by Fronetics | Jun 1, 2015 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain, Talent
Don Firth discusses women in the supply chain
The supply chain needs women and women could benefit from the many, interesting, well-paying jobs in the field. However, the number of women working in the field is lower than ever. To dig deeper into the current state of women in logistics, Fronetics turned to industry expert, Don Firth, CEO of job boards including: Jobsinlogistics.com, JobsInManufacturing.com, JobsInTrucks.com and other influential niche job boards. Firth has over forty years’ experience in the field, including positions as SVP Logistics for Pathmark Supermarkets, and Partner of the logistics consulting practice of Deloitte, among others. He was the editor and chief author of the bestselling book, Profitable Logistics Management.
Firth provides history, context, and suggestions for women in the supply chain.
You’ve had a long, successful career in business. Can you talk a bit about this history, and your view of women working in the supply chain, or in business in general?
The profitability of an entire company relies on the supply chain. It’s a huge and often a neglected opportunity for companies.
As far as who chooses a career in the supply chain— it’s not a profession like medicine or law. Not many women think, “I must be in logistics, or in the supply chain.” It’s not a career most women think of, and it’s not a career men think of either.
Traditionally, most people in the supply chain started from the bottom and worked their way up. They may have gotten an entry job as a selector or forklift driver and worked their way up to supervisor, warehouse manager and then executive positions within logistics. But all that is changing. Many colleges are offering degrees in supply chain management or including logistics and supply chain courses in their curriculum, more and more men and women are choosing this as a career choice.
One barrier, for some women, is that many jobs in distribution centers require candidates to have the ability to lift 50 lbs. For example, in the food industry there are very large, bulky cases. Some women are very strong so they might apply. If you’re lifting 50lb cases multiple times an hour, that’s a lot. Some women could do it, but some women can’t. Some men can do it, and some men can’t.
Women make up 38% of the visitors to Firth’s website Jobsinlogistics.com and 32% of the visitors on his website Jobsintrucks.com. These numbers seem high compared to the amount of women in the field, perhaps because some spouses use the websites to find jobs for their husbands.
If I had to guess how many women were in logistics, I would say 20% to 30%. Whereas women working in warehouses may be as low as 10%, other positions such as business development, administrative, freight agents, dispatchers, inventory management, purchasing and supply chain analysts are significantly higher. These help women with lots of talent rise to the top.
So can we correlate that one reason why there might not be a lot of women in the supply chain is because women might not apply for lower level positions, and therefore don’t get an opportunity to rise up through the ranks to middle-management or upper- management?
Perhaps. This may be so for positions such as warehouse associates, maintenance workers, mechanics and drivers. These have traditionally been considered a “man’s world.” For these positions there may even be a bias, a reluctance to hire too many women because most of the people working in the field are men. It will take some time to change. But the times they are a changing for these traditional roles. I just returned from New York on a plane where the pilot was female. We are seeing a growing number of women getting their Class A driver licenses and we have many husband and wife teams registered on JobsInTrucks.com
Are there specific things you feel women can bring to the logistics field?
I have met many women who hold higher level positions in the supply chain. The one key factor they all have is the desire to succeed. They are able to look at the bigger picture of the supply chain and analyze the trade-offs related to different strategies. Those that are on the business development side of the business have great client relationship and social networking skills.
Is there a specific way you currently promote women, or could do so on your websites?
We want to encourage more women to enter the supply chain profession. We send out logistics bulletins to our registered passive and active candidates to provide them with information on how best to find their next career move. We encourage women to participate on our Facebook pages. For JobsInLogistics.com, 40% of the ‘likes’ come from women, yet only 17% on JobsInTrucks.com.
At the recent Mid-American Trucking Show, we were pleased to see significantly more women drivers visiting the JobsInTrucks.com booth. We list 28,000 open driver positions on our website Jobsintrucks.com. Everyone is looking for drivers.
This can be a taxing career role for women, especially on long haul routes, where drivers can be away from home for two to six weeks at a time. Often we see women drivers as part of a husband and wife team. Once people have children this profession can be hard. Family life impacts women and men, both, in this field. Single, young men see trucking as an adventure at age 21, but once they reach age 29 and have children, they want to spend more time with their families, thus contributing to a shortage of drivers.
