The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group, through its affiliated Supply Chain Matters blog, announces the release of a newly published research advisory: The Importance of Supply Chain and Human Resources Strategy Alignment for Talent Retention.

 

Introduction

Global supply chains are clogged, with businesses, consumers, and supply chain workers collectively frustrated. Every day, media reports have provided headlines of supply chain disruptions, bottlenecks and shortages. As outlined in our 2022 Industry and Global Supply Chain Predictions, the situation will require additional months (or years) to resolve.

There is a growing belief that existing supply chain and talent management processes and technology need a rethink. Talent recruitment challenges already existed in many industry areas prior to the global pandemic and have since grown more concerning. The evolution of technology, the growing complexity and performance expectations from supply chains are driving the need to have people who understand data and analytics from multiple angles including, customer behavior, finance, sustainability, and other business and supply chain dimensions.

Now, post pandemic product demand surges, subsequent cascading, and often consequential global supply chain disruptions, as well as long hours of work under restricted conditions and personal health concerns have led to even more concerning front-line worker shortages.

 

Inflection Point- The “Great Resignation” Period

In early May of 2021, Anthony Klotz, Associate Professor of Business Management at Texas A&M University warned about the “Great Resignation”, the significant workforce departures that were occurring in the United States.

Four primary drivers of these workforce departures included long hours and subsequent burnout, workers already inclined to seek a job change prior to the pandemic, the notion of “pandemic epiphanies,” and an aversion to returning to on-site offices after months of successfully working remotely from personal residences. Availability to affordable childcare and in-home online schooling needs was a further factor.

The events of 2021 have already brought forward the realization that workforce talent recruitment and retention have become one of the weakest and more concerning links in the ability to transform supply chains in 2022 and beyond.

The great resignation period represents an inflection point in workforce planning, training and retention strategies. It will require business-wide and multi-functional collaboration and added tools including those in the human resource management domain.

 

Series of Research Advisories

In a three-part series of Point of View Research Advisories spanning over the next six months, The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group will address specific supply chain workforce challenges with a special emphasis on how business, supply chain, and human resource management teams can partner collaboratively on proactive efforts to address workforce performance management, recruitment, and retention.

Our initial research report focuses on front-line supply chain operational workforce needs and challenges, and the value of a skilled occupational workforce. Across the U.S. and other nations, there are societal needs to place value on the availability of a skilled occupational workforce, and the career step progression of such workers. The advisory identifies the various unique challenges associated with customer fulfillment and warehouse operational workers, continual nationwide truck driver shortages across the United States and Europe in areas of compensation, process inefficiencies and collaborative automation needs.

We address manufacturing talent needs, and with consideration for moving outsourced production to domestic sourcing, the needs for retaining a highly skilled manufacturing talent in conjunction with factory automation.

Our summary takeaways include what workers will seek in their career planning, employer choices and interaction opportunities with technology.

Subsequent research advisories will address supply chain leadership and strategy, procurement, planning, and decision-making talent challenges.

The final report in this series will serve as an overlay to the talent management takeaways from both groups, and cover deployment of augmented technology to provide opportunities to overcome workforce talent challenges in supply chain operations and management.

This research series is being provided as a thought leadership resource in conjunction with and the collaboration of Oracle. The content included is the sole responsibility of The Ferrari Consulting and Research Group which maintains full content copyright.

We are pleased to announce to our global-wide readers can now download our initial Research Advisory by accessing this specific Oracle web link.

 

Bob Ferrari

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