DCL LOGISTICS, like so many American companies, had a problem last year. Its business, fulfilling orders of goods sold online, faced surging demand. But competition for warehouse workers was fierce, wages were rising and staff turnover was high. So DCL made two changes. It bought new robots to pick items off shelves and place them in boxes. And it reduced its reliance on part-time workers and hired more full-time staff. “What we save in having temp employees, we lose in productivity,” says Dave Tu, DCL’s president. The company’s full-time payroll has doubled in the past year, to 280.
As American firms enter another year of uncertainty, the workforce has become
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