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Results from a sizeable HR survey were published by German express giant DHL this month, featuring the thoughts of more than 7,000 respondents from around the world on the future workforce in the logistics industry. While not necessarily a shipping focused poll, the results still contain much food for thought for maritime and how to get the best out of the next generation. Digital natives are starting to outnumber everyone else in logistics, older generations are retiring and new joiners are arriving with unfamiliar needs, preferences, and concepts of work, the survey found. Organisations need to deploy strategies that will attract, retain, develop, and motivate workers in the digital era. “Millennials and Generation Z now make up the majority of the global workforce and wield a significant amount of power as consumers. Together they are amplifying pressure on the logistics industry to meet new expectations around sustainability, diversity and inclusion, employee well-being, and tech-forward environments,” the report based on the findings of the survey states. The report says 50% of millennial and 75% of Generation Z workers have left a job for mental health reasons. The report also suggests that 50% of millennials would consider leaving a job for another more environmentally friendly company. Up to 83% of Generation Z see diversity and inclusion as important when choosing an employer. Demand for logistics labour is surging and industry experts predict machines will take over 50% of workplace tasks by 2025, the DHL poll suggested. Millennials and Generation Z now make up the majority of the global workforce The survey’s tone has similarities with recent work carried out by the World Economic Forum on future skills. The forum estimates that by 2025, 85m jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines. But even more jobs – 97m – may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms. Looking at what shipping can take away from the DHL survey, Heidi Heseltine, the CEO of Halcyon Recruitment, says the war on talent means shipping needs to be more on the front foot, adapting company culture to be more attractive and in tune to the incoming workforce. “These strategies need to capture the attention of our future talent and, in order to do so, it is critical that we understand what motivates these employees and are able to adapt our working cultures and career offerings to be an industry, and employers, of choice,” Heseltine says. Hiring to heighten in 2022 Mark Charman, CEO of recruitment firm Faststream, tells Splash Extra that our industry needs to rapidly adapt to the demands of Gen Z or miss out on the best talent. “The pandemic has accelerated change and the maritime sector is going to have to peddle hard to keep up. Without a doubt we are already seeing winners and losers in the competition for talent, and I think in 2022, we will see skills shortages worsen, and organisations forced to adapt more quickly,” Charman warns, suggesting that the companies who fail to recognise the new demands of job seekers will simply be left behind. In 2022, we will see skills shortages worsen, and organisations forced to adapt more quickly “I believe early 2022 will see unprecedented levels of hiring and it will be very much a candidate driven market,” Charman predicts. Mind your ESG Phil Parry, chairman of recruitment outfit Spinnaker Global, relates the noticeable shift towards vacancies for jobs that didn’t exist previously; these are primarily ESG related with the weighting on the E, S and G varying depending upon sector. “Shipowners emphasise the E, service sectors the S&G and so on,” Parry says. “As with all new market dynamics, employers are looking for unicorns – several years’ experience in what is a relatively new domain, twinned with maritime experience,” Parry says, adding: “In truth, we’re bringing in people from outside of shipping more often than not.” Rajesh Unni, founder and CEO of shipmanager Synergy Marine Group, says the digital world continues to develop rapidly and needs immediate literacy and intuitive use, so maritime operations become easier, faster and more efficient. “The most important skill to learn is learnability itself,” Unni says. Behind the curve Click to enlarge Frank Coles, the former CEO of Wallem Group, who is now a maritime consultant, says that on reading DHL’s Future of Work paper he was struck by how far behind the curve the maritime industry is in addressing the new generations of the workforce. The expectations and aspirations of the newer generations are very different to that of the current leadership of boomers and Generation X, Coles argues. “You see two trends clearly defined in the differences, one is technology-based and the other is ESG/welfare-based,” Coles says. Looking at the DHL stats on what Gen Z and millennials think about their workplace when it comes to issues such as sustainability and diversity, Coles tells Splash Extra: “If these numbers are indicative of the realities then we can expect a big change in either workplace attitudes in maritime, or people leaving in droves.” Concluding, Halcyon ’s Heseltine stresses shipping has to become more environmentally sustainable, more efficient, more transparent and more collaborative. “We need forward thinking, progressive and inclusive leaders to drive this transformation,” she urges.

The demands of tomorrow’s workforce

Company culture needs to change dramatically in order to attract Generation Z. Splash Extra assesses how.

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