Todd Chambers and Chris Dickerson are materials handling all-stars. Neither has a college degree, but both have been educated in the management tracks their respective companies offer employees with the right stuff.

Dickerson started out as a case-pack order filler at Dollar General's Ardmore, Okla., distribution center 14 years ago. Today he's assistant general manager in the company's Fulton, Mo., facility. What sets him apart from a college-bred manager is that he can walk among the hourlies working in case-pack order filling and repack, and identify operations that are going well and those that aren't. He's done those jobs.

Chambers is general manager for The Saddle Creek Corp.'s Grand Prairie, Texas, facility. He started at this third-party logistics provider 10 years ago as a supervisor then moved into operations management, then facility management, before becoming a general manager. He didn't go to college, but through sweat equity he's leading a group of 80 people.

Anthony Roden, vice president of distribution for Dollar General, hired Dickerson and says experience is the best teacher for materials handling logistics managers.

“You can hire kids out of college for entry-level management positions,” he acknowledges, “but when they come out of college they don't know how to manage people. They know how to read manuals and study processes and engineer things, but the biggest gap is on the people side.”

This is quite a statement coming from a college grad. Roden admits when he came out of school and worked in a DC for Zayre, he didn't have people management skills. That's why today, as part of the development of his management staff, they have to go through an extensive program of behavioral science. It's not only good management, but the most effective way to keep the employees you hire and develop.

“The days of 'do this job or else' are over,” Roden says. “People know they can get a job for $10 an hour in 30 minutes. If you're not able to reinforce the desired behaviors to the point where they want to stay to do that job for you and get results through people, they're going to leave. Logistics is one of the most competitive fields out there, and the competition for labor will be one of the determining factors in who is successful.”

At Dollar General, more than 75% of its managers were grown, developed and taught from the hourly level. An order-filler who goes through the company's leadership development program can become a supervisor within two years, knowing every job in the DC.

“Pay isn't enough any more,” Roden maintains. “You have to be able to recognize what's reinforcing behavior. Work has to be fun.”

Robert Pericht, senior vice president of warehouse operations for Saddle Creek, says logistics disciplines lend themselves to “pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps type” individuals. However, that doesn't mean these individuals are predictable.

“The new generation entering the workforce and their ideals and values are different from previous generations, so you have to constantly update your process,” Pericht says. “That's No. 1.”

The second thing to remember, he says, is to maintain a solid infrastructure you can rely on as a source of good candidates. That could be a dotcom resume clearing house or, even better, a local chamber of commerce or vocational school.

Third, deliver what you promise to job candidates. “An extra nickel might get them in the door, but you have to keep them,” Pericht says. “Your culture and your approach to business and to people are important. That's why we don't have a lot of turnover.”

Another 3PL, Kane Is Able, of Scranton, Pa., established its own “Kane College” catering to the desire in employees to take ownership of their jobs and skills. John Straub, vice president of human resources, says the more people understand their job, the more ownership they take.

“At Kane College, we put all of our folks through training sessions, everything from reading profit and loss statements to team building, we have different products and curricula for every associate,” Straub says. “The operator on the forklift is not just a forklift operator, but the owner of a process, and they should understand the entire process. We've used that as a recruiting mechanism, saying 'You're not just going to be on a forklift, you'll learn the operations, including warehousing.'”

Straub acknowledges his company doesn't see many of the right people filling out applications. In fact his applicant-to-hire ratio is as high as 30 to one—30 resumes to find one hire. That's why Kane no longer requires forklift expertise of candidates.

“We're hiring for attitude and we'll train them on the skill sets,” Straub says. He admits there's danger in that he could be training the next forklift operator that chases the next better paying job offered down the street. Yet he's convinced that investing in employee development and offering opportunities that take advantage of those new skills is the key to retention.

Another school of thought for finding and retaining talent is to go to school. Joe Sing, executive director of the technical training center of the Memphis Area Boys & Girls Club, works with at-risk 16 to 21 year olds. He places as much concentration on warehousing's soft skills as he does on hard skills. For those hard skills, his training center has a lab in which the staff teaches not only lift truck operation, but the basics of picking, packing and inventory management. Soft skills include team building, presentation skills and conflict resolution.

“Those are the areas where we're doing the most good because once people are placed, the training on the hard skills are set, and they'll train them at each location as to how they want them to work,” Sing says. “It's the soft skill area where punctuality, communication, behavior, working relationships and leadership skills will get these people in lead positions.”

Sing is looking for employers who will partner with him to make use of the fruits of his training. He'll even tailor training to an employer's needs.

Clifford Lynch, president of C. F. Lynch & Associates in Memphis, has provided management advisory services in logistics since 1993. Before that, he was vice president of logistics for Quaker Oats and president of Trammell Crow Distribution. He says the work of people like Joe Sing is critical because the number of those able and willing to work in a warehouse environment is shrinking. Just attracting someone who is drug and alcohol free and willing to work 8 hours a day is tougher than it was 10 years ago, says Lynch.

“What's going on through the Boys & Girls Club is not a dead-end program,” he adds. “It has a career track. There are a number of things you can learn in today's distribution center.”

He identifies technologies such as warehouse management systems (WMS), bar code scanning and RFID as points of entry to that career track. The problem, as he sees it, is that most distribution centers and logistics service providers don't have succession planning at the operational level, as they do at the managerial levels. It's a luxury many can't afford. That's why medical benefits are such a strong retention tool. These workers will change jobs for an extra dollar, Lynch says, but when they find out what the cost of their medical insurance will be at the new place, they may have second thoughts.

Kane's John Straub says his company offers group accident and long term care, things that competitors choose not to provide (see story below). He's also big on incentive pay.

“The most effective thing is where I can team up with my client and my associates and say, 'My goal is to get 1,000 of these done today. If we get to 1,200 done, everybody gets an extra 25 cents.' If I can get folks to stay for 180 days, I can keep them for years. I'm adding 20% to my headcount every year. I found a way to beat the fact I can't hire everybody with a degree.”

Hanging on for health

In 2004, Crown Equipment Corporation implemented its HealthWise Program to improve the health and productivity of its workforce. Today, more than half of Crown's workforce falls into the low health risk category—an improvement of 12%. Trends also indicate a significant reduction in the health care costs for employees who consistently participate in the program.

Crown's vice president of human resources, Randy Niekamp, says the HealthWise program sends a strong message to employees and to job candidates that the company cares about their well-being. It has also changed the way Crown views health care as a benefit.

“Our focus prior to this program was on people who have medical issues,” he says. “But what were we doing to keep them healthy? That's where we saw the biggest opportunity.

This program can't just be based in the human resources department.”

Crown corporate medical director, James R. Heap M.D., says employers would be wise to get involved in such health and productivity management programs because they benefit the employees and the company.

“Healthier employees have fewer injuries and medical care costs and they're more productive,” he says. Heap cites significant support from Crown senior management as a reason this program succeeds. The University of Michigan also played a role by setting an example with its Next Generation Health Management Program. The concept supports educating all employees, regardless of risk levels, reaching out to employees' families, and partnering with professionals to measure results.