Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1332064
PalletCentral • January-February 2021 29 W hile looking back on this rather unusual year and considering how member companies quickly pivoted their business strategies, PalletCentral reached out to learn about their strategic goals for 2021. Is it developing or expanding their workforce? Is it focusing on new markets/products or getting back on the road to see and engage your customers? Or is it investing in more equipment, or automation? We had a great response to our outreach, and we thank our members for taking the time to provide commentary. Steve Yelland President & Owner, JFR Holdings We typically break our annual strategic goals into four categories: financial excellence, operational excellence, organizational excellence, and workforce excellence. While we have objectives and action steps for each goal, the biggest hurdle for 2021 will be in the area of attracting new employees and retaining the employees we currently have on staff. We'll likely continue to have COVID-19-related obstacles to overcome, but the most difficult is the unemployment benefit that provides incentive for people not to work. I feel we'll be walking a fine line when addressing the typical accountability/ ownership issues while providing competitive wages, benefits and supporting initiatives required to meet our work load and workforce needs. WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT IS GOAL #1 IN 2021 YEAR IN REVIEW NWPCA member's set aggressive growth goals for 2021 as they address the lack of available manpower and ways to automate as key trends. Coppersmith Photography