Air cargo employees look for greener pastures

Apparently, more than half of the people in the air cargo business would rather be elsewhere. A survey by Edge Insight found that 59% of air cargo employees have considered moving to another industry.

While 26% complained of stress, 22% cited limited opportunities to advance their career and 16% found their contributions were ignored. Meanwhile, 42% described technology in their work as outdated.

Denis Ilin, chief executive of e-Smart Logistics and erstwhile head of AirBridgeCargo, laments that the industry keeps looking backwards and remains stuck in its ways and thinking.

Whereas airlines have advanced in their passenger business to a service approach that is focused on individuals, their cargo departments continue to think in terms of consolidations, completely missing the dynamics associated with e-commerce.

“We need to recruit people from other industries – e-commerce, finance…” he says. Whereas e-commerce professionals get to understand air cargo fast, their peers in airfreight struggle to come to terms with the requirements of online shopping, he argues.

This is astounding, as people working in air cargo act differently as consumers but seem to forget their online shopping experience and expectations when they step into their work.

Moreover, a lot of air cargo firms appear to be getting their talent cultivation wrong. According to Edge Insight, 39% of industry professionals view talent shortages as a core issue for their company.

Investment in technology, albeit decried as insufficient in the Edge Insight survey, may actually be making this worse rather than helping.

Abe Eshkenazi, chief executive of the Association for Supply Chain Management, warns that investment in talent is not commensurate with tech investment.

According to him, supply chains today are overweighted in technology and analytics and underweighted in analytical thinking and problem-solving.

For a long time, industry veterans have criticised the lack of investment in training in the air cargo industry. Carriers like KLM, which used to hone talent in-house before the millennium, have farmed out training to third parties.

And when companies invest in training, it may be the wrong kind. Charles Edwards, vice president of SASI World, finds that most of the time, the focus is on training specific skills, rather than education that gives an understanding of the benefits and ramifications of technology and knowledge that employees are required to master.

It is hardly surprising that air cargo professionals look for greener pastures.