b'18American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comRecruiting, retraining and retaining supply chain professionals LABOR DAY How can the supply chain find and hold on to the talent neces-sary to keep freight moving? SPECIAL FOCUSBy George Lauriat, AJOT A P eoPle -c entricB usiness global struggle, and as with any war, ItsbeencalledtheGreatRes- thesupplychainwasstretched,and ignation or the Great Attrition butweaknesses exposed. If there was any no matter what its called, employeesdoubtbeforeCOVID,itisblatantly are changing jobs in record numbers.obvious in this post-pandemic period Is this a generational movement trig- that the supply chain is a people-cen-geredbytheCOVID-19pandemic?tric business. TheiGens(agenerationthathas grownupwithsmartphones)aret her ecruitingl AndscAPenow moving into the workforce afterThesupplychainsprofession-COVIDinterruptus,andMillenni- als are hard to find and even harder als are no longer the next generation,to keep. For example, a lot has been butincreasinglythegenerationrun- written about the truck driver short-ningtheshow. Andmanymembersage. Its long been said that the driver of the previous working generationsshortage is more about the recycling arerecalibratingthejobversuslifeofdriversbetweencompaniesand balanceagainstthebackdropoftheless about a real short fall of drivers. COVID-19 pandemic.RandyMullett,founderofMul-And for those professionals work- lett Strategies, a DC-based consulting ing in the global supply chain, they(PROFESSIONALScontinued on knowthesetrendshavebeeninthepage 20)works for yearseven before COVID. The pandemic may have accelerated the movement, but the underpinnings were already in place. AsDr.ChristopherBoone,an Assistant Professor of Supply Chain ManagementatMississippiState observed:Idontthinkthismove-mentislimitedtoGenZ[thegen-erationsucceedingMillennials] maybe COVID did this to us because we all got to stay at home, rethinking our relationship with work. Whatever the reason, the recruit- SMC 3LTL ONLINE EDUCATIONing, retraining, and perhaps hardest of all, retaining supply chain profession-als, is different now than it was just a handful of years ago.Ofcourse,partofthereasonis thesupplychainitselfhaschanged as has the publics recognition of its importance.AsPeterHoencamp,a100% ONLINEformer Tesla Model S executive, now with Lucid Motors, famously said: It takes 2,500 parts to build a car, but only one not to. SupplychaindisruptionshaveINTERACTIVEmade the general public aware of the multitude of jobs necessary to keep the shelves stocked, and normal life somewhatnormalevenduringpan-demic lockdowns.realrevelationofENGAGINGProbably,the theCOVID-19pandemicperiodis not what went wrong with the supply chainempty shelves and long delays in freight deliveries and pickupsbutCAREER-FOCUSEDratherhowmuchwentright.The supply chains workforce was placed on the front lines of a once-in-a-life-time crisis and performed incredibly well.MuchbetterthananysupplyThe first of its kind in the industry, SMC online education provides a chain analysts would have predicted prior to the pandemic. flexible learning experience with both professional certification and And maybe for the first time thenon-certification paths for the transportation professional on the go. publicacknowledgedtheseamen, longshoremen,truckdrivers,ware-housemen,railroadersandcountless othersthatkeptthingsgoingwhen things were most difficult. Signs like Free Sandwiches For Truckers and DriverAppreciationDayssprangLearn more about LTL online education up. Public recognition also extended toheadlinenewsonsupplychainand certification at www.smc3.com.labor dissatisfaction and labor negoti-ations. The supply chain and its work- Produced in partnership with LogisticsTrainingCenter.comforce were no longer an anonymous feature moving the economy.The pandemic was (and still is) a'