• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Supply Chain Managers Are Quitting in Unprecedented Numbers

Supply Chain Managers Are Quitting in Unprecedented Numbers

digital work
A business professional at work. Photo: Canva.
May 24, 2022
Bloomberg

Supply chain managers quit their jobs last year at the highest rate since at least 2016 due to a mix of burnout and a desire for fatter paychecks.

The high rate of turnover aligns with the escalation of supply chain woes in 2021. The pandemic led to shuttered manufacturing plants, backed up ports and rapidly increasing transportation costs. Those headaches have largely fallen to supply chain managers to sort out, making their jobs far tougher — but also more lucrative.

“With increasing opportunities against the backdrop of the supply chain crisis, it comes as no surprise that supply chain managers have increasingly sought out greener pastures,” said Kory Kantenga, a senior economist at LinkedIn.

LinkedIn, a division of Microsoft Corp., calculates turnover by analyzing member profiles to determine the number of people who left their jobs each month. The figure is compared with the average for 2016, which LinkedIn calls the “separation rate.” For supply chain managers, the average separation rate increased by 28% from 2020 to 2021, according to data compiled for Bloomberg. That’s the highest since LinkedIn started tracking the data five years earlier.

Burnout is part of the equation, Kantenga said. New opportunities are also playing a role, in part because ongoing supply chain disruptions are fueling demand for professionals who can deal with them.

supply chain jobs

The number of openings for supply chain managers on ZipRecruiter Inc.’s website more than doubled between January 2020 and March of this year, both because companies created more positions to deal with the crisis and because labor shortages gave workers more leverage to switch jobs, said Julia Pollak, the company’s chief economist.

Since COVID-19 emerged, shoppers around the world have faced empty shelves and shipping delays. Companies were forced to adapt to unpredictable demand, a race to secure scarce materials, and the stress of finding workers as their staff flocked to other jobs or fell ill. And then they had to find enough trucks to get their products out the door. The crisis raised the profile of supply chain jobs, and the field became a popular major for business-school students.

Read more: The Supply Chain Industry’s Dilemma: Great Career, Too Few Candidates

The pandemic triggered a breakdown in “lean manufacturing,” the drive to lower costs that big companies had adopted in the decades prior. In practice, it meant that supply chain managers had access to just enough staff, materials and trucks to fill average workloads. The model collapsed when COVID-19 brought in unexpected ebbs and flows in orders and hampered access to critical supplies, putting planners on a 24/7 fire-drill mode.

“So much became the exception versus the rule,” said Michael Martin, a supply chain director in the Philadelphia suburbs who has held a variety of roles at companies such as Stanley Black & Decker Inc. and Essity AB over three decades. He took a new job at Blue Yonder during the pandemic. “I think that’s where a lot of the stress came from. We can’t solve problems as easily as we used to.”

Outdated Processes

The supply crunch hasn’t been limited to products consumers can hold in their hands. It has also affected tasks like data collection, which contribute to the bottlenecks experienced by businesses and shoppers.

Madhav Durbha, vice president of supply chain strategy at Coupa Software Inc., said part of the problem is outdated processes. Manual and labor-intensive operations force employees to spend hours every week doing repetitive tasks that could be automated for greater efficiency and accuracy, allowing people to focus on more rewarding work.

For example, Durbha said 60% to 70% of an analytics employee’s time can be spent gathering data, while only 30% to 40% is dedicated to analyzing the figures and providing insights.

A survey released last year by recruitment firm DSJ Global showed that more than half of supply chain and procurement professionals expected their paychecks to increase in the next 12 months. Higher pay was the No. 1 reason U.S. workers were attracted to new jobs.

Supply chain skills are in such high demand these days that job seekers can afford to be picky, said Emily Prendergast, an executive director at DSJ. She estimates that 65% to 70% supply chain professionals are open to learning about new job opportunities within six months of getting their current position.

Watch: Elevating Women to Supply Chain Leadership

“Candidates are less willing to go to a firm that is outdated in systems or outdated in general processes,” Prendergast said. “They don’t want to be as stressed out as they have been over the last few years.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Education & Professional Development Global Supply Chain Management HR & Labor Management Supply Chains in Crisis
  • Related Articles

    How Supply-Chain Managers Are Reevaluating Best Practices

    Supply Managers Are in Position to Help the Company Lawyers

    Changes in Vehicle Taxes, Emission Rules Are Testing Fleet Managers

Bloomberg

Volvo May Move Investments to U.S. If Europe’s Green-Tech Push Falls Short

More from this author

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • A HAND TURNS A LARGE, LIGHTED DIAL WITH THE WORD RISK ON IT iStock-NicoElNino-1364371014.jpg

    Measuring KPIs and KRIs for Comprehensive Supplier Performance Management

    Technology
  • A COMPLEX SERIES OF ROADWAYS AND RAMPS, SEEN FROM HIGH ABOVE, IS PARTLY SHROUDED BY CLOUD

    Supply Chain Visibility Isn’t Just a Catchphrase; It’s an Imperative

    Logistics
  • A TRUCK LEAVES A PORT DOCK LOADED WITH A CONTAINER

    C.H. Robinson Digs in Against Activist Investor Ancora

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • A WOMAN IN HER LIVING ROOM GESTURES IN DISMAY ON THE PHONE OVER AN OPEN SHIPPING BOX

    Retailers – Quit Bellyaching and Differentiate Yourself on Returns

    Reverse Logistics
  • A CONTAINER SHIP PLIES A SILVERY OCEAN

    CVC Nears Deal to Acquire Logistics Firm Scan Global

    Logistics

Digital Edition

Scb q1 2023 cover

2023 Supply Chain Management Resource Guide: Packing for a Difficult Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing