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How the Right Logistics Recruitment Solutions Address High Turnover, Seasonal Scaling, and Cost Challenges
- Julia Koblischke
- 5 days ago
- 8 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
What is the most expensive piece of equipment in logistics?
Most people would point to ships, trucks, conveyor systems, or automation.
But in reality, it may be that empty chair or unused overalls hanging in the corner.
A missed shift, a vacancy left unfilled… That one absence that triggers delays, overtime, and rising costs.
The “driver-shortage inflation spiral” shaved 0.9% off European GDP growth in 2025 (1). And that figure would be even higher if shortages across other logistics roles were included.
We have probably reached a point where the "human element" is the most complex part of the puzzle.
Labor availability has officially overtaken "land cost" and "geopolitics" as the most decisive factor for choosing a new logistics site. It’s no longer just about where it is cheapest to build...it’s about where the people are.
So, in 2026 logistics, your recruitment strategy is actually your most important operational insurance policy.
Let's take a look at the most effective recruitment solutions for the logistics sector.
Table of Contents:
2025-2026: The State of Logistics and Recruitment
The data shows an industry under immense pressure. We can say that this is not just a labor shortage.
The Landscape of Shortages and Attrition
We are seeing a fundamental shift in logistics:
1. Labor Shortage is the Primary Operational Risk:
The Savills 2025 European Real Estate Logistics Census shows that 92% of 3PL providers and 91% of retailers now rank labor shortages and staff turnover as their number one operational risk.
They remain one of the top three business challenges for 2025, outranking even geopolitical issues. This challenge is even reshaping location decisions, making labor availability the most decisive factor.
2. Attrition at Its Highest:
In late 2025, the operations function (the core of logistics) saw a 35% increase in attrition, bringing the rate to 21.3%. This is currently the highest of any job function in Europe.
While overall industry turnover in the U.S. is estimated to remain under 15%, the Supply Chain sector is projected to reach 20% to 25% this year.
Read more about Attrition Costs.
3. The Bottleneck Effect:
Maersk reports that labor shortages are now the #1 bottleneck for major European hubs like Rotterdam and Antwerp.
The Netherlands is seeing a 14% increase in general attrition this year as companies compete for the same pool of transport and warehouse talent.
The "Driver-Shortage Inflation Spiral" is creating a -0.9% impact on the entire European GDP growth for 2025.
Demand and the "Green" Skill Shift
4. The E-commerce Multiplier:
Online retail requires 3x the logistics space as traditional retail. As e-commerce grows, demand for the workforce behind these facilities continues to rise, even as automation increases.
5. The Green Skills Gap:
Driven by CSRD requirements, carbon reporting is now critical. LinkedIn/ESG Today | Green Skills Report 2025 shows that, while green hiring in logistics rose by 8% between 2021 and 2025, the available talent pool only grew by 4.3%.
Workers with sustainability skills are experiencing hiring rates 46.6% higher than their peers.
How Recruitment Process Outsourcing Addresses Logistics Pain Points
Managing high-volume recruitment while trying to hit operational KPIs is a heavy lift for any internal HR team. This is where Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) acts as a strategic partner. Here is how it handles specific challenges:
1. Navigating Workforce Volatility
Logistics demand is rarely a straight line. Between seasonal peaks and shifting consumer habits, your hiring needs fluctuate constantly.
The Solution: RPO provides an "elastic" recruitment engine. Instead of maintaining a large permanent HR staff that might be underutilized during slow periods, you gain a dedicated team that scales up or down based on your actual hiring volume.
We build proactive talent communities long before your requirements go live. By using specialized sourcing methods and advanced recruitment technology, we can achieve a 40% faster time-to-hire than traditional methods.
The Result: You have the capacity to meet demand spikes without the long-term overhead of a permanent HR expansion.
2. Solving the Turnover Cycle (Better Employee Fit)
Hiring fast often leads to hiring the wrong people, which fuels high attrition rates.
