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“Not only are employers facing unem-
ployment [that stands] at a 50-year low,
[but] they’re also going head to head
with gig companies that offer workers a
level of flexibility [that’s] unprecedent-
ed,” Bluecrew CEO Adam Roston said
in a press release. “To compete in 2020,
we’ll see employers continue to shift their
hiring and retention strategies. More
employers will offer flexibility … to lure
hourly job seekers.”
Still, job flexibility isn’t the whole story,
Bluecrew says. As the labor landscape
changes, employers will likely adjust their
HR practices in other ways as well, the
company says. These include offering
career growth opportunities through new
training, also known as “upskilling,” and
the use of machine learning (ML) and
artificial intelligence to enhance hiring
effectiveness by focusing on objective
job-performance data and eliminating
inherent biases such as appearance.
FREIGHT-RATE VOLATILITY AHEAD
Even if your digital transformation is
underway and your DC is fully staffed, a
logistics operation still has to move physical inventory. Shippers have enjoyed low
trucking rates in recent months, but a turbulent freight market will likely continue
to churn in 2020, swinging the compass
needle in new directions, according to the
Chicago-based loadboard operator DAT.
In its most recent forecast report, 2020
Freight Focus, DAT notes that 2018 was
a peak year for freight pricing in the
trucking sector, as a surging economy
generated more demand for service than
the truckload sector could supply. In
response, motor carriers rushed to add
capacity, placing record numbers of new-truck orders and raising wages in a bid to
attract more drivers.
But then the picture changed. Demand
for motor freight services softened in
2019, leading to a glut of capacity and
driving truckload rates back down.
Pushed to the brink by those falling rates,
a number of carriers closed their doors in
the first half of 2019, causing capacity to
shrink again, DAT says.
Now, continuing consumer spending
and hot e-commerce sales are on pace to
drive demand back up again. That could
trigger a rebound in spot-market
truckload rates in mid-2020, unless
they’re held in check by external
factors like severe weather or uncer-
tainty caused by trade wars, accord-
ing to DAT.
Given the potential for sudden
squalls in the 2020 forecast, even the
most experienced logistics executive
could run afoul of volatile business
conditions this year. But applying
new technologies and new strate-
gies could help these leaders and
their companies survive—or even
thrive—as they navigate the tumul-
tuous times ahead. ;
