5 Benefits of an Effective Reverse Logistics Process for Leavers
An area you may not consider when optimising your JML process is the movement of hardware. However, there are many things to consider when an employee leaves your business.
How is hardware retrieved from the leaver and returned to the company? Where is this hardware then stored? Do you dispose of it as waste, recycle it, or reuse it when a replacement is hired?
Reverse logistics is the process of moving assets back through the supply chain after they’ve been delivered to the end user, and restoring them for future use. A well-established reverse logistics process is crucial as it will save you the financial burden of purchasing new hardware for every hire, and will promote sustainable practices within your business. In more detail, an effective reverse logistics process will:
1. Cut procurement costs
On average, it costs 6-9 months of an employee’s salary to replace them when they leave. This means you’ll want to cut costs where you can.
A good reverse logistics process will reduce procurement costs by allowing you to restore and reuse assets upon collection. Reuse of an asset removes the need to purchase new, expensive hardware for every hire. You don’t necessarily need to reuse an entire asset, either- individual parts of an asset can be repurposed to fix or upgrade other hardware.
2. Reduce your e-waste
Global generation of e-waste is projected to exceed 74 million metric tonnes by 2025, making it the fastest growing waste stream in the world. Therefore, your reverse logistics process should involve sustainable asset management.
Sustainable asset management involves refreshing, repairing and reusing assets so you can extend their lifecycle and avoid disposing of them as waste.
Reverse logistics also enables you to set up recycling schemes and manage the amount of WEEE you discard. If you’ve thoroughly checked an asset and determined that it’s reached its end of useful life, you can opt to sell it, donate it to an organisation in need or recycle it, rather than discard it as waste.
If this process is managed externally, you should always choose to work with a partner who can salvage and recycle as much of your assets as possible.
3. Ensure hardware is returned quickly and safely
When an employee leaves your company, it’s your responsibility to make sure any hardware you’ve shipped out to them is returned safely and in good time. This has become harder for businesses, with 44% of UK employees now working somewhat, if not entirely, remotely.
Leaving the return process up to the leaver risks equipment being packaged badly and consequently being damaged in transit or taking a long time to be returned.
Therefore, a good reverse logistics process should cover collecting assets from your leavers, shipping them to a secure facility and restoring them for future use.
4. Protect sensitive data
A large amount of sensitive data is stored on employee devices, such as about the business, its employees, its customers, and third-party suppliers. Handling these assets properly throughout the reverse logistics process is crucial.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) advises sanitising each asset which contains sensitive data before it leaves the possession of its present owner (in this case, your leaver). This should be done when you ship an asset back to your storage facility, allocate it for reuse, donate it to another organisation or send it to be recycled.
A good reverse logistics process helps secure your data by ensuring you’ve securely sanitised all assets before they leave their original destination. If this process is managed externally, you should look for a partner who can provide full audit reporting.
5. Increase ROI
The reverse logistics process can help you increase ROI in two key ways.
First, as aforementioned, it cuts procurement costs and increases asset value. This is because you can restore and reuse assets once you’ve collected them from your leaver, instead of having to invest in new hardware.
Second, if your assets have reached the end of their useful life, you can sell them on or strip them to be sold as parts. This could give you some extra cash to supplement your budget.
Streamline your reverse logistics process
It helps to find a partner who can streamline and automate this process for you.
Direct 2 Desk are designed to remove the burden of new joiners and leavers from your business, helping to cut costs and promote circular, sustainable practices. Find out more or get in touch with our friendly team to discuss how we can help you today.