Nearly 90% of distributors support legal challenges to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's rule on workplace vaccination and testing for COVID-19, per a National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors survey. "Distributors have offered paid time off, incentive pay and a variety of other rewards to encourage vaccination, but there remains a significant portion of the workforce who would rather quit their jobs than be vaccinated," NAW President and CEO Eric Hoplin says.

Liquid hydrogen development is essential for hydrogen to be more widely used as a fuel source, says Sanjiv Lamba, chief operating officer at Linde. "We are deeply engaged in that, and it's an exciting opportunity for that technology to move forward," Lamba says.

Artificial intelligence tools can help distribution salespeople and executives manage disruptions by giving them a broad overview of operations and data, writes Benj Cohen of Proton. AI also makes e-commerce websites more customer-friendly, which can lead to higher sales, Cohen writes.

Data suggests the shortage of US truck drivers is really about high turnover, as the profession features low pay and poor working conditions. "These characteristics result in labor market conditions in which individual firms are forced to accept high turnover as a cost-minimizing response to their competitive position in the market for their outputs," Labor Department economists wrote in 2019.

Magnetude Consulting's Natalie Nathanson provides a guide for business-to-business marketers on generating leads, covering the nuances between demand gen, lead gen and inbound lead gen. Nathanson describes how to create effective buyer personas to target content, explains the "BANT" lead qualification strategy and provides a list of questions marketers should ask themselves to develop lead gen goals.

Some 53% of younger business-to-business buyers, those who are Generation Z, millennial or Generation X, regularly use their smartphones when buying or shopping for work, per Rightpoint's "Consumerization of B2B" report. In addition, 75% enjoy contests and games that offer deals and discounts as rewards, and favor YouTube, text messaging, Facebook and email newsletters for post-purchase engagement.

One approach to improving retention could emphasize agility and autonomy over process and bureaucracy to help employees find meaning in their work and avoid burnout, writes Rita McGrath. "Agile by definition gives control of the work to the team, reducing the stress that comes from having no sense of agency," McGrath writes.

The NAW Executive Summit is back in-person January 25 - 27, 2022 and it will be bigger and better than ever before! Learn more about the NAW 2022 Executive Summit.