HuLog: Humans in Digital Logistics

The Humans in Digital Logistics (HuLog) project investigates how digital technologies shape work and employment conditions in warehouses in Europe. Today, warehouses are profoundly affected by rapidly evolving digital technologies along the whole supply chain, which facilitate the online purchase of goods, harmonise systems for tracking parcels and optimise warehouse operations to reduce the time for handling goods. Warehousing is expected to keep growing and to generate new jobs, as companies increase local inventories to mitigate the risk of global supply chain disruptions caused by international trade conflicts (e.g. Brexit), armed conflicts and calamities such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

To date, the impact of digital technologies on work and employment in warehouses remains poorly understood. Most studies of warehousing focus on IT-induced efficiency gains reducing the time and cost of processing goods, yet neglect the experience of workers. HuLog takes a more human-centred look at the digitally-driven transformation of warehousing and logistics work.

HuLog will produce multidisciplinary, cutting-edge scientific knowledge on work and employment in European logistics. It will advance the scientific literature in and across relevant disciplines and inform the public debate on the future of work in the context of rapid technological transformation. Combining a socio-material perspective with that of employment relations, HuLog examines how digital technologies are deployed in the organisation of warehouse operations, including how they:

  1. a) shape warehouse workers’ experience of work;
  2. b) drive warehousing companies’ employment strategies to maximise workforce flexibility, and how this affects working conditions.

Empirically, HuLog investigates 12 digital warehouses in 4 logistic hubs in Europe: Western Poland, Berlin-Leipzig-Halle (Germany), Limburg (Belgium) and West Yorkshire (United Kingdom). This research design allows for comparison across institutional, economic and socio-demographic contexts.

HuLog involves an extensive network of 17 national and international collaboration partners including employers, employers’ associations, trade unions, public employment services, social-profit companies and sectoral associations. In collaboration with them, the project will identify guiding principles for negotiating more human-centred and socially sustainable digital warehousing

KEYWORDS:

digitalization, warehousing, logistics, work conditions, social sustainability, employment relations, socio-materiality, social dialogue

CONSORTIUM

  • Project Leader: Patrizia Zanoni, Hasselt University, School of Social Sciences, Belgium, e-mail
  • Milosz Miszczynski, Kozminski University, Department of Management, Poland
  • Anke Hassel, Hertie School, Germany, e-mail
  • Charles Umney, Leeds University Business School, Work and Employment Relations Division, United Kingdom

COOPERATION PARTERS

  • Agnieszka Mróz, OZZ Inicjatywa Pracownicza Amazon przy Amazon Fulfillment Sp. z. o.o.
  • Jeremy Anderson, International Transport Workers’ Federation
  • Oliver Röthig, UNI Europa
  • Noël Slangen, Provinciale Ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Limburg
  • Cindy Peeters, Livlina
  • Mieke Pareyn, Genk Scania Parts Logistics
  • Carlo Theunissen, Warehousing, H. ESSERS & zonen internationaal transport
  • Tinne Lommelen, VDAB Limburg
  • Johan Bongaerts, Bewel
  • Wiktoria Galecka, PSML
  • Ruben Lemmens, VKW
  • Rose-Mari Moden, The European Workers Council, DHL
  • Janine Marshall, STEM Abassador Hub North East
  • Peter Ward, UK Warehousing Association
  • Karen H Reay, Unite the union

EFFECTS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Project website

Project achievements:

Summary

The Humans in Digital Logistics project investigated how digital technologies shape work and employment conditions in warehouses in Europe. Warehouses are today profoundly affected by rapidly evolving digital technologies along the whole supply chain, which allow online purchase at express delivery, harmonize systems for tracking parcels, and optimize warehouse operations. Warehousing is expected to keep growing and to generate new jobs, as companies raise local inventories to mitigate the risk of global supply chain disruptions caused by international trade conflicts and calamities.

Objectives

HuLog examined how digital technologies, including but not limited to warehouse management systems, shape workers’ experience of work and drive warehousing companies’ employment strategies to maximize workforce flexibility, affecting work and employment conditions. To date, the impact of digital technologies on work and employment conditions remains relatively understudied, as technologies are generally adopted in view of increasing operational efficiency, productivity and flexibility.

Research methodology

HuLog is based on extensive data collected in four major logistics hubs in Europe: Limburg (Belgium), Western Poland (Poland), West & South Yorkshire (United Kingdom), and Leipzig-Halle (Germany). We used a combination of semi-structured in-depth interviews, workplace observations, document analysis and stakeholder workshops. In total, we spoke to 152 people in 12 warehouses (e.g., workers, frontline managers, senior managers, HR staff, trade union representatives). We moreover interviewed 60 stakeholders from the broader companies’ ecosystems, including trade unions, employers’ associations, labour market intermediaries, technology providers and local authorities.

Main project results

In many warehouses, new technologies are introduced primarily to increase efficiency, productivity and flexibility. Workers and their representatives are often not, or only marginally, involved in these decisions. This results in insufficient attention to the impact of technology on the quality of work.

Our research shows that the digitalisation of warehousing too often leads to the deskilling of jobs, loss of autonomy and job meaningfulness for workers, and increased psychosocial pressure due to intensified performance monitoring. Moreover, digital technologies make it easier to employ more workers through temporary contracts, agency work and subcontracting. These strategies to source workers undermine long-term employment relations, fragment the workforce and erodes social relations in warehouses. The negative effects of increasingly digitalised operations reduce the attractiveness of warehouse jobs and make it increasingly difficult to recruit, motivate and retain workers.

Policy recommendations

Making the digitalisation of warehousing more human-centred and socially sustainable requires deliberate and coordinated choices by companies, trade unions, labour market intermediaries, authorities and other actors shaping the eco-systems in which warehouses operate. Based on the project results, the HuLog team formulated six policy principles to guide negotiations to improve digitalised warehousing:

  1. Involve workers and their representatives from start to finish in the adoption of new technology.
  2. Regulate data use and make algorithms that steer work subject to collective negotiation.
  3. Prevent and redress physical and psychosocial harm resulting from the use of technology.
  4. Use technology to foster inclusive, high-quality jobs.
  5. Improve employment relations through more stable forms of employment.
  6. Organise training and career development opportunities for all workers.

Publications:

 Start date

1 November 2022

Project duration

36 months

 Project budget

€ 1 480 604

Funding organisations