There was a lawsuit in 1964, Weeks vs. Southern Bell, in which a female employee was suing because she was told she couldn’t apply for a higher paying job within the company. Mrs. Weeks was told the job went to men only because it required heavy lifting and women weren’t allowed to lift more than 30 lbs on the job. Do you see similar things happening in the logistics field, even today?
Wow that was over 50 years ago. Well, the laws have changed but I think the bias is still there. However it still falls back on the physical ability of both men and women to work on jobs that require heavy lifting or strenuous activity.
Do you still see a lot of prejudice against women in logistics?
Many companies are advertising for women in all areas. They’re being careful about hiring processes because of discrimination laws. In reality, I’m sure there is some bias for the heavy-lifting jobs. If people are looking at resumes and they see a female applying and a male applying for a heavy-lifting position, unfortunately I think they’ll interview the man first. On the supervisory level, it doesn’t matter if you can lift things or not. For other positions, I believe it’s a level playing field.
National statistics report that “in 2013, women who worked full time in wage and salary jobs had median usual weekly earnings of $706, which represented 82% of men’s median weekly earnings ($860),” which is in line with what is happening in logistics management. According to the Logistics Management report, “women still lag behind – earning a median salary of $86,370, while men with similar job descriptions pull in more than $100,000.” What do you think it will take to equalize the gender gap?
I don’t know what to think of the accuracy of these statistics, because there can be many factors that skew statistics, such as which companies are being compared, what type of jobs, where are the jobs located, what’s the career history, etc. However, I know that someone should not be looking at a woman with the same skillset as a man and say, “Ok I’m going to pay her less because she’s a woman.” Whereas I’m sure it happens, it’s just wrong.
What do you think about the future of women in the supply chain?
I think there’s going to be slow growth on the manufacturing floor, warehouse operations and in transportation. But I think the high level positions are very open for women. It requires a very analytical mind. Women are especially good at thinking through the many complex pieces of the supply chain. One of the best things about this work is that it’s not repetitive. Things change every day. I think people, men and women alike, will get hooked on logistics! Opportunities are there.
Females should be looking at the business schools that have supply chain courses. Once you have that degree you’re going to be starting at a managerial level. This can lead to salaries anywhere from $85k to $150k for leading supply chain professionals, with some earning more than $225k. Supply Chain salaries are going up tremendously because companies are realizing that supply chain is the key to profitability.
by Fronetics | Mar 24, 2015 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
The Blumberg Advisory Group’s 2014 ITAD Trends Report shows that data security is the number one reason why companies implement an IT asset disposition (ITAD) strategy. That companies are concerned about data security is no surprise. Ongoing media reports have not only focused on data breaches, but have also highlighted examples of sensitive data being found on retired assets. The costs associated with data breaches and with the improper disposal of IT assets are great. They include financial implications such as penalties as well as the loss of customer loyalty and reputation. To mitigate risk, asset recovery management is critical to companies operating in today’s global supply chain.
Data security is viewed as an important piece of asset recovery management
Ninety-nine percent of companies surveyed by the Blumberg Advisory Group reported that “concern about data security” is either “very important” or “extremely important” with respect to motivating the creation of their current end-of-life IT disposition strategy. Other important factors include: commitment to “Green” businesses and IT practices, mitigating legal and financial risks, and redeploying assets to reduce costs (Table 1).
Concerns about data security have resulted in companies becoming more aware of the need for ITAD and the need to budget for it. In 2014 87 percent of companies reported having an ITAD budget; 38 percent more than in 2012.
Companies turn to 3rd-party service providers
The majority (63 percent) of companies reported that they use a 3rd-party service provider to manage end-of-life assets. The factors seen as most important in selecting a 3rd-party service provider include: adoption of industry-recognized compliance standards (97 percent); a well-documented and enforced chain of custody (95 percent); and high-quality, thorough client reporting (95 percent).
What to look for in a 3rd-party service provider
ITAD is expensive and it can be risky. It is therefore important to find a 3rd-party service provider who can provide as much safety and security as possible. It is also important to find a provider that takes the time to understand your business and your needs – and develops and manages an asset recovery program that is right for you rather than one that is “out of the box.”
We have put together a list of five must-ask questions. These are questions you should ask providers with whom your company is considering engaging. Before engaging, make sure that you are given answers to these questions and that you feel confident with responses.
-
What is your specialization?
3rd-party service providers are becoming increasingly specialized, particularly when comes to corporate IT take-outs. This specialization is largely being driven by data security and data breach concerns. If your company has highly specialized assets it is essential to determine what specializations, if any, the provider has.
