Charlotta Carter’s Post

Last week we had our monthly companywide touch base. During the update I provided some headlines for industry news over the last month. Some of the headlines and subject matter over the last month that I found notable were: 1.     Layoffs at logistics and technology companies continue... 2.     Ryder purchases Cardinal Logistics in what I call a perfect execution of M&A. I'm excited to see how this evolves. 3.     UPS cuts 12,000 non-union workers and is returning to a five-day office week this year. UPS has 500,000 employees. The 12,000 workers are largely office workers. When you consider the size of UPS. For those of us that have run large companies it's close to impossible to comprehend $100B in revenue and 1/2 a million employees. 12,000 employees laid off is only 2.4% of the entire pool. 4.     UPS could sell or make changes to its truckload brokerage Coyote Logistics. UPS acquired Coyote in 2015. CEO Carol Tomé stated that UPS didn’t fully grasp at the time the extent of the cyclical nature of the business. During COVID-19 Coyote reacted $4 Billion in revenue, Tomé notes. “It’s come way down since then,”. We spoke about the dynamic changes Coyote has brought to the industry including the culture and that any potential buyer needs to insure they preserve this moving forward. 5.     I also spoke about the continued changes in the industry where companies, drivers and suppliers are becoming closer in various evolving ways through social media. Examples of this are movements made by Reed Loustalot, Chris Thomas and Mutha Trucker News. As the conference season continues to pickup keep an eye out for these people and others like them and embrace what they are doing. 6.     Disruptions to the canals haven’t had as large of an impact to the global supply chain as some might have expected as of yet.

Disclaimer: This is a true story. Brace yourself I was treated to a master class in service yesterday. 🎉🎉🎉 It's been WAY WAY TOO LONG. And it may surprise you from what company. It's either Rogers or Bell - Front line employees are often the least paid, receive the most punches from their company & the customers & are turned over like pancakes at Denny's. It's not everyday you leave a retailer with new technology and a lessened monthly bill. I know it's tough when you're working for little pay - as a front line worker - - to stay positive when stuff is being hurled at you all shift long. Not sure how I'd fare if I'm being honest. BUT the gentlemen that helped me yesterday is now on the radar of his bosses and the next level bosses following my congratulatory reach-out to his team. We NEED to work together. Front line workers keep digging deep & customers do the work and REWARD great service and behaviour. These workers are in the trenches and their day to day WINS are not transparent often to their supervisors... To the young man at the company that rhymes with LA Dodgers - you've done really good! I appreciate it!  ❤️  ❤️ I'm checking in on you this time next year to see your growth! 💡💡 Whether you're selling a 12 month million dollar enterprise deal as a seasoned saas veteran OR you're helping a guy like me out at a local retailer - - a happy customer is a HAPPY CUSTOMER! 😄😄 Ring that 🔔 #sales #salesteams #salesculture #salestraining #salescoaching #salespeople #frontlineworker #customers #appreciation #recommendations #customerservice #hardwork #customersupport #communications #corporations #employeerecognition #frontlineworker #retail #retailer #instore #salesmanagers #salesandservice #customerservice #bigbusiness #telecommunications #unifiedcommunications #calling #app #customerrecognition #enterprisesales #ae #bdr #startups #startupsales #founders #retailsales #customercentric #culture #transactionalsales #salesleadership

Staffing agencies are now in a fierce competition for talent, not just against each other but also against gig platforms like Uber, Doordash, and TaskRabbit. If it's easier to work for them than it is for your agency, you're in trouble. How are you attracting and retaining top talent in this dynamic landscape? Share your tips below! 💼 #TalentAcquisition

The firing of middle management at companies is getting a lot of attention. This is not a good situation for #workplacereputation at the companies wielding the axe. e.g. UPS announcing 12000 layoffs. Sure, when macro environment changes businesses need to lean up. I get it. In my career I have had 7 PE/VC owners. And no-one knows how to lean up like the finance crowd😉 But blaming middle management to get a pass for the next quarter is not the answer. The answer is to proactively: a) understand which people are actually going to be good at people management before they are given those jobs. This is urgent. - People management is a hard skill. Not a soft one. - Stop the promotion madness of people that aren't qualified to do it. 🛑 b) modernizing training and arming people managers with the tools they need to avoid being dead weight when cost cuts are called for. ✅ c) Use span of control metrics in every function to stop the proliferation of people managers in the guise of "keeping" or "growing" their careers. 🔢

