SMARTER WORK FOR THE REMOVALS INDUSTRY

Over the last 5 years the removals industry has been through a period of instability because the consequences of slow housing markets, globalisation and unstable world economies have taken their toll.

One of the downstream effects of this instability is that wage rates for operations staff have remained static, the first reason being competitive price pressure at the purpose of sale. To please today's customer is not any longer almost logistics. Moving house is a stressful business and customers will choose a mover based upon a combination of sound reasoning and emotion. Their expectation is of excellence in logistics combined with a high level of comfort and interaction, most significantly in their home.

One of the challenges faced by the removals industry therefore is to find new ways of attracting, rewarding and retaining top field staff in such a difficult business environment. Operations teams are generally 2 or 3 days within the family home so a big a part of the customers experience are going to be determined by their efforts. They're expected to be physically fit, great packers and drivers, good house guests and excellent communicators. This is often no large order once you consider that customers are often under considerable pressure when moving house.

Lump sum contracts aren't new but under today's conditions they will provide the foremost skilled and talented operations staff a chance to vary the way they work and luxuriate in some unique benefits. The idea of those contracts is that employees who demonstrate consistent productivity and quality in their work can apply to maneuver off wages and into a payment arrangement. They will then matched into 2 person team and effectively work as small businesses within the company. The large difference is that a payment contract team are paid on employment by job basis and there's no limit to their earnings. Quite literally the more work they complete the more they earn.

Lump sum workers aren't contractors. The advantage of this arrangement is that contractors curious about removals and storage opportunities are generally business people with no industry experience. They're looking for a business opportunity but don't understand the emotive nature of moving and therefore the need for specific skills in both logistics and PR. These new teams are already skilled removalists and that they now have a chance to enjoy the financial benefits of being a contractor with none of the problems related to owning a business. This arrangement delivers a win for everybody involved, most importantly the customer.

I believe that payment contracts are essential if the removals industry wish to retain and supply career opportunities for top operational staff. Employers can retain their best talent, reward them accordingly and most importantly keep them within the customers' homes. Most importantly this sort of contract enables the labour cost to be fixed for every job as these teams are paid by the work and there's not a variable wage component. If one among the team are on holiday, sick or otherwise indisposed their partner can continue on an hourly rate until they return to work. It's that simple.

Thanks & Regards