Digi-Key, McMaster-Carr and Beacon Building Supply's Allied Building Products placed in the Top 20 of Forbes' new Best Midsized Employers list. A separate ranking of Best Large Employers included US Foods and Wesco International.

The fluctuations of the economy haven't taken a bite out of IT distribution, Ingram Micro CEO Paul Bay said, and the company's business model gives it the ability to adjust quickly to changes. The company, a major player in IT distribution, is growing efforts to help its channel partners create digital platforms for their customers and continuing to invest in expanding its cloud capabilities.

United Natural Foods and ECRS have collaborated to offer UNFI's Professional Services suite to users of the CATAPULT retail automation platform. UNFI's services include electronic payment services, delivery services and digital coupons, and ECRS' CATAPULT brings together a host of retail functions including point-of-sale, online ordering and customer service.

Fleet operators have a growing interest in hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to electric vehicles for commercial applications. "I'm not closing the door on batteries, but the benefit of hydrogen is it doesn't need that dwell time (for charging) and has better range," said Sean Clifton, fleet manager for Asda, a UK supermarket chain.

All of the efforts that go into the sale and delivery or installation of a product add up to the distributor's cost to serve the customer, and that total is likely being affected by the ongoing national shortage of employees with the necessary skills, writes Lincoln Smith of HMI Performance Incentive. Incentive programs that reward efficiency in key areas can help companies bring down the cost to serve, Smith writes.

Being bossy "isn't all bad," writes Dan Rockwell, especially when clear directions, direct questions and support are what your team needs from you. "Blurry expectations produce repulsive results," Rockwell writes.

Companies that have embraced distributed teams, such as HubSpot and Reddit, are modeling how such workforce strategies can widen their talent pool and create more engagement and satisfaction for their employees, writes Cory Hymel, vice president of product at Gigster. "Company leaders have to effectively manage and organize team members to bring out the best in them, which can attract more opportunities for business growth and success," Hymel writes.