Your Workforce Didn’t Show Up. Now What?

Is your team ready when it matters most?

It’s 7:05 a.m., and the distribution center faces a challenging start—a scene all too familiar in today’s logistics landscape, where unplanned labor shortages disrupt operations. Of the ten workers scheduled for essential pick and pack duties and forklift operations, only six have arrived, leading to significant backlogs. In fact, about 31% of temporary workers quit an assignment early, further compounding these shortages and leaving businesses scrambling to fill critical roles (Dharni, 2018). With a skeleton crew, order backlogs begin to mount, affecting not just today’s shipments but potentially the entire week’s schedule. Instead of coordinating shipments and managing workflows, the operations manager finds himself on a forklift, trying to fill the gaps. Pallets are piling up, aisles are congested, and the docks are falling behind, putting pressure on service level agreements and risking penalties. Rather than a seamless flow from receiving to dispatch, the day quickly spirals into bottlenecks, delayed processing, and operational gridlock—a costly, recurring consequence of unmet labor needs across the industry.

The Reactive Approach

Attempting to salvage the shift, the operations manager urgently calls the staffing agency for reinforcements—a reactive approach that often leads to additional costs and rarely addresses the core issue. After hours of waiting for a response, he finds himself nearing a crisis point as backlogged containers continue to build up, putting daily targets and timelines at risk. To cover for the morning absences, he pays a night-shift crew member overtime to stay later. Almost 50% of overtime costs go toward covering employee absences, including those of temporary workers (Stafford, 2024). By the time two replacement workers arrive, it’s apparent they’re unprepared for the demands of a fast-paced environment, lacking both the physical stamina and relevant experience to operate efficiently or safely. Team productivity takes another hit as experienced staff redirect their focus to train underprepared new arrivals, further slowing down operations. It turns out those last-minute replacements might actually do more harm than good — too little, too late. 

Is this how staffing should work? No.

The Proactive Approach

Consider a proactive staffing approach: instead of last-minute scrambling, imagine having 13 fully vetted workers, ready to cover call-offs and maintain productivity seamlessly. Each worker’s qualifications would be verified well in advance, with attendance confirmed through digital tools that ensure reliability on the day of the shift. Imagine having access to each worker’s attendance and reliability records—data-driven insights that ensure only dependable staff are placed, minimizing last-minute disruptions. Proactive staffing alleviates the burden of worrying about attendance and performance, as forward-thinking solutions handle this behind the scenes, streamlining operations. With proactive staffing, last-minute calls due to no-shows and on-the-fly training becomes a thing of the past, allowing management to focus on strategic priorities. 

When so many factors are outside your control, prioritizing the controllables—like preparing dependable, qualified workers ahead of time—becomes the key to smoother operations and a more productive, efficient future. 

Sounds good right?

Learn How Traba is transforming the way businesses find top light-industrial talent.