The festive season in India, marked by events like Diwali, Dussehra, and Christmas, sees a significant rise in consumer demand across various industries. This surge poses a challenge in managing workforce requirements in supply chains. Here are some key strategies to manage this effectively:

1. Increasing Shift Hours with Overtime

Extend shift hours by offering overtime and extra pay. This boosts capacity quickly without needing additional staff, helping meet short-term demand spikes.

2. Implementing Rotational Shifts

Use rotational shifts to maintain continuous operations and prevent employee burnout. This approach spreads the workload evenly, ensuring steady productivity.

3. Extending Operational Hours

Extend warehouse hours by adding night shifts or lengthening existing ones. This maximises facility usage and helps manage the increased demand effectively.

4. Hiring Additional or Temporary Workers

If demand exceeds capacity, consider hiring temporary or additional workers. This provides the necessary workforce boost without long-term commitments.

Impact of Festive Seasons on Supply Chains

Festivals in India see orders shooting up manifold; therefore, consumer demand surges high. Faster delivery options increase pressures across each level of the supply chain, right from production and warehousing to the last mile transportation and final delivery. Therefore, scaling their workforce fast is a prerequisite for businesses in order to keep up with the extra work demand, sometimes by even hiring temporary or seasonal workers just to cope with the demand.

Workforce Surge Management Strategies

1. Advance Planning and Forecasting:

The first step in workforce surge management is correct demand forecasting. Businesses must study past data, market trends, and sales forecasts to estimate the volume of work and its related workforce requirement. Advance planning would help the company get the right quantity of available workers with the commencement of the festive seasons.

For instance, e-commerce giants like Amazon India and Flipkart start workforce planning many months in advance of the festive season. The companies study sales trends of the previous years to come up with an estimate of the additional number of workers required at warehouses, delivery, and customer support.

2. Strategy towards the Recruitment of Temporary Workers:

Temporary or seasonal workers are another approach towards workforce surge management. Workers for a short period are hired, which in turn offers the business flexibility at surging resources at a faster pace during periods of high consumption. Companies in India usually rely on staffing agencies that have a pool of casual workers to help them meet their needs by rapidly scaling up their workforce during periods of high demand.

For example, e-tailers and logistics companies onboard thousands of temporary resources during the Diwali seasons to handle the surge in volume of orders and deliveries. This does not only meet demand but also allows permanent staff to be used for critical tasks.

3. Training and Skill Development:

Onboarding such a large pool of temporary workers only poses the challenge of their proper training to become productive as soon as possible. Therefore, businesses have to focus on fast-track training that covers just the essential skills, safety procedures, and company policies that will rapidly help these temporary workers to get up to speed.

Companies like Reliance Retail and Big Bazaar have an extended training program with their seasonal staff in customer service, inventory management, and all other aspects of store operations. This would also include unskilled labour who can render their services during the peak season.

4. Staff Management through Technology:

Technology is central to good workforce surge management. Real-time workforce management systems can provide visibility of staffing levels, shift patterns, and productivity, helping businesses make the appropriate decisions about workforce allocation. Meanwhile, digital onboarding and training and communication can automate and streamline how temporary workers are integrated into the workforce.

This is how several companies in India use mobile apps for seasonal workforce management, including easy accessibility to schedules, training, and communication with managers. This not only improves efficiency but also enhances worker satisfaction and retention.

5. Flexible Work Arrangements:

Offering flexible work arrangements, like part-time shifts or the ability to work from home, would also attract more workers during festival times. This is particularly true in India, considering the rapid growth of the gig economy in the country and the fact that most workers would want flexible job opportunities. Businesses can ensure that they have an adequate number of workers to meet demand by offering options that appeal to a variety of lifestyles.

For example, delivery companies might want to provide part-time evening shifts during their festive rush to cater to students or others looking for temporary work. This flexibility draws a broader base of applicants who can help the business scale up.

Conclusion

One key challenge that faces the supply chains in India is the surge of the workforce during the festive season. This surge can be managed through early planning, strategic recruitment of temporary workers, investment in training, use of technology, and flexibility in work. These strategies ensure that supply chains function smoothly during peak demand, with heightened levels of customer satisfaction.

At the upcoming festive season, companies who give due importance to workforce management will be better equipped in handling or capitalising on the challenges and opportunities that this year-end period provides in India.