Reducing Warehouse Employee Turnover,
dealing with a Union Vote
The Company
A manufacturer of dairy products, including sour cream, cottage cheese, flavored milk, and other dairy specialty items; distribution in 28 states.
The Problem
The company struggled with excessive warehouse turnover, complaints, and more union organizing votes. More employees were needed to handle an expanding warehouse, but the company had difficulty training and keeping existing ones. In addition to higher turnover costs, it faced increased overtime costs and frequent longer truck load times; a recent vote to unionize had failed by only a few votes.
The Solution
We identified turnover causes and developed specific solutions to solve them.
We:
- Conducted exit interviews with former employees.
- Interviewed employees, the warehouse manager, supervisors, and foremen.
- Delivered individual coaching and group training sessions for warehouse management who were seen as critical, dictatorial, unappreciative, and refusing legitimate requests.
- Turnover and complaints were monitored; follow up interviews were conducted with the same employees four months later to measure progress. New employees were also interviewed.
The Results
Employee complaints dropped by two-thirds, load times were reduced, and the next union vote lost by a much wider margin.
Compare the Cost of Retention Services vs. Savings for the Company:
Retention Services: less than $17,000.
Savings to the Company: Savings to handle reduced employee complaints and faster load times were estimated at over $6,000; while the savings of not having a union in place were not estimated, most companies would likely estimate this to be worth many times the cost of the program.
Note: We respectfully work for both union and non-union companies, and are neither pro nor anti-union. A no vote to unionize occurred for this company because of the improved ways management worked with its employees.