I know many people who have started to pull back on their monthly expenses. The King family too!! Back to basics: cooking dinner at home. This is the Wave 2 layoffs I have been referring to. When hundreds of thousands of six-figure corporate jobs are lost...it has a trickle down effect to the nice-to-have spends we all became accustomed to. 800 people...out of work 😢 https://lnkd.in/dW8fG9fs. #KeepPressingForward #AlwaysBeNetworking #UpdateYourLinkedInProfile #Engage #Pivot

🚨 Attention Ecommerce Leaders! 🚨 As we celebrate our yearly sales and growth, let’s not forget the heartbeat of our company: our employees. With many team members becoming "open to work," it’s crucial to ask why. Are they feeling insecure in their roles? Is our workplace fostering a culture of fear rather than growth? Or is our company facing challenges similar to those quick commerce firms, leading to layoffs? It's time to listen, engage, and create an environment where everyone feels valued and secure. Happy employees lead to happy customers! Let’s prioritize our people as much as we do our profits. 💼❤️ #EmployeeEngagement #Ecommerce #CompanyCulture #TeamSupport #flipkart #amazon #myntra #zomato #blinkit #zepto

Layoffs are never easy, especially when they affect customers as well as employees. laying off employees, and reducing work hours of employees who shop at Walgreens decreases Walgreens buttom line. It's time to reevaluate our priorities and get back to the basics. We need to focus on being a community-focused pharmacy and investing in our employees. Let's say goodbye to "change for the sake of change" initiatives and instead focus on what made us successful in the first place. We need to sell Boots alliance, Carecentrix, VillageMD and other failed ventures. As someone who has been following this industry closely and predicted and wrote about these outcomes in 2016, I am excited to work on my dissertation on the fall of pharmacy retail and the steps we can take to bring it back to its former self. Let's work together to create a sustainable model that can withstand economic downturns and be depression-proof as it was before our time.

Can your company recruit Gen-Z talent better than CHIPOTLE? Chipotle, a California-based fast-casual chain, is taking bold steps to attract and retain Gen-Z employees as it heads into its busiest season. The chain has announced new financial and mental health perks for its staff, including six free sessions with a mental health professional and a 4% salary match through 401(k) contributions if they make student loan payments. In addition, the chain is offering access to Cred.ai and SoFi, two personal finance platforms. With plans to hire 19,000 new workers, up 27% from last year, the chain is sending a clear message: it values its employees and is willing to invest in their well-being. It's refreshing to see a company take such proactive measures to support its staff and foster a positive work environment. It also shows that recruiting Gen-Z talent is getting more difficult, and they are looking for very different benefits than other generations. #onedigital #employeebenefits #hr

Signs of impending shutdown. Supply exceeds demand. In corporate, you see it in the numbers. Revenue is purchased rather than earned. In a DC you see this in shift schedules adjusted down. You see it in lower volumes pushed over time. Product doesn't meet market needs. During COVID lockdowns, people had more free time to explore hobbies like cooking. Anyone that wanted to try a meal kit tried a meal kit. At high prices relative to groceries, meal kits haven't solved any perceived problem since 2022. Revenue growth had to be manufactured by high media spend and discounts. Everyone else is exiting because the market is shrinking. In the meal kit industry, leading competitor Blue Apron went private for pennies relative to its IPO price and HomeChef was bought out by Kroger. Turnover is high in key functions. You see this with high job post volumes that do not follow profit trends. You can see this all over LinkedIn with a flood of people finding new jobs elsewhere and opening posts in spite of poor business economics. Institutional knowledge is lost with high turnover and replacements need time to get up-to-speed. This leads to downward spiral in efficiency. Do you see these signs where you are? Perhaps the end is near. To help, I post plenty of job search content like this: https://lnkd.in/gyWayPqM I also post and repost job roundups regularly. Follow for more! #jobopportunites #jobs #marketing #marketingjobs #marketinganalytics #hiring #layoffs #gethired #layoffsigns #warnnotice #privateequity #pe https://lnkd.in/gy-j6Mdn.

Tony Hsieh paid employees a $2,000 bonus to quit! Why would a CEO do this? It's simple. It saved Zappos money in the long run by reducing turnover. It ensured only those truly passionate about the job would stay. It eliminated those who weren't fully committed to the company culture. The results? Only a small percentage of recent recruits accepted the offer. And those who stayed were more engaged, productive, and aligned with Zappos' values. This "pay to quit" policy became so successful that Amazon (which acquired Zappos in 2009) adopted a similar tactic, offering up to $5,000 for warehouse employees to quit. Tony’s innovative thinking didn't stop there. He also implemented a “Holacracy” management structure that decentralized decision-making and gave employees more autonomy. So what can this teach companies? Prioritize cultural fit. Invest in employees who uphold your values and mission. Trust your team with decision-making authority. Don't be afraid to challenge traditional business practices.