-
Is there uniformity in the process?
Does the provider operate on a single global platform, or will it be necessary to use different platforms for different regions of operation. Uniformity in the process generally increases the ease of operation and ease of use.
-
Who would manage our relationship?
Would the provider assign one global account manager, or will it be necessary to interface with several account managers? Again, this boils down to ease of operation and ease of use.
-
How flexible are your operations?
Disruptions such as recent closure of west coast ports, natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy, and changing standards and regulations (on a local, regional, and global scale) all impact the supply chain. Given this, it is important that flexibility be a component of asset recovery management.
-
What if something goes wrong?
This question is the most important question to ask. If something goes wrong and if ITAD does not occur as it should, what happens? Does the provider carry indemnification? If so, how much does the provider carry? Will the provider work with you to mitigate risk?
Data security, data breaches, and the improper disposal of assets are issues which global supply chain companies face on a day to day basis. The economic and social implications of the mismanagement of asset recovery are great. It is therefore important that companies operating in today’s global supply chain take the necessary steps to mitigate risk when it comes to asset recovery management.
by Fronetics | Mar 24, 2015 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
The Blumberg Advisory Group’s 2014 ITAD Trends Report shows that data security is the number one reason why companies implement an IT asset disposition (ITAD) strategy. That companies are concerned about data security is no surprise. Ongoing media reports have not only focused on data breaches, but have also highlighted examples of sensitive data being found on retired assets. The costs associated with data breaches and with the improper disposal of IT assets are great. They include financial implications such as penalties as well as the loss of customer loyalty and reputation. To mitigate risk, asset recovery management is critical to companies operating in today’s global supply chain.
Data security is viewed as an important piece of asset recovery management
Ninety-nine percent of companies surveyed by the Blumberg Advisory Group reported that “concern about data security” is either “very important” or “extremely important” with respect to motivating the creation of their current end-of-life IT disposition strategy. Other important factors include: commitment to “Green” businesses and IT practices, mitigating legal and financial risks, and redeploying assets to reduce costs (Table 1).
Concerns about data security have resulted in companies becoming more aware of the need for ITAD and the need to budget for it. In 2014 87 percent of companies reported having an ITAD budget; 38 percent more than in 2012.
Companies turn to 3rd-party service providers
The majority (63 percent) of companies reported that they use a 3rd-party service provider to manage end-of-life assets. The factors seen as most important in selecting a 3rd-party service provider include: adoption of industry-recognized compliance standards (97 percent); a well-documented and enforced chain of custody (95 percent); and high-quality, thorough client reporting (95 percent).
What to look for in a 3rd-party service provider
ITAD is expensive and it can be risky. It is therefore important to find a 3rd-party service provider who can provide as much safety and security as possible. It is also important to find a provider that takes the time to understand your business and your needs – and develops and manages an asset recovery program that is right for you rather than one that is “out of the box.”
We have put together a list of five must-ask questions. These are questions you should ask providers with whom your company is considering engaging. Before engaging, make sure that you are given answers to these questions and that you feel confident with responses.
-
What is your specialization?
3rd-party service providers are becoming increasingly specialized, particularly when comes to corporate IT take-outs. This specialization is largely being driven by data security and data breach concerns. If your company has highly specialized assets it is essential to determine what specializations, if any, the provider has.
-
Is there uniformity in the process?
Does the provider operate on a single global platform, or will it be necessary to use different platforms for different regions of operation. Uniformity in the process generally increases the ease of operation and ease of use.
-
Who would manage our relationship?
Would the provider assign one global account manager, or will it be necessary to interface with several account managers? Again, this boils down to ease of operation and ease of use.
-
How flexible are your operations?
Disruptions such as recent closure of west coast ports, natural disasters such as Hurricane Sandy, and changing standards and regulations (on a local, regional, and global scale) all impact the supply chain. Given this, it is important that flexibility be a component of asset recovery management.
-
What if something goes wrong?
This question is the most important question to ask. If something goes wrong and if ITAD does not occur as it should, what happens? Does the provider carry indemnification? If so, how much does the provider carry? Will the provider work with you to mitigate risk?
Data security, data breaches, and the improper disposal of assets are issues which global supply chain companies face on a day to day basis. The economic and social implications of the mismanagement of asset recovery are great. It is therefore important that companies operating in today’s global supply chain take the necessary steps to mitigate risk when it comes to asset recovery management.
