Decades ago, warehouse managers discovered that people with certain disabilities could perform some kinds of warehouse work.

For example, a footwear manufacturer employed deaf-mute people as order selectors with great success. The only accommodation needed was to caution lift-truck operators that these people could not hear and therefore might not sense the approach of the machine.

As a warehousing professional, why should you be concerned about employment of disadvantaged people? More than one analyst of our economy predicts there will be a substantial labor shortage within the logistics industries in a few years. In the case of truck drivers, the shortage exists today.

It may not have happened yet in warehousing, but there is every probability it will. Changing demographics are just one of the many issues that will impact our industry.

One way to deal with a labor shortage is to find workers from unconventional sources. For that reason, the best companies in this industry are looking for new ways to find and train well motivated workers.

Two examples of success

A well-known situation was the 2007 launch to employ disabled people at Walgreen's distribution center in South Carolina. Disabled workers now make up nearly half of the workforce in that location. One fact that did not receive wide publicity is that a senior executive at Walgreen's has a handicapped son, and therefore he was unusually motivated to find a way to help people with disabilities.

However, Walgreen's had two potential roadblocks in starting this program.

First, the company is publicly traded and is therefore expected to earn a profit for its shareholders, so Walgreen's needed to examine whether its disabled workers were delivering normal value to the company. Second, there was the possibility that the remainder of the workforce who are not disabled might dislike the extra attention given to these employees.

But the opposite ended up being the case, as all employees recognized their pride working for a company that helps the disadvantaged.

Another example involves the nonprofit organization The Rehabilitation Center in Olean, New York. The organization has a satellite, SubCon Industries, to deliver materials handling services for logistics service providers.

SubCon was formed more than 40 years ago, but by 2011 it employed more than 200 people, some of whom are profoundly disabled. About eight years ago, SubCon moved into the reverse logistics field, recognizing that the labor-intensive segment of handling returns was an ideal situation for its disabled workforce.

Creating warehousing opportunities

A much newer example exists in Chicago. Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps Center is a Department of Labor program designed to educate "at risk" 16-24-year-olds. One goal is to enable them to earn a high school diploma or GED, as well as training in a specific trade.

Jeff Riddle is the instructor for a branch of Job Corps, located on the southwest side of Chicago. In 2010, a plant closure in northern Illinois cause Riddle to be unemployed as a production supervisor. He decided to enter a community college to gain a diploma as a certified logistics technician.

Recognizing the employment gap that exists in the logistics industries, Riddle accepted a position to develop a new training program at Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps.

A similar program exists at Job Corps in Clearfield, Utah, where Bill Gelling has led the program for the past seven years. He has tracked the results and finds that 86 percent of his students end up with a job in the warehousing industry. His major challenge in working with students is a lack of mathematics skills. He has introduced a basic arithmetic course to help students understand the use of decimals and fractions.

The control mechanism for Riddle's program is the Training Achievement Record, knows as the TAR report. It is maintained for every student and covers every segment of the training program. There are 174 varieties of TARs.

The students start out with safety, working to achieve OSHA certification through completion of TARs in the field of safety. Next, they study a glossary (Words of Warehousing) in order to build a vocabulary needed to complete the other TARs in warehousing, supply-chain overview, material-handling equipment, quality control, warehouse technology, packaging and unitization, inventory, transportation modes, measurement, and customer service. They also receive training in the operation of a forklift and a reach truck.

Their training concludes with a four- to six-week work-based learning experience, where they work as an intern in a nearby manufacturing operation. Job Corps currently has a partnership with a Chicago manufacturer of paint containers, and Riddle hopes to add other warehousing partners.

As the students progress through the program, they learn the importance of attendance, punctuality and appropriate behavior. They improve skills in communications, as well as the ability to solve problems and resolve conflicts. They also acquire basic computer skills.

Later in the program, they have sessions where they learn how to create a resume and cover letter, then they learn how to search for a job.

Success and failure

Here is a testimonial from Eric, a young man from northern Indiana: "My whole life I struggled to get ahead. I went to Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps to help me get a handle on things, a little bit more experience, and a feel for what career I might want to go into. In the world today, you need experience, you need guidance, and my teacher, Mr. Jeffrey Riddle, really helped me out a lot with this.

"While at Paul Simon Job Corps, he taught me leadership, he helped me to learn that sometimes you have to work a couple crappy jobs before you can find one worth it. He taught me the importance of experience. The reason I bring up the experience thing is before I went to Job Corps I really did not know what I wanted to do with my life. ... What landed my current job was not only his material-handling teachings but other experiences I learned while I was at Job Corps.

"I am currently employed with a military owned factory and most likely will be joining the military in a couple of months to further my experience. I got this job because of the experiences I picked up while at Paul Simon Chicago Job Corps."

But Riddle admits the program does not always work as planned. Dorms are provided where the majority of students live, and there is daycare for those who live off-center with children. At-risk students often have transportation issues, and some fail to recognize that getting to the job is a priority.

One young girl dropped out of the program because she failed the attendance requirements. Illness with a 2-year-old child was part of the problem. At the same time, most of Riddle's students complete the program and get jobs.

When it works

There are more successes than failures. The Clearfield Job Corps has kept track of its successes, and its record (86 percent as noted earlier) may well be better than the record for the job-seeking population as a whole.

In earlier years, warehouse operators tried to find employees who already had specific skills and therefore would need little training. For example, one warehousing manager advertised for workers who knew how to operate a carton clamp truck.

Hiring for attitude has always been more important than hiring for skills. Today, finding specialized skills has become increasingly difficult, if not impossible.

Therefore, the best approach to developing an effective labor force may be to discover unconventional sources, and then implement a rigorous training program to be sure the newly hired people have acquired the skills that you need.