Knowledge workers: Why you need them and how to get them

By Govind Bhatti, Founder & CEO of Haulmate

Over-the-road truck fleets must accept that there’s a severe, seemingly endless shortage of truck drivers, churned along by the graying of America and the high turnover in every age bracket caused by the grueling demands of this job. This unfortunate dynamic forces keen innovation, whether by raising pay and adding benefits or implementing new ways to make the driver’s life on the road easier.

Likewise, trucking and logistics operators are being challenged to find enough tech-savvy and people-friendly candidates for various back-office 24/7 positions. These operators must shift their thinking to keep those slots filled. The first step is to recognize how critical workers are who can efficiently and masterfully work the levers of digital data and human communications minute by minute, shift after shift.

Defining knowledge workers

Employees who can perform like that have come to be known as “knowledge workers” and they are in high demand to make today’s digital workplaces zing along. As defined by Hewlett Packard, a digital workspace is a “virtualized form of the traditional, in-person office environment, where many elements of collaboration and productivity are performed through some combination of digital applications, cloud computing, and other technology.”

That sounds like logistics in a nutshell, where back-office personnel are charged with ensuring everything from scheduling and tracking to accounting and sales run seamlessly and efficiently in a race to win that never ends.

The term knowledge worker, coined by management guru Peter Drucker in his book Landmarks of Tomorrow (1959), has gained prominence as the digitization of the workplace accelerates. A knowledge worker is now seen as “a professional who generates value for the organization with their expertise, critical thinking and interpersonal skills… and can learn and adapt to a shifting work environment,” per a recent definition by IBM Education.  

Underscoring the value of knowledge workers in logistics is the 2023 MHI Annual Industry Report, which advises that, “The number one challenge for supply chains is related to workforce and talent. Our survey data projects this challenge to continue to accelerate in the future. Supply chains are only as good as the people who run them.”

How to get them

As a business process outsourcer (BPO), Haulmate is designed from the ground up to solve the shortage of highly sought knowledge workers for logistics firms and truck operations, including erasing the time and energy subsumed by recruiting, onboarding, training, and retaining these essential employees.

Haulmate places professionally trained, knowledgeable and communicative (in multiple languages) staff to work where and when you need them, 24/7 and across time zones. What’s more, Haulmate’s solutions are built on years of work in trucking, freight, and managing logistics. We know how to deliver knowledge workers who excel at everything from scheduling and freight tracking to billing and accounting and onto sales and lead generation.

Our approach to BPO is also immensely flexible. Instead of being yoked to a long-term contract, Haulmate allows you to scale your selected services up or down in line with your growth.

Knowledge workers are both the present and the future of your success in logistics and trucking. We know what you need done and who you need to do it, efficiently and safely, so you can focus more on the bigger picture of running and growing your company. To learn more about how we can take away the need for hiring, training, and retaining key staff, reach out to Haulmate. We’re here, like you, 24/7.