Logistics News

EDITORIAL: Propaganda needed in war on skilled workers

The supply chain and logistics sector is losing the war on skills. The battles ahead are crucial. There must be

The supply chain and logistics sector is losing the war on skills. The battles ahead are crucial. There must be a new surge, a rearguard action to attract new talent.

For the logistics sector, it is life and death. The ability of Australia’s supply chains to keep moving — and move faster and more efficiently to cope with a burgeoning freight task — is tied inextricably to the clear and present skills shortage threat.

This is a war being fought and lost in public perception. In too many minds supply chain and logistics is irrelevant or unattractive or both. And too many companies are less than what prospective employees will work for.

The 2008 Supply Chain and Logistics Employment Market Survey — prepared by Logistics Recruitment in partnership with SupplyChain Review — shows employers are getting better at becoming the sort of workplaces people want to work for.

This year, employees are reporting a movement to greater flexibility in workplace conditions, including private medical care programs, childcare, technology support and salary sacrifice.

The survey highlights the depth of a shallowing employment pool and the pressures on the sector to find, keep and grow their staff while forecasting significant operational growth.

But it also shows how diverse and rewarding — financially or otherwise — the supply chain and logistics sector can be. In this war for talent, it is a powerful piece of propaganda to promote the size, scope and sophistication of the field.

Because that’s how this war will be won. Convincing potential workers of what you already know to be true. To champion this field of endeavour against all others.

More on the skills shortage and the Logistics Recruitment Survey in the January/February edition of SupplyChain Review magazine, out this week.

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