Chris Roe
Managing Director, Amazon Freight EU
Logistics businesses are only as good as the people who work in them. It’s why one company is nurturing its employees with more meaningful interactions and strategies.
Ask any manager to name the most important part of their business, and chances are they’ll say “our people.” But this manager really means it. Human beings, Chris Roe insists, are the beating heart of his organisation.
“You can hear the passion I have for this topic,” says Roe, Managing Director, Amazon Freight EU. “And it’s not just me; it’s a passion that runs throughout the Group.”
Freight is fundamentally “a trust business,” says Roe, who leads an organisation of over 500 people. And trust is a human emotion that requires a human response.
“Our customers need to know there are real people building the solutions they are using; and real people helping them achieve their goals,” he explains. “AI is helping to boost the capabilities of our teams. It’s allowing each individual to extend further and increase the scope of their job. But as good as AI is, it can’t automate the instinct to pick up the phone if a customer has a problem. And it can’t automate our relationships with our customers. Our people are the real reason why our customers stay with us.
Supporting professional and personal development
To get the best out of people, Roe thinks it’s important to get to know them properly and beyond their job titles. “You’ve got to be deliberate about it and create deliberate mechanisms,” he says.
For example, Roe holds an informal monthly online chat with colleagues celebrating their birthday that month on topics ranging from hobbies to favourite films and more. “We have lots of teams, so it’s easy to become siloed,” he notes. “It’s important to bring people together for some light hearted conversations. And, I have to say, it’s one of the highlights of my month.”
Beyond employee engagement activities people also want to know that their organization is invested in their professional development. In Amazon’s case, any kind of career development is possible because it’s so large and offers opportunities everywhere. “We want to ensure career development can be under the employee’s control. Our organization is one of the most complex for job diversity and we want to encourage more development transfers between teams,” Roe explains. “We funnel aspirations through monthly career development discussions with managers.”
“The organisation has extraordinary internal mobility, so it’s not always like going up a career ladder, but more like climbing a wall,” says Roe. “Sometimes you’ll go directly up, diagonally and sometimes you’ll take a few steps to the side.”
Understanding the team is also key to supporting personal development. “For instance, one person is ex-forces and saw some difficult things that affected his mental health,” reveals Roe. “He now channels that by giving mental health talks across the org, which we fully support.”
The future of the organisation
Sometimes, Roe will hear a personal story that affects him deeply. One colleague talked openly and vulnerably about his difficult upbringing; then revealed that the person who made the most positive impact on his career, personal growth and mental health was his current Amazon Freight manager. “When I heard that,” says Roe, “it really hit home. It reminded me that we all impact the people we work with.”
Roe is a people person. He couldn’t do his job if he wasn’t. “There are three groups I care hugely about,” he says. “There are the people here in the business. Then there are our +3,000 customers across UK, Germany, France, Italy and other EU countries. They’re why we’re here, and we focus our time and attention on doing the right thing for them. Lastly, there is the network of carriers and drivers which we offer to any business, which undeniably creates a community impact in each region we operate in. I feel strongly about making sure we do the right thing for everyone, Roe adds. “What’s the future for the business? Who knows. But it’s definitely our people.”
