GEODIS
Using insights from employee engagement to take action, lower turnover and reduce costs.
STAFFING NEEDS
46,000+ teammates employed
Serving 168 countries
Focused on understanding the driving factors behind their hourly worker turnover and taking action to improve retention
THE WORKSTEP IMPACT
22% relative reduction in workforce turnover
Frontline employee engagement rates are 8% above industry benchmarks
80% of HR and Ops leaders actively engaged with WorkStep
“WorkStep saves us from misfiring so we can use our resources constructively”
John Harris – Sr. Director of HR, US Contract Logistics
GEODIS is a worldwide transport and logistics leader helping companies overcome logistical constraints. They have five lines of business, Supply Chain Optimization, Freight Forwarding, Contract Logistics, Distribution & Express and Road Transport, and have a global network reaching across 168 countries.
Without a robust and steady distributed workforce in place, GEODIS realized they would not be able to keep up their commitment to their clients without putting a strain on their existing workers. This meant they needed a way to regularly engage with their hourly workforce to understand what was driving turnover in this population and how they could make changes to prevent it. GEODIS partnered with WorkStep to gather real-time feedback from their frontline associates and develop action plans to improve retention rates.
Challenge
GEODIS recognized that in order to build a successful retention strategy they needed a way to regularly engage with their hourly workforce. They understood that gathering feedback from their workforce could empower their facility leaders to develop targeted actions aimed at specific turnover drivers.
In order to accomplish these goals, GEODIS needed an intuitive platform to help capture feedback from their hourly associates and develop action plans around insights from their frontline.
Solution
GEODIS partnered with WorkStep to identify top turnover drivers in order to empower HR and Operations leaders to take action. The engagement began as a pilot in four campuses and, within three months, was rolled out nationwide.
WorkStep equipped GEODIS with the ability to engage with their distributed workforce in real-time by sending regular check-ins across key employee milestones. These responses were easily accessible by leadership in one central repository, which made it simple to compare data across facilities, roles, and accounts. GEODIS was able to bring together Operations and HR leaders, creating a partnership between the two functions to synthesize data and take action.
HR leaders were able to address red-button issues in real-time, to ensure employees felt heard, while Ops leaders were able to review feedback on Safety, Schedule and Tools to increase productivity.
The solution enabled them to clearly identify the driving factors behind turnover and see trends across regions, which they could then develop action plans around. For example, in one campus it became clear that workforce concerns around working conditions were tied specifically to railway pickups when the weather was poor. To address this issue, the campus upgraded their team gear, and created a balanced schedule for these railway pickups, which improved satisfaction scores and ultimately reduced turnover.The success at this campus led other leaders to implement similar solutions at their own facilities.
Results
GEODIS saw significant improvement in retention in 2022. New hire retention was up 9% and overall workforce turnover was down 22%. Using the platform, GEODIS was able to clearly identify strengths and opportunities by region. As a result, leaders worked to improve employee sentiment toward career growth, feedback and manager relationships.
GEODIS has learned throughout this partnership that not everything is a company-wide or even a facility-wide issue that requires a ton of investment to solve. With qualitative feedback and predictive analytics, they can point their frontline leaders in the right direction.
80% of GEODIS’ HR and Operations leaders are consistently logging into WorkStep to gain real-time insights from incoming feedback. These teams work together to develop tactical initiatives and proactively engage with their associates to drive positive results facility and company-wide.
When GEODIS HR leaders evaluate whether their engagement platforms are working to reduce turnover, they find that there is a strong correlation between their highest engaged campuses, and the campuses with the lowest employee turnover.
Next Steps
GEODIS has implemented many impactful initiatives based on their engagement with WorkStep. Using the platform’s Impact Tracker, leaders are able to track the impact these actions have on turnover and employee favorability.
Based on their results, GEODIS is working to spread WorkStep to additional geographies and divisions that were not previously covered.
