Overnight success: Lutterworth logistician on how night shifts showed him the light

Twenty-four-year-old Keiran Swegda, from Lutterworth, shares how his career shot to success when working the night shift, and why he’s encouraging other people to do the same.

Keiran, who is an ambassador for awareness campaign Generation Logistics, currently works as a Warehouse Department Manager at Asda Logistics, and speaks highly of how transitioning into night shift work has hugely benefitted his career in logistics.

Inspired by his father-in-law, who works at Asda’s Chilled Distribution Centre in Lutterworth, Keiran decided to follow in his footsteps and kickstarted his logistics career at the age of 19.

Later, Keiran was given the opportunity to progress his career, but working on night shifts. Whilst unsure at first, Keiran soon adapted to his new routine and found that the benefits outweighed the negatives.

“Nightshift work is so fast paced that it keeps you busy.” shares Keiran. “It is ideal for people who enjoy that busier working environment, like I do.”

Since taking on this new role, Keiran has climbed the ladder even higher and has been promoted to Warehouse Department Manager. As part of this role, he was trained to run multiple departments and shifts. Keiran has been enjoying so many aspects of the job like how quickly the shifts can go, how easily he can maintain the work-life balance, and also how different the operation is between all three shifts.

As Keiran has worked the early, day and night shifts, he confirms that working nights is definitely the most rewarding and if he hadn’t have moved to nights he believes that he would be much further from achieving his goal of becoming the Shift Manager.

“From my experience working in logistics, it is a complete myth that you have no life outside of work! There is always the ability to maintain a healthy work-life balance.” continues Keiran. “I actually find that I get a lot more of a work-life balance on nights as opposed to any other shift.”

Since Keiran entered the logistics workforce, his motivator was never about the money, but rather on the career progression available, and ways that he can develop as a logistician. Even though people who work night shifts are 75% more likely to feel left out², Keiran has had the opposite experience, feeling supported by his manager and encouraged to progress further.

A career highlight for Keiran is when he was offered his first role as Department Manager, after working as a step up colleague for a few years prior. “It was a goal that I had set for myself, and it felt amazing to have achieved it!” Next, Keiran plans on working towards becoming a Shift Manager, as he continues to strive for progression.

Reflecting on his progression at Asda Logistics, Keiran comments: “It is an incredibly rewarding job that I think a lot of people overlook. Logistics management is very fulfilling and always keeps you busy! Night shifts are not as daunting as they are made out to be - you can still maintain a good work-life balance and maintain healthy relationships with family too. No two shifts are the same, and it is definitely a sector that more young people should consider.”

Bethany Windsor, Programme Director at Generation Logistics, comments:“Keiran’s career in logistics is truly inspiring and proves that you don’t have to have experience in the sector to be able to thrive. As Keiran has stated, there are so many wonderful reasons to get involved in logistics, with many different career paths available.

“There are countless opportunities available in logistics for everyone, from customer service, to engineering and event logistics. Working within this ever-growing, dynamic sector presents fantastic opportunities to progress as an individual and within a company. We are keen to welcome the next generation of talent into the sector - whether they have just left school, college or graduated from university.”

For those wanting to find out more about the opportunities available, take this quiz to see which role in logistics could fit with your future: www.generationlogistics.org/find-your-future/