ORYX People’s top directors Kris de Jager and Sharon Henderson talk about the changing role of the fleet manager, the great resignation and moves to attract more women in the transport sector in this Fleet Auto News podcast.
The advent of COVID wreaked massive changes in the workplace, and certainly in the transport sector with the ballooning of e-commerce and deliveries, supply chain disruptions affecting new vehicle supply, and workers everywhere doing some deep thinking about their roles and lifestyles.
“People all have had a big mind shift as a consequence of COVID,” said Oryx’s managing director, de Jager. “They’ve had a taste of flexibility and working from home. We’ve also found people have left their organisations and joined organisations that are more aligned to their personal values. COVID has given everybody a time to reflect to think about life.”
Henderson said the job vacancy rates they’re seeing among their client businesses has doubled to between 10 percent and 20 percent, from 5 percent to 10 percent pre-COVID.
“What we are finding is that clients are having to be more open about widening the net and considering candidates that perhaps they may not have wanted to or needed to consider previously,” said Henderson.
Meanwhile, tectonic shifts in transport, including moves to operate more sustainability and the introduction of electric vehicles, as well as continuous development in technology is changing the role and skillset required for fleet management.
“We are seeing a shift in the role of the fleet manager and the skills that they’re requiring,” said Henderson. “The biggest thing is that the role is moving away from what was the fleet management decision making process to more of a procurement based model. It’s really become a lot more about money and cost savings.
“What that means is that a fleet manager needs to be able to read the data, or extract the data for analysis. They need an understanding of pricing, residual values, etcetera. They’re all key skills, whereas previously it was really about analysing the operational use of assets.”
“The whole move to a digitalised automation based function means that they’re having to be a lot more advanced with their IT skills and capability,” said Henderson, adding, “We’re talking very strong commerciality and being very financially savvy; knowledge about trends in the mobility sector, ability to extract data for analysis and problem solving capability.”
Henderson also talked about witnessing many of their clients in the automotive industry — including fleet management organisations, fleet leasing groups, OEMs and transport and logistics operators — actively working to attract more women into the sector.
“Broadly speaking, the automotive and transport industry, in general has a very large gap between male and female workers. There’s no doubt about that. Many, are definitely working hard to close this gap.”
Henderson said making childcare more affordable and more available, more flexible work hours and the ability to job share, are all measures that are being encouraged to help bring more women into the industry.
