Why Abdul Latif Jameel Motors Lets Its Drivers Redesign Their Own Workflows
Why Abdul Latif Jameel Motors Lets Its Drivers Redesign Their Own Workflows
Most companies say they value employee input. Fewer build systems that make it easy to act on. The difference between the two is often visible in small moments — in whether a worker who notices a problem feels equipped to do something about it, and whether anyone in management is listening when they do.
At Abdul Latif Jameel Motors, a driver named Abdullah Osman Abdi noticed that his team’s assigned lanes at the National Distribution Center in Al Khomrah were positioned more than 150 meters from the main exit gate. Moving 20 to 40 cars a day in high Saudi heat, the team was spending 10 to 15 minutes per vehicle just walking. Abdullah brought the observation to his sales manager, Abdulaziz Salah Atarji. Atarji escalated it to distribution center management. The lanes were moved.
Three to four hours of daily effort collapsed to 15 minutes. Hassan Jameel, Vice Chairman, Saudi Arabia, of Abdul Latif Jameel, visited Abdullah personally to acknowledge the contribution.
This is not coincidental. Jameel has spoken about how respect at Abdul Latif Jameel is expressed through structure, not just conduct. “It’s about implementing policies, procedures, standards that create an environment of respect for people,” he has said. “Where they feel valued, where they feel responsible for their own performance and where they feel empowered to voice their opinions and share their ideas.”
An employee who identifies wasted time and knows a clear path to raise it — and a manager who treats that observation as worth escalating — is the product of deliberate organizational design. The idea moved from driver to manager to distribution center leadership without friction. That chain functioning the way it did is itself the result.