The Solution: 60% of our recruiters hold advanced degrees in psychology, including 20% in behavioral science. We focus on long-term fit, not just qualifications. This leads to a more stable workforce that stops the "revolving door" effect, saving you the massive hidden costs of constant retraining.
75% of candidates assess company culture through the hiring process. At Serendi, we prioritize candidate experience and cNPS to ensure your brand is perceived as an employer of choice from the first touchpoint.
The Result: A 96% probation pass rate versus an 80% market average, and up to 30% lower turnover.
3. Controlling and Optimizing Recruitment Costs
Fragmented recruitment models (spanning agencies, internal teams, and extended vacancies) create hidden recruitment costs that quietly drain budgets. Beyond visible fees, prolonged hiring timelines, leadership time spent recruiting, mis-hires, and delayed productivity all contribute to a much higher true cost of recruitment.
The Solution: RPO consolidates recruitment into a centralized, transparent model, replacing fragmented spend and inefficient processes with consistent delivery. By reducing vacancy duration, standardizing hiring workflows, and improving candidate quality, organizations move from unpredictable costs to a clear, predictable cost-per-hire.
The Result: In our experience with large-scale industrial facilities, we have helped companies achieve a 35% to 50% reduction in total recruitment costs while providing 100% transparency through real-time analytics.
Recruitment Process Outsourcing vs Logistics Recruitment Agency: Which One is Better?
Recruitment agencies excel at fast fills and hard-skill matching. But without deep integration into your culture or workflows, they often prioritize volume over fit, thereby increasing the risk of probation failure.
Recruitment outsourcing provider works as an extension of your team through flexible, customizable RPO models. It can manage the entire recruitment lifecycle end to end, or support just a single part of the process where you need additional capacity or expertise, from workforce planning and sourcing through to assessment, onboarding, and recruitment analytics. This ownership improves quality of hire, candidate experience, and retention.
When an agency hire fails after a few months, the “free replacement” doesn’t cover the real costs: paid salary, lost time, and the increased cost of the vacancy. You are back to square one.
Contingency agencies also price higher because every successful hire must offset multiple unsuccessful searches.
RPO, by contrast, offers lower, more flexible pricing that scales efficiently, especially for senior or high-volume hiring.
Find out more about the ROI of RPO.
Logistics Recruitment: Case Studies
Let's take a look at real-life examples of how recruitment outsourcing addresses challenges in recruitment for logistics:
Global Automotive Parts Producer – Europe
A global automotive parts producer launched a large-scale reshoring initiative, relocating manufacturing from Asia to several European countries, including Germany, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Spain, and Italy. Recruitment activities were decentralized, vacancies remained open for extended periods, and heavy reliance on agencies led to rising costs and inconsistent hiring outcomes.
Key Challenges:
Fragmented recruitment across European locations
Slow time-to-hire impacting production and logistics
High dependency on external recruitment agencies
Roles Included:
Senior Supplier Quality Engineers, Supplier Quality Engineers, Supply Chain Systems Administrators, Logistics Specialists, Senior Logistics Specialists, Logistics Managers, Supply Chain Managers, Production Planners, Materials Planners, Warehouse Supervisors, Operations Coordinators.
The Solution
A dual-track project RPO model was introduced, combining locally embedded recruiters in key European markets with centralized skills-based sourcing to enable cross-border hiring. Employer branding and candidate experience were strengthened, while a structured employee referral program unlocked passive talent. For operational and blue-collar roles, new advertising channels, enhanced screening, and streamlined interview processes accelerated hiring without compromising quality.
The Outcome
Recruitment costs were reduced by 45%, time-to-hire improved by 30%, and long-standing vacancies were eliminated. The organization established a stable, scalable supply chain and logistics workforce capable of supporting European production growth.
2. Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Organization
A global pharmaceutical manufacturing organization required an on-site RPO solution for its production and supply chain facility in Kiel, Germany, with implementation starting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite restrictions, the client required onsite delivery, strong local labor market engagement, and full alignment with existing recruitment and compliance processes.
