Brexit discussions are all around us. Whatever happens, it’s going to have massive impact on the UK businesses. Of course, right now, no one knows precisely what that means. There is no precedent for this, and the government also doesn’t seem to have worked out exactly what strategies they want to deploy. But proposals are happening, and there are talks of asking the UK to remain with the European Economic Area, or even asking for the creation of its own Single Market. However, we can feel pretty confident in saying that the UK isn’t going to get everything it wants because that wouldn’t be in the EU’s interest.
Regardless of the eventual outcome, the “divorce” from the EU is only going to be the first step. Once the legal separation is done, there will be months and years of untangling and redoing various trade agreements. The UK will be foregoing the benefit of being a member country, and will be dealt with as a foreign partner.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom. In this highly speculative environment, one thing is certain: logistics and warehousing industry will still have an important role to play. If anything, with the potential movement of goods being restricted, custom times being longer between the UK and the EU nations, more efficiency and innovative solutions within the logistics industry will become paramount.
With restrictions on immigration, staffing solutions will need to be improvised. Currently, a significant portion of the UK’s warehousing and logistics workers is made up of EU nationals. If the movement of EU migrants is restricted, then there will be staff shortages, even more so than they already are. There will also be issues related to hiring and retaining quality workers. If the UK is unable to supply enough local workers, then businesses may also have to look at countries outside of the EU for recruitment solutions. But even with those staffing issues, there is potential for different ways of hiring and managing recruitment.
There are going to be challenges, but there are also massive opportunities for growth. We don’t know the legal and political ramifications are going to be on the economy, but that doesn’t prevent businesses from finding their own potential solutions to Brexit-proofing their businesses. It is entirely possible for your warehousing and logistics business to not only face these challenges, but also thrive.
We’ve created a white paper to discuss how to Brexit-proof your warehousing and logistics business, in the light of current and predicted challenges.
Download the white paper to read more on how to Brexit-proof your business.
