The dictionary meaning of the oft-repeated, much-known French word ‘Renaissance’ is re-birth. Philosophically it alludes to the cultural re-awakening in Europe after the dark spell of the medieval deadlocks. It was a time when the thinkers, authors, painters, scientists alike advocated the significance of human beings as the centre of the cosmic dimensions. Why should we even remotely allude to such metaphysical theorising in the banal world of logistics? The answer is simple. It is time to re-do the framework in the otherwise vapid world of supply chain and go humanistic in hauling the pivot.
It is a matter of genuine relief that the modern world has shrugged off its slumber to a heightened consciousness regarding the decency in work environment in the recent times. The issue of safe workspace has been brought to the fore emphatically by the 8th goal of sustainable development that has been proscribed by the United Nations. Decent workspace entails various facets and demands to it and they are not only restricted to fair flow of money earned by the worker, in exchange of their labour. A humanised workspace corroborates safety and security of the workers in the workplace, social security of their families, consistent opportunities of personal and professional development and equitable treatment to workers irrespective of their caste, class, gender, sexual orientation and other socio-economic factors. It is exactly because of this reason that the contemporary research on supply chain management not only lays stress on the conventionality of environmental sustainability, but also the discourses on social sustainability, i.e. humanised workforce has taken the centre stage. And it has been proven that thee leadership that cares for even the lower rung of employees, hears them and includes them in the policy making of the institutions earn the respect and good-will in the market.
It must be brought to focus that supply chain industry not only includes the white collared employees or the drivers, pickers, shippers. In the burgeoning and multi-tiered domain of supply chain, even the procurers of resources, workers who manufacture, intermediary sources of labour are also embedded in the entire gigantic, living organism. And it is the responsibility of the c-level of the companies to sufficiently humanise the entire process. They must act as the incubator to nurture and help the whole ecosystem flourish. While the environmental footprints of the companies have yardsticks to measure them, the human rights metrics are complex and difficult to yoke with the main fold of the system. Therefore, thrust should be given on the changing nomenclatures of the social aspects that need humanised focus through constant and rigorous research that is commensurate with the paradigmatic shift of the society.
And to understand this shift, we must acknowledge the very nature of the supply chain industry. Traditionally, the industry has been a buyer-focused one with the maximum importance granted to the consumer satisfaction. Everything that goes around within its fold has the ultimate motive of earning reputation before the buyers. While happy customer with increased product traffic is indeed of foremost importance, it is also disheartening if we see that the companies completely disregard the entity and the participation of the other stakeholders in the ambit of the industry, namely its workers. It is extremely precarious for a company in the longer run to consider workers as just a factor in completing the life cycle of the products. It is crucial for the companies to understand the cycle of employment also. To know the socio-economic-ethnic-racial dynamics of the workforce and the stages that the workers had to traverse through in order to be employable creates the foregrounds of a decent and safe workplace and top executives must ensure that. The knowledge also incorporates the cognizance of the dialectics of the employees and employers, the degree of freedom that workers enjoy in terms of speech, action and conducive approach. It is exactly these aspects that make sole focus on environmental sustainability and cost optimisation redundant.
Therefore, we can see how it is of optimum interest in the merits of the individual business organisations and the leaders to bring the arch light back on the humans and the humane approach. As mentioned earlier, the entire modus operandi of supply chain involving workers, demands and contexts must be conferred the due humanistic outlook that it has long deserved. Cognizance pertaining to the behavioural response of the workers and the change in it, the emotional quotient in addition to the intelligent quotient must be sought and brought to the highest decision-making tables of the companies. It is time to set the moral compunction and legal compass elsewhere. It is time to go anthropocentric. It is time to beget new-found faith on humanity.