Sources of satisfaction

By Peter Bradley, Editor in Chief -- Logistics Management, 11/1/2000

The great majority of logistics professionals are satisfied with their careers, if our new poll on job satisfaction is a true indicator. And most would follow the same career path if they had it to do over.

Those results, reported in more detail in the story beginning on Page 40, are greatly encouraging. Much has been written in the past several years about the rising demands on logistics professionals, and those demands have almost certainly increased on-the-job stress levels. The finding that most logistics professionals are relatively happy in their work suggests that the added responsibilities were not only accepted, but also welcome.

That fits with much of the research addressing job-related stress. Stress itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but unrelieved stress combined with a sense of loss of control adds up to physical and psychological problems that can cost businesses dearly. Yet demanding jobs that also provide the wherewithal to accomplish them plus a work environment that acknowledges accomplishment can add up to real job satisfaction.

I suspect, in fact, that the satisfaction levels among logistics professionals have grown at the same rate that their responsibilities have grown. Why? Because increasingly, business executives and boards of directors see logistics as a source of competitive advantage. It's logistics and related supply chain management capabilities that are helping businesses reduce inventory, accelerate cycle times, and speed up cash flows. Technological tools have become available that allow logistics managers to solve problems that once seemed intractable. The job has not gotten any easier, but the recognition and rewards for success have grown.

That does not necessarily mean all is well in the workplace. The number of hours workers of all stripes are spending on the job continues to rise. The pressure for improvement is unrelenting in an extremely competitive global marketplace. The wish for more time for family and for leisure seems to be widespread. Ask someone how he or she is doing, and the answer is often "Busy"-followed by the apologetic, "but that's a good thing." Well, being busy is generally a good thing, but as the old saw goes, no one ever expressed any deathbed regrets about not having spent more time at work.

Some workplace managers are taking steps to ensure that employees can achieve a better balance between their work and their personal lives. Job satisfaction, they recognize, is intimately connected to a person's overall satisfaction with his or her life. In a marketplace that competes for talent as fiercely as the logistics business does today, those businesses will succeed with both their customers and their employees.