Unseen Hands: Labor Challenges in the Supply Chain

Since the global pandemic, many industries have faced challenges of workplace retention and additional hiring. The labor of the supply chain has been no different.

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Since the global pandemic, many industries have faced challenges of workplace retention and additional hiring. The labor of the supply chain has been no different.

During the pandemic, many companies attempted to cut costs to keep their productivity afloat. The most common of these costs to be shed was labor, leading to mass layoffs and lack of security, not only for the worker, but for the future of the company.

“Companies are always looking for cost cuts in the supply chain and so far this year is proving no different,” says Garth Buchanan-Robinson, COO at Soter. “These same organizations must be careful not to trade short term benefits for long-term ills. Shedding workers while keeping productivity expectations at current levels adds dramatically to the workload for those employees who remain. Even if they’re able to sustain that pressure for a quarter, their minds and bodies likely won’t be able to maintain it for the next three quarters.”

The effects of decreasing the numbers left to work in a specific company have extended far past production being put back on the rise. Even with increased demand that could lead to more opportunities for hiring, the benefits that are being offered to potential new workers are not enough to bring applicants into the field. Buchanan-Robinson states, “ there’s a great lesson to be learned from the airline industry during the pandemic. When it was clear travel was going to take a significant hit, many of these organizations instituted widespread layoffs and dramatically pared back staff. Once the industry finally rebounded, they were unable to attract that workforce back, and largely remain in that state today.”

Once the damage is done, however, what can companies do in order to fix the labor shortage in their industry? 

The first course of action that has had proven effects in creating interest in working at a company is the inclusion of profound benefits to the individual and their family. Health care and opportunity for promotion are just a few of the benefits that can be included into company care and culture that make suitable applicants stop and consider applying to a position at a particular company. These changes combined with an increased investment of time and care from upper management, in fostering a better work environment for training and employee appreciation, can lead to better retention and interest for those seeking to enter the field.

Many skilled workers in the industry have been lost to the cost-cuts made during uncertain times for companies everywhere, especially those in the supply chain. “These workers had moved on, not just to other companies, but often to other industries. Meanwhile, newer generations are already hesitant about joining the industrial workforce,” says Buchanan-Robinson. The right steps must be taken now in order to ensure that the labor shortage in the industry does increase but makes an opportunity of companies to thrive through acquiring more talented individuals for the industry’s future. “All these factors should come together to really make companies seriously consider whether current cost-cutting or labor reductions will have been the right move financially when they look back a year or five years from now.”

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