Logistics HR has two workforces and one budget
Software-driven logistics companies, from freight platforms to last-mile operators to warehouse automation, hire in two directions at once. The product and engineering team wants what any tech team wants: remote options, equity, fast hiring, a manager who has time. The operations side, warehouse, dispatch, drivers, wants a roster that is fair and published on time, pay that arrives correctly to the cent, and an HR contact they can reach on a late shift. Companies that build HR for the first group and improvise for the second lose the second, usually to a competitor 20 minutes down the motorway.
German law treats the two groups differently as well. Operations teams are more likely to be covered by a works council, whose co-determination rights under the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG) reach shift plans, time recording and every new system. Agency workers under the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) come with an 18-month assignment limit and equal-pay rules. Working-time rules under the Working Time Act (ArbZG) restrict night and Sunday work. None of this touches the developer team, which is exactly why HR leads from a pure tech background underestimate it.
Logistics is also the sector that feels a downturn first. Volumes drop before the rest of the economy notices, and a company that hired 80 people last year may need to reduce by 40 this year. That makes restructurings with a social plan requirement more common here than in almost any other sector, and it means the HR structure has to be ready for one before it is needed.
Typical HR triggers in logistics
Three situations in which, in my experience, a founder, managing director or COO calls:
Two HR worlds, no bridge
The office has startup HR, the warehouse has a spreadsheet. The works council notices the difference before management does, and the first company agreement negotiation stalls on it.
Demand has turned
Volumes are down 30 percent, the investors want a plan, and nobody in the company has run a restructuring under German law. The works council is waiting for a proposal.
Agency staff over the limit
A routine check shows temporary workers past 18 months and equal-pay rules ignored since month nine. The exposure is real and the fix has to be clean.
Which role fits a logistics company
When demand shifts and headcount has to be adjusted, the format is a scoped project: Restructuring and Social Plan. It has a start date, a negotiated outcome with the works council, and an end date. I have delivered a reorganisation across nine countries at a software company and I work alongside your employment lawyers, not instead of them.
When the gap is broader, no HR lead, two workforces drifting apart, a works council that has just been elected, the fit is Interim HR Manager: full ownership, full-time, three to twelve months. And when leadership exists but the operational side is not carrying, rosters, agency contracts, payroll accuracy, time recording, the right role is HR Operations.
A case from a past role
At a software company I delivered a reorganisation across nine countries in three months, in a permanent role. The task was to restructure the organisation while keeping the company operational and legally clean: planning, committees at every step, deadlines kept, and communication that treated people as adults, including the conversations themselves. The reorganisation was carried out in full compliance with employment law and co-determination. The step-by-step approach for that situation is described under Restructuring and Social Plan. How HR operations is relieved during a growth phase is shown in the case study Cutting Manual HR Admin from 30 to 5 Hours a Week.
How an engagement runs
30 minutes, directly with me. You describe the two workforces, the numbers and what is coming. Within one working day I say whether and from when I can help.
Contracts by group, agency assignments and limits, rosters, works council status, open cases. Meeting the works council in person. Day-to-day HR keeps running.
One HR structure for both groups, shift rules agreed, agency staffing within limits, hiring or restructuring executed on schedule. Weekly one-page report to management.
Documented processes, agreements filed, open items with status, and if wanted the permanent HR lead recruited and onboarded.
Reorganisation across nine countries in three months at a software company, system rollouts with the works council at a bank, all in permanent roles. More about me
Questions from logistics leaders
Do you have direct logistics experience?
Not as the HR lead of a logistics company, and I say so openly. What I bring: a reorganisation across nine countries in three months at a software company, system rollouts negotiated with the works council at a bank, and a region scaled from 70 to over 100 employees at a consumer goods company. Growth and restructuring under one HR structure is exactly the combination logistics demands.
Do you know shift models in warehouses and delivery?
Operational shift structures were part of several past roles. Shift plans, night work and Sunday work are governed by the Working Time Act (ArbZG) and, where a works council exists, subject to co-determination under Section 87 of the Works Constitution Act (BetrVG). HR has to know both before changing a roster.
How do you handle a restructuring when demand drops?
As a scoped project with fixed steps: analysis, reconciliation of interests and social plan with the works council, selection criteria that hold up in court, notification to the employment agency where thresholds are met, communication to the workforce. I have done it and describe it under Restructuring and Social Plan.
Our workforce includes many temporary and agency workers. Does that matter?
It matters a lot. Agency workers under the Temporary Employment Act (AÜG) have an 18-month maximum assignment and equal-pay rules after nine months. Many logistics companies drift over those limits without noticing. I check that in the first two weeks.
Can you work with both the developers and the warehouse?
That is the point of the role. A developer team wants remote work, equity and fast decisions. A warehouse team wants a fair roster, a reachable HR contact and pay that arrives correctly. One HR structure has to serve both without treating either as the exception.
How fast can you start?
Usually within two weeks of being engaged. Logistics rarely has the luxury of a six-month search, and I say on the call whether your start date is realistic.