April 5, 2024 Overcoming Global Supply Chain Roadblocks with People

If a transition doesn’t happen across the supply chain to recruit and retain a strong workforce it’s going to crumble under global pressures.

By Matthew Hart

The global supply chain had barely recovered from the pandemic fallout before it was once again facing new roadblocks to finding equilibrium. Now under threat from increasing consumer expectations and geopolitical strife such as the evolving situation in the Red Sea, it seems with every step forward the industry takes to a smoother supply chain, another crushing blow is never far behind. Without some major changes to how the industry is approaching retention and recruitment, these challenges will never be overcome, and the global supply chain will evermore find itself in a state of eternal catch-up.

There are certainly countless layers fueling predicaments such as that in the Red Sea, however, the trickle-down effect to workers and the everyday consumer is also potent. Industrial jobs are some of the most likely to be facing a shortage right now, even though a recent survey finds more than half of Americans say they’re willing to work in warehousing, manufacturing and last-mile delivery sectors. Bringing more Americans into the supply chain workforce would have a positive global impact, but there is an obvious disconnect between employers and the modern-day industrial workforce. To begin, companies must spend more time understanding the needs of the next generation of workers, rethinking safety and training programs from the ground up and smartly invest in technology that solves real problems workers face every day.

The needs of the workforce are changing

The industrial workforce is going through a fundamental shift, as the increasing number of retirees is set to outpace the number of workers. To not only preserve, but grow, the workforce, all measures of industrial employers need to spend more time educating and appealing to a new generation in the workplace. Recent studies show that one-third (38%) of Gen Z don’t understand what industrial workers do. When asked what would incentivize them to choose a job in industrial work the most common answer was that if it paid over the national average salary – about $60K/year. While this answer may be unsurprising, the fact was that one in five also believed that pay was lower in industrial work. This is just one disconnect in a long line of misconceptions and limited understanding between what industrial jobs entail and what is going to push emerging workforces into seeing them as viable career paths. 

Rebuilding safety & training programs from the ground up

Safety and training are vital components to any recruitment or retention strategies for industry employers and a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t going to cut it anymore. For example, it’s essential that the industry brings more women in the workforce, but with recent studies showing that women ages 25-64 in blue-collar professions have a 20% to 40% higher rate of injury on the job, getting more women into key supply chain positions is understandably a hard sell.

The reality is that many companies rely on older onboarding courses to educate employees that rarely take into account dynamic data points or benchmarks and predominately speak directly toward men. Companies in warehousing or manufacturing would benefit from re-examining their safety & training programs through a gender bias lens if they want to bring a diverse set of candidates to the table, instead of leaving it to women to figure out how to translate programs built around a man’s physiology and weight translates to their own.

Making the right technology investments

Innovation and investment in the supply chain was seeing a boom up until about 2022 but recently there has been a rather dramatic drop. Industrial companies absolutely need to be investing in new technologies like AI and innovative ways to strengthen the supply chain on a global scale but can’t afford the ‘throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” method. Companies must weigh some of the most pressing challenges their workforce will face in the coming years and invest wisely now to future-proof the process for a growing number of global pressures. One such challenge that can be addressed through technology such as workplace wearables is high temperatures.

There is no need for addressing the impact of high heat in industrial jobs to be the uphill battle it is becoming. A recent study showed that worker productivity decreases by at least 1 percent every two degrees over 77 degrees, with even more significant impacts once the temperature rises above 85 degrees. As it stands, the threshold most companies abide by is 87 degrees. As more employees inevitably get comfortable going on record about the impact high temperatures in warehouses and manufacturing plants, for example, have on their daily lives the more difficult it will be to make industrial jobs feel attractive. By adjusting their thresholds down by even one to two degrees, companies will see healthier workers and healthier profits and in turn the supply chain remains robust.

Time is of the essence

It is not going to be an easy fix to get the global supply chain back on track. Adapting for a new workforce, rebuilding old programs and benchmarks and bringing in new technology are all intensive undertakings for any company in the industry – but it’s inevitable. If a transition doesn’t happen across the entire supply chain to recruit and retain a strong workforce, it’s going to crumble under the weight of a thousand global pressures.

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