Staff Cross Utilization

Direct to Customer Fulfillment Center

Challenge: Associates of a distribution operation were being loaned to other departments and were not motivated to perform at acceptable levels because they were not offered incentive earnings. These employees were not properly trained to fill out time sheets, time codes, operation codes, etc. Because the pay scale was the same while they were working in this unfamiliar operation, employee morale was extremely low.

Actions: FPI performed a data analysis of the labor cross utilization through the Distribution Center and established baselines for individual and departmental performances. Then, FPI compared home department to borrowed-in department performance to determine discrepancies. The borrowed-in performance was 25% lower than the home department performance. As a result, we recommended a new pay scale for cross-utilized staff that provided extra earning capacity at higher efficiency ratings (i.e. $.80 for 90% performance).

Results: After implementing this new pay program, productivity increased 10% among the departments cross utilizing associates. Simultaneously, associate morale rose and employees were motivated to work in outside departments knowing that they could earn extra pay.