5 Important Steps for Onboarding New Couriers to Your Delivery Business was written for Playlouder by a Cristina Par. Please note that contributing opinions are that of the author. They are not always in strict alignment with our own opinions. –Joe.
Employee onboarding is a process that you need to get right, and there’s a lot to think about, particularly in the case of recruiting people to specialized roles with unique challenges like couriers.
To lighten the load and show you the way forward, here are some things to consider when working out how to improve your onboarding efforts at your organization.
Explaining the Benefits of Working with Your Company
When onboarding new couriers for your business, it’s important to clearly explain the benefits that come along with working for your company.
Be sure they understand any benefits or extra perks you provide, such as free meals during their shift times, which can go a long way towards creating loyalty among employees who are just starting at your company.
You may also want to consider offering flexible hours, as well as paid vacation time if applicable, in order to make them feel more comfortable about joining your team.
Communicate Your Scheduling Process
Creating and maintaining a schedule is essential to running an effective business. A good onboarding process will help new couriers familiarize themselves with your company’s scheduling system efficiently, so they can begin serving customers quickly.
Start by outlining what you expect from each courier regarding performance and punctuality. If they have targets to hit and working hours to adhere to each week, make it clear.
Also, be sure you communicate clearly with each courier about how many hours they can expect, with overtime and other scheduling variables, before assigning them any shifts. Assigning shifts that are too long or too short could lead to delays and unhappy customers and create stress for team members.
Your goal here is to avoid confusion down the road, as well as provide flexibility, if needed, during busy periods or holidays, which will make productivity tracking easier.
Employ Standard Operating Procedures to Ensure Quality Service
Once you have brought your latest crop of couriers under your wing, it’s important to provide them with the necessary information and resources to ensure a successful start.
One way of doing this is by having standard operating procedures (SOP) in place for all aspects of their job, covering everything from best practices for deliveries to customer service and safety protocols both on-site and off.
These steps can go a long way toward creating a positive order fulfillment experience for both yourself and your clients. They not only increase efficiency but also help instill confidence among employees while they get up to speed on working at your company.
Teach New Couriers How to Use Your Delivery Software Platform
If you are using a delivery software platform that caters to companies that offer a same day courier service, then it’s important that all new team members understand how they can harness it effectively.
This must include things such as learning how to access the system, familiarizing themselves with any available features and functions, and understanding what data is stored within the platform itself. Leveraging route planning to deal with disruptions on the fly, for instance, should be a priority in this context.
Additionally, teaching your couriers specific tasks like creating orders or assigning jobs based on customer location will go a long way towards ensuring they feel comfortable working for you from day one.
Be sure they understand that, when setting up the delivery schedule, traffic patterns throughout the day are taken into consideration. That way, you can ensure each courier has enough leeway to complete their deliveries.
It makes sense to have someone on standby so that if an employee has any questions about the platform, they can give them quick answers and solutions. In turn, this will mean faster service for customers and improved morale across the whole team.
Better yet, if there are platform-specific training schemes available, put new couriers through them so that they aren’t learning by word of mouth or trial and error. The more support you offer early on, the less work you’ll need to do to keep employees onboard in the long run.
Outlining What You Expect From Every Courier
A courier can be the public face of your company, so they have to be instructed in how to shine in this context from the get-go. This is an undeniably important element that you shouldn’t skip over during onboarding.
Teaching proper etiquette while working with customers will help build trust and loyalty towards your brand – something which can be invaluable down the line.
Also, if there’s a dress code that everyone must adhere to when representing the company, document this thoroughly and actually aims to uphold it across the board; don’t give established team members a free pass because this will rub off on new hires, and will render the entire policy pointless.
Lastly, don’t drop the ball when it comes to safety. Safety isn’t just something you need to take into account at your business premises. It needs to be taken even more seriously when couriers are on the road and when they hit each drop-off point.
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Final Thoughts
Having clearly laid out expectations for all couriers, and giving them the training and resources they need to meet or exceed them, is a great way to ensure your business runs smoothly. This applies whether you’re mostly servicing B2B clients or engaging with consumers directly.
If you’re not sure exactly what’s lacking from your current approach, it’s worth asking existing employees for their input. You could find out quickly what couriers felt was missing when they came on board for the first time, and you can then use this to make tweaks.