t be bothered for much longer with video.
On the 18th of August a new foundation was launched by some major players in the transport & logistics industry: Woolworths, Coles, Qube, Toll, Linfox & Ron Finemore Transport. These parties together addressed a topic which has been neglected for a long-time within the industry: mental health of its employees. The current Covid-19 has worsened working conditions and mental health for an already stressed workforce, and we are all seeing the results of that. It’s good to see these major players band together and focus on the most important part of their business: the employees. Below is an infographic from the main site: https://www.healthyheads.org.au/
- 8% of workers experience a mental health condition
- 2% agree that the workplace caused it or made this worse
- And the list goes on…
The logistics & supply chain industry ranks as the worst from a stress & mental health perspective across 19 other industries, a clear indication something is wrong and needs to be addressed.
Hopefully this new initiative and cooperation between these giants can have a positive impact on all of us. Share research, ideas to make workplaces more Covid-19 safe, optimise safer & efficient driving for trucks, improve safety in warehouses and so much more which can be shared and improved. 2 people know more than 1 and I’m sure these companies can share some of their experiences and research to improve conditions for all of us.
Like most, I’m curious and waiting to see any new developments coming out of this initiative and how it will improve working conditions for the men & woman across the industry.