CouriersPlease, a prominent parcel delivery service across Australia, has been working hard to deliver our “locked down purchases”. Mark McGinley, CEO of CouriersPlease, took some time to share his insights on how the organisation has scaled up their delivery service during this global pandemic.
What have been the biggest challenges for the CouriersPlease since the COVID-19 pandemic?
CouriersPlease experienced 80 per cent growth in volumes since the start of COVID-19 in mid-March. Our biggest challenge has been handling this boom in delivery volumes within an environment of social restrictions, while retaining our high level of delivery performance. This was even more difficult for our teams in Victoria – there was a triple-figure increase in deliveries but we were forced to reduce staff numbers by 10 per cent to adhere to State Government restrictions.
What operational controls did you implement to manage this growth?
To handle the overflow of work, we moved to seven-day operations and increased trading hours. Some franchisees (delivery drivers) made the decision to work increased hours; buy larger, or secondary, vans to accommodate for high volumes of parcels; and hire more delivery drivers to assist. We placed great focus on growing our franchisee network too and expanded by 20 per cent during the pandemic. Over the last few months, we have also opened five new depots around Australia to cope with increased volumes, and in turn, purchase new operational equipment for each.
How did you successfully expand the organisation in such a short period of time?
Since March, our workforce has grown by a third, to 400 people, and we expanded our franchise network by 20 per cent. We identified areas which were at, or near, capacity and split these so new franchisee delivery drivers could help us manage the boom in delivery volumes. While the steep growth curve over a short period has added a time pressure, we are an agile company and adapt quickly to change. We have managed to scale quickly with our volumes – we opened five new depots over the last few months – which is how we have been able to retain our high level of delivery performance while growing.With our increased workforce, this has also added pressure and complexities on onboarding and training new staff – which is now being done remotely via Zoom. We have also had to develop new ways of communicating clearly and efficiently, which has led positively to an increase in productivity and efficiency.
Experiencing such rapid expansion have you had to make any improvements to operate efficiently?
As delivery volumes grew, we found this led to greater efficiency within our teams. We were also able to make delivery runs more condensed due to our ‘satellite depots’ and micro hubs around Sydney and Melbourne, which enable franchisees to collect parcels from depots closer to them and reduce time spent on the road. Not only did this lead to greater efficiency for our franchisees, but it allows us to minimise our environmental impact.
How have you dealt with the mental health and wellbeing impacts of COVID-19 within the organisation?
Our main strategy from day one was to over communicate and be completely transparent with our employees. We recognised early on that one of the biggest mental health threats was anxiety, due to uncertainty regarding job security and health. While we couldn’t take away all the uncertainty, we could provide daily updates to ensure that everyone knew exactly what we were doing to keep them safe, how we were performing as a business and being clear and open if we had any COVID-19-related incidents. This gave employees reassurance.We have implemented various measures to maintain the health and safety of our employees during this time. This includes creating paid COVID-19 leave so employees could self-isolate if they needed to without financial stress. We also implemented stringent safety measures before they were mandated, such as social distancing, temperature checks, and wearing masks. We have also been promoting our Employee Assistance Program, which provides employees and franchisees free access to over-the-phone confidential counselling services. On RUOK? Day we provided access to webinars on mental health for our whole workforce. In addition, we created a ‘thank you’ program with a letter to every employee and a gift voucher to show our appreciation for their hard work during this unprecedented time.
How are you keeping everyone in the business connected and up to speed with all the changes?
Throughout the pandemic, we have continued to have regular communication across all teams. I have daily meetings with the senior management team, so all leaders are informed and aware of the goings on of the business. We also have a monthly franchisee meeting – this was previously in person for each branch and State but has moved online – in addition to more regular daily updates as required via the delivery scanners. Our communication is far more regular than it was previously, to provide transparency and ensure all teams within the business are up to speed with changes.
What have you enjoyed about COVID? Have you learnt anything new, and did you kick any habits?
I have most enjoyed the limited commute to work since we started working from home – it has saved me 2.5 hours travel a day. As a result, I have been more productive and have a better work-life-balance. Previously, I was taking phone calls in the car during my commute, but I can now be more efficient with my time. This time has led to me developing new habits in the workplace, some of which will continue once we return to normal. These include our daily morning meetings, more ongoing communications across teams, and making more agile decisions across the business. Overall, I have also been extremely impressed with the culture of our teams during the shutdowns and restrictions. Our staff were eager to provide an efficient and high-quality service and went the extra mile to get things done. Our leaders also stepped up during this time, which has contributed greatly to how smoothly the company has operated.
What will you change about the workplace when and if we return?
CouriersPlease had flexible work arrangements before the pandemic, but we have expanded this and will continue to provide our staff with greater flexibility. For instance, our team leaders now make decisions about which employees come back into the office, how many days a week, and who can work from home permanently on a part-time or full-time arrangement based on their productivity and efficiency since working from home. We have seen productivity increase immensely in the workforce, so we are open to keeping these changes once we return to the office. In saying that, we see the importance of in person connectivity, so we will encourage staff to come in one to two days, rather than relying purely on video conferencing.