65% of supply chain leaders have described the current hiring situation as “very” or “extremely” challenging, but why is this?
It’s common knowledge that there have been supply chain issues for the past several years. With the pandemic changing demand needs, strikes causing backlogs, and product shortages, the consumer has seen the disruption first hand. Despite lockdowns being mostly over, the world continues to see the disruption continue. While the challenges may have begun from the Covid-19 pandemic, disruption now can be partly attributed back to recruitment and hiring challenges.
So, what impact are hiring challenges having on organisations and the supply chain?
Causes of supply chain issues and recruitment shortages
Labour shortages
During the Covid-19 pandemic, workers were forced to change roles dependent on need and demand, for example global lockdowns put a halt on demand for the catering and hospitality industries meaning workers reskilled and found different roles. Due to the shift, organisations began to encounter hiring challenges and struggle to find skilled and qualified workers in a range of industries. Another example would be that of driver shortages, the haulage sector has estimated a shortage of over 100,000 drivers, causing disruption in the delivery of goods.
Changes to immigration
Immigration rules play an important role in supply chain recruitment. In the US, supply chain demand has increased while the number of visas for workers remains static. Both the US and UK saw large numbers of migrant workers retaining to their country of origin, at the start and during the pandemic. However, most haven’t returned contributing to the shortage of workers.
The UK also has additional challenges following Brexit. Without the freedom of movement, organisations no longer have access to the pool of workers outside of the country.
The Great Resignation
This shift in workers’ priorities is facilitated by many open positions across almost all sectors of the economy.
The Great Resignation has led to unprecedented numbers of workers looking to move into different jobs or industries, making space for those formerly in supply-chain roles.
Working from home/ Pandemic effect
Some roles during the pandemic became fully remote, whereas others were laid off completely. This change impacted the way employees looked for future roles, those that were laid off moved to roles they were able to do safely from home, where they were able to make the most of other benefits such as increased savings. Unfortunately, for many of the most critical supply chain jobs, WFH is not an option.
Increased demand
The rise in online shopping during the pandemic was both well-documented and predictable. Consumers without access to physical shops were keen to have all their goods delivered. Now that customers are used to this convenience, there’s little sign of this demand slowing down.
Increased demand is combined with difficulty recruiting staff, especially truck drivers and warehouse, dock, and factory workers. This places existing staff in difficult situations, managing unreasonable workloads under significant pressure.
Decreased demand
A few industries have seen reduced demand. With pervious (and current, in some locations) lockdowns, companies specialising in travel or food service have seen huge decreases in their markets.
Reinvigorate your current teams
B2BE Webinar 10 November 2022, 12PM GMT
Discover the secret to managing growth when you are struggling to retain staff. Join the B2BE team in an online webinar on the 10th November at 12PM GMT where the team will go into more detail about how your existing staff can gain more time to improve customer service and increase sales, bring new employees up to speed faster and ensure that business as usual continues when staff leave.