The Increase In Remote Jobs During And After The COVID-19 Pandemic

The impact of the covid 19 pandemic all over the world is significant. The pandemic hit every industry and people turned to work from home. As governments urged people to stay at home to avoid the spread of the virus, supply chain and logistics companies became frantic. It’s easy to work from home for some jobs, but it gets tough when it comes to supply chain and management. Contrary to what people thought, the supply chain and logistics workers experienced a surge in their jobs. Everyone is working from home, and there are hundreds if not thousands of deliveries to be made daily.

Before diving deep into how the COVID-19 pandemic changed the supply chain and logistics industry, let us first understand how supply chain and logistics work.

How does logistics work?

Logistics is a significant part of supply chain management. It is the carrying out and management of goods, information, and services from one point (point of origin) to the point of consumption. It is the work of the logistics department to align the complex traffic pattern and transportation. Shipping, receiving, import and export inventory management, warehousing, production planning, customer service, and more.

Companies view logistics as a crucial blueprint for the entire supply chain. It is used to coordinate, manage, and monitor resources required to move products smoothly, reliable, timely, and cost-effective.

How was logistics affected by the COVID 19 pandemic

As we mentioned above, the supply chain management industry was affected by the pandemic but not how other industries were affected. In the supply chain department, things fastened, and orders hiked. With everyone encouraged to work from home and avoid spreading the virus, people were now more than ever doing online transactions. This is where logistics come in.

The logistics department's role is to make sure all these orders are done and delivered to their respective owners. All this has to be done as per CDC guidelines to avoid the virus's spread and get done within the stipulated time.

The impact of the virus was felt in china first. China plays a significant role in global manufacturing, and Wuhan, where the virus started and manifested, plays a particularly significant role. China is also a major consumer of agricultural products and global commodities.

Manufacturing in China was disrupted, which rippled through the world’s supply chains. There was a backlog of cargo at china’s major container ports, and the travel restrictions lead to a severe shortage of truck drivers (who sit at the epicenter of the supply chain or logistics) and blanked or canceled sailings as the pandemic spread to the rest of the world, the supply chain and logistics were severely affected.

Additional protocols were put in place by governments all over the world. These included social distancing at warehouses which meant less personnel to handle deliveries and avoid overcrowding. For example, in the EU, there was a shortage of truck drivers resulting in over 50,000 containers piling up in the ports of Kattupalli, kamajarar, and Chennai. The effect was fell all over the world, and delays in deliveries became inevitable during this time. Everything from ocean freight, air freight to land freight was affected. Containers lined up on the roads waiting for some borders to open while others were waiting for drivers.

Global Supply Chains After the Pandemic

During the COVID 19 pandemic, a supply shock started in China, and the demand shock followed all over the world. With the effects of the pandemic on supply chains, we have to ask ourselves, what’s next after the pandemic in the supply chain management sector?

Manufacturers have to identify areas in the logistics where they are most vulnerable. Once all the risks in the supply chain are identified, the information is used to address the risks through diversification or stockpiling all key materials.

Today, the surge in eCommerce driven by the pandemic has increased reliance on effective and efficient supply chains in the entire world. Warehouse and logistic workers are increasingly recognized for their important roles in ensuring zero or minimal disruption in the world economy. For life to go on and working from home to succeed, the entire world has to take another look at the global supply chains.

At a time when online shopping spiked, it is the warehouse and distribution workers who became key to the economy. They were up and about delivering goods safely to the nation’s doors and ensured supermarket shelves were well stocked.

Supply chain management and logistics are considered as not the exciting stuff that people want to engage in. However, the pandemic showed us the importance of supply chains making logistics a major driver of employment. People now recognize the importance of the supply chain jobs to the world’s economy, leading to an increase of jobs in the industry. What we saw with the pandemic was an acceleration of changes that were already happening, but we got there earlier due to the pandemic.