Client: National Variety Store
A Brand New Zip Sortation Center Exceeds Peak Season Productivity Goals with Eclipse IA’s Unique Cost Per Unit (CPU) Workforce Model
The Challenge
Fully staff a new zip sortation center in time for the holiday rush
Starting up a zip sortation site for the last mile delivery for a major eCommerce company that required a minimum of 400 workers on day one of operations and during the peak of the holiday season required both flexibility and nimbleness to ensure it’s success.
The Situation
This site was to be the first site for the client localized centrally in the United States. The site was located in a major warehouse park full of businesses competing to fill warehouse and distribution jobs. Eclipse had to staff the site and ensure the workers were properly trained to offload trucks, work the conveyance sortation and load trucks for delivery.
"Our culture is strong and our pay is strategic and that goes a long way in retention"
We are contractually obligated to increase or decrease production by 20% the day of operation, and with our size and quality of our applicant waitlist, which is primarily filled with referrals from existing workers, we are always prepared to meet this demand. People want to be a part of what’s going on here,”
- Sean Crane | Eclipse General Manager
The Solution
900 Offers to Qualified Candidates
To ensure that 400 reliable, quality workers were onsite at go-live, Eclipse strategically doubled the recruitment need, which meant finding, screening and making offers to a minimum of 800 candidates.
In addition to standard onsite recruiting, Eclipse was able to make 900 offers to qualified candidates through:
- Grassroots recruiting at high-traffic spots, like social events, supermarkets and apartment complexes. Some of Eclipse’s recruiters were from the local communities, spoke their native language and had existing relationships that they used to fill the applicant pipeline.
- Print and digital ads with geo-fencing strategies to ensure the right areas were targeted. Ads were very specific, detailing available part-time and full-time shifts and working hours. Potential applicants could select their desired schedule, resulting in a more efficient screening process
Applicant Friendly Hiring
In addition to the attractive compensation package, candidates were highly motivated to accept an offer due to an applicant-friendly hiring process and flexible scheduling. Training videos were created in multiple languages for candidates to view in their native language.
Candidates also received tours of the facility. This process resulted in a high retention rate, as the workers understood exactly the work they would be undertaking. Plus, with Eclipse management and HR teams onsite to handle the 24/7, day-to-day oversight, the company could offer flexible scheduling options not typically available when outsourcing light industrial work.
"Productivity and accuracy in the zip sortation process is key"
...which is why we deployed a Cost Per Unit (CPU) model at this site. Under the CPU model, pay is based on team production, focusing on what matters most: the volume of packages properly and efficiently sorted. Many candidates were excited by the compensation structure, which included bonus pay when the site met the agreed-upon productivity targets for units processed per hour. The more units successfully processed, the higher the bonus.” - Cody McSwain, SVP of Client Strategy, Eclipse Advantage
- Cody McSwain | SVP of Client Strategy, Eclipse IA
The Impact
By working with Eclipse, the company was able to:
Fully staff the center with qualified candidates
During the one-month ramp-up period, Eclipse hired 30 qualified workers every day for 30 days while maintaining an ongoing waitlist of potential applicants eager to join the team.Exceed productivity targets during peak season and beyond
Due to the CPU model, with 20,000 packages sorted and processed every 3 hours with 99.5% accuracy and 99.4% on sorted accurately (average 20,000 packages in 3 hours).Build a scalable startup framework
That can be repeated successfully anywhere in the country.
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