Negative Millennia Stereotyping

Negative Millennia Stereotyping - Continue to Plague our understanding

Ignoring this generation is impossible and attracting millennia’s in the supply chain is an even bigger hurdle.

Since e-commerce has flooded the supply chain industry with more orders and stringent delivery expectations, supply chain leaders must think outside the box to attract and retain the generation.

In fact, millennials will make up more than 75% of the workforce by 2025, so it is time for supply chain executives and leaders to enact the changes necessary to guarantee success in both the current and future supply chain.

Supply chain leaders and executives may have fallen victim to a series of negative stereotypes about the potential of millennials in the supply chain.

Millennia’s have been subjected to multiple negative views about their work ethic and capability to handle labour-intensive work and overall drive.

Unfortunately, failure to recognise the role millennia’s will play in the future of the world of supply chains will result in catastrophe to supply chain leaders as they face a terrible problem; within the next few years, the numbers of retirees will reach a critical point, resulting in severe setbacks and worsening the talent gap.

To stay successful, the supply chain section needs an infusion of approximately 270,000 new faces per year.

New Processes is required to attract Millennia’s in the Supply Chain

• The simplest way to attract millennials in the supply chain is to change how millennia’s view supply chain processes.
• This goes back to creating a culture of acceptance of digital technologies, standard thinking, and the use of analytics and innovative technologies, such as augmented reality and robotics, within the supply chain.
• For instance, implementing on-the-job management training and rotational programs encourages millennia’s to pursue careers in the supply chain.
• Millennia’s are more comfortable than previous generations in working data, the use of analytics programs in the supply chain can go a long way to attract this generation, they have an advantage over previous generations; they are “digital natives,”
• This means they have grown up with digital technology at their fingertips and are ready to embrace digital technologies in the workplace.

Best Practices to Improving Your Supply Chain to Attract Millennia’s

1. It is not enough to simply introduce an on-the-job training program to attract millennia’s in the supply chain.
2. Supply chain leaders need to tackle a few issues that propagate the negative view of the industry.

The best way to achieve this feat lies in following these steps:

• Leverage automation for manual and repetitive work.
• Listen to and apply employee input in supply chain management.
• Make your career path visible.
• Develop an “Employee Manual” that reflects the real-world duties and expectations for employees.
• Upgrade systems to use new technologies, like Big Data, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality and more.
• Train existing team members on new systems, enabling the use of mentorship, apprenticeship, and on-the-job training programs.

Embrace the Digital Supply Chain Now

• As e-commerce surges toward a ￡4 trillion+ valuation by 2020, reports eMarketer, demand for talent in the supply chain will continue, and digital supply chains will replace the long-held beliefs of supply chain management as a “dirty, dingy, labour-intensive” career.
• For supply chain leaders to attract the next generation of talent, they must look to ways to improve operations and embrace the digital revolution.

4 Areas Millennia’s are poised to Change the Supply Chain Industry

With supply chain industry leaders lamenting a growing talent gap, tapping the millennial generation may be key to filling that gap.

But how, exactly? A closer look at the generational characteristics emerging from the influence of digital technology and pervasive interconnectedness allows us to draw inferences about the potential millennial contributions to the supply chain industry.

1: Internet of Things (IoT): Loosely defined as the growing and pervasive use of interconnected devices, is rising concurrently with Millennia’s entering the workforce. Born and raised during the digital revolution, they’re accustomed to products and processes that are highly integrated and interconnected.

Supply chain companies should tap Millennia’s to leverage their unique perspective by engaging them in creative and strategic thinking about optimizing operational processes using interconnected devices, sensors, and tracking tools and soliciting ideas to grow revenue through the production of devices.

2: Marketing and Sales Approaches: Targeted for advertisements from an earlier age than their parents and grandparents, Millennia’s have been desensitized to overt branding messages. Instead, they respond to more organic marketing and sales approaches – strategies that can be expected to carry over into their work. Further, following current trends that deploy digital and social media Millennia’s will seek to shift sales and marketing activities online to develop more meaningful, solutions-based relationships with buyers.

3: Global Partnerships: Ubiquitous and immediate virtual access to resources, information, networks, and people make Millennia’s the most interconnected generation. That unencumbered access, coupled with a tendency to favour collaborative decision-making in their work, creates opportunities for global workspaces and more complex industry partnerships – particularly relevant and significant advantages to companies within the supply chain industry.

4: Big Data: Similar to the way Millennia’s relate to the Internet of Things, so too will big data emerge, as a tool Millennia’s will use to transform the supply chain industry.

Their digital confidence and understanding of the types of information and data being collected and analysed by companies will lead to gains in supply chain operational efficiency as Millennia’s seek to analyse robust data and apply their findings in practical ways.

With Millennia’s positioned to outnumber Baby Boomers in the workplace by 2020, shifts in ideas and processes are inevitable. What other supply chain elements do you see as ripe for transformation by Millennia’s?

Rapid changes in consumer demand and supply environment require better food sourcing capabilities to plan and manage growth.

More specifically, the latest generation of food lovers, millennia’s, has brought a unique perspective to the industry with greater demand for fresh and organic products and sustainability.

Their views on social responsibility continue to impact all sectors of the industry more than ever before.

Caught in a vice, squeezed from one side by cut-throat competition and rising consumer demands — particularly those of the millennial generation, and from the other by increased costs and supply chain complexity, chains are pressured as never before to manage volatility and maximise profits.

Yet at many chains, functions including supply chain, procurement, finance, menu management, operations, and marketing fall short in responding to this crisis.

This is largely due to the fact that they are struggling with outdated practices and legacy systems when, in reality, it is more important than ever to establish best practices in farm-to-fork supply chain and procurement orchestration.

For restaurant companies to build resiliency and enhance their competitive position in today’s millennial-driven marketplace, this is the only way.

The most successful brands have tapped into the full potential of the millennial consumer online to develop more meaningful, solutions-based relationships with buyers.

The executive suite sees these costs as more amenable to management than other high fixed costs such as labour and infrastructure improvement.

Supply chain, procurement, and finance professionals are expected to play a heroic role in holding down costs, but must also do their part to uphold quality and reliability — or the chain risks decline or death.

Contributing to the ever-changing landscape of the industry is the millennial consumer, oftentimes affecting even the largest of companies and in such an environment, the best practices outlined here are the only options that will allow chains to maintain profits and enhance their competitive position in the marketplace between the changing industry landscape and shifting millennial ideologies