Key Challenges:
• On-site recruitment delivery during pandemic conditions
• Integration with established hiring and compliance frameworks
• Simultaneous specialist, leadership, and high-volume hiring
Roles Included:
Supplier Management Team Leaders, Regulatory Compliance Managers, Supply Chain Management Managers, Value Stream Supply and Demand Planners, QA Supplier Specialists, Warehouse Operators, Senior Warehouse Operators, Warehouse Managers, Production Planners, Supply Chain Coordinators.
The Solution
An embedded onsite RPO team was deployed in Kiel, supported by centralized sourcing. The solution integrated seamlessly into existing ATS platforms, governance structures, and approval workflows, while maintaining strong local networking to ensure consistent talent availability across production, quality, and supply chain functions.
The Outcome
Hiring continued without disruption throughout the pandemic, ensuring production continuity and compliance. The site benefited from improved hiring speed, consistency, and a trusted long-term recruitment partnership.
3. Global Humanitarian Organization – International
A global organization focused on child welfare, education, and emergency response across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the Americas required support in niche recruitment. They needed to hire highly specialized global supply chain professionals.
Key challenges:
• Scarcity of globally experienced logistics and planning professionals
• Complex, multi-stakeholder international environments
• High requirements for governance and mission alignment
Roles included:
Global Logistics Managers, Licensing Specialists, Licensing Managers, Global Supply Chain Experts, Global Supply Planning Experts, Global Demand Planning Experts, International Procurement Specialists, Supply Chain Program Managers.
The Solution
A research-led RPO approach was delivered, focused on global talent mapping and direct engagement of passive candidates across international NGOs, multinationals, and consulting organizations. Candidate assessments emphasized both technical capability and alignment with mission-driven objectives.
The Outcome
Critical global supply chain and planning roles were filled faster, strengthening international logistics capability and improving continuity and resilience across global humanitarian programs.
4. International Petrochemical Organization – Europe
A global petrochemical organization needed an RPO provider to deliver end-to-end recruitment across Europe, covering the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, and France, without increasing internal recruitment headcount. The organization faced limited internal delivery capacity and a heavy reliance on external consultants for engineering recruitment.
Key challenges:
• Multi-country hiring managed from a centralized European headquarters
• Complex, governance-driven recruitment processes
• Heavy dependence on external consultants
Roles included:
Supply Chain Planning Managers, Senior Supply Chain Planning Managers, Supply and Inventory Managers, Inventory and Material Planning Analysts, Supply Chain Performance Analysts, Senior Process Improvement Analysts – Logistics, Customer Service Managers – Supply Chain, Global Liquids Marine and Terminals Specialists, Environmental Engineers, Mechanical Maintenance Engineers, Senior Health and Safety Engineers.
The Solution
A fully embedded RPO model was implemented, combining onsite recruiters with offsite sourcing teams and subject-matter experts. The solution aligned closely with existing governance frameworks while delivering consistent recruitment outcomes across multiple European markets.
The Outcome
Within months, the organization successfully staffed critical transformation and operational roles, reduced reliance on external consultants, improved forecasting accuracy, and built internal capability to support long-term digital and operational change.
Recruitment in Logistics: Conclusion
In the logistics world, there is a lot of talk about “friction.” Companies spend millions reducing it in their software, supply chains, and last-mile delivery. But lately, the most significant friction isn’t happening on the road or in the warehouse management systems.
The friction is happening in the recruitment office.
If you’ve felt the frustration of a fully equipped facility sitting under-capacity because you simply can’t find enough reliable hands, you are not alone.
Stop letting empty roles drive up costs and slow operations. Contact Serendi to build a resilient, scalable logistics recruitment engine in just weeks.
Hire 40% faster
Cut recruitment costs by 50%,
Reduce turnover by up to 30%
About the author
Julia Koblischke is a Business Development Manager at Serendi.
Julia has over 8 years of cross-industry, international experience in talent acquisition and account management, advising our clients globally. Her passion lies in transparent communication, connecting people with the right opportunities, and helping companies achieve growth and success.
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