Supply chain HR firm WorkStep lands $25 million for worker retention tools

The supply chain workforce retention firm WorkStep plans to scale up its platform and add more employees for its solution that helps companies better engage workers, identify the drivers of turnover, and increase workforce retention, thanks to a $25 million venture capital round announced yesterday.

The “series B” round was led by NewRoad Capital Partners with participation from Latitude Ventures and Engage VC as well as existing investors FirstMark Capital, Prologis Ventures, Social Capital, and Quiet Capital. It brings the San Francisco-based firm to $42 million raised in total capital to date.

According to investors, WorkStep’s approach is critical because labor cost is the largest single spending item made by companies in the supply chain space, and the challenge is growing greater in response to industry trends.

“With the growth of e-commerce, next day, and same day shipping, the nature of the changing mobile and digital workforce and the need for sustainable supply chains that have the resiliency to withstand ever changing demands, the problem is becoming exponentially more difficult”, Chris Sultemeier, operating partner at NewRoad, said in a release.

Workstep says its solutions provide HR, operations, finance, and c-suite executives what they need to hire frontline workers, engage them throughout their employment journey, and act on critical insights to reduce turnover.

“The supply chain labor market is broken. Workforce leaders are caught in a vicious cycle of spending big to recruit talent, only to see their existing team churn and new hires walk out the door,” Dan Johnston, co-founder and CEO of WorkStep, said in a release. “At WorkStep, we’re fundamentally transforming how businesses find and retain frontline teammates by empowering workers to provide actionable feedback, enabling companies to identify turnover drivers, and most importantly, helping leaders act on the data to improve frontline satisfaction and outcomes.”