Becker's Hospital Review

42 42 CEO/STRATEGY Opinion: Why There Are so Few Female Supply Chain and Logistics Leaders By Mackenzie Bean A s director of JPS Supply Chain — a recruitment consultancy company specializing in logistics, procurement and supply chain — Jennifer Swain interviews many more men for logis- tics roles than women. Ms. Swain highlights the lack of women holding leadership roles in the industry and shares four reasons for this trend in a blog post on LinkedIn. 1. It's a numbers game. Ms. Swain notes far fewer women than men enter the logistics and supply chain industry. "[I]t stands to reason that if the ratio of men to women in entry-level positions is heavily-weighted to the male of the species, that as you move up the career ladder this ratio will still apply." 2. The lingering perception of "male" and "female" jobs. While the stereotype of little girls becoming nurses and boys becoming engineers is mostly outdated, Ms. Swain believes fragments of this perception still exist in some businesses. "Logistics definitely comes under the former stereotype of being a 'man's job' and still to this day this view point can be found in the cul- ture of some warehouse operations," she wrote. "I have witnessed on occasion women with more talent being overlooked for opportunities with an extreme case where one company owner [asked me] how old the [female candidate] was as he was concerned she was going [to] have children in the next 12 months and he would have to pay ma- ternity." 3. Women as mothers. Ms. Swain said she worked with several male counterparts early in her career who reached a director role fast- er than her not because they had more skills, but because they hadn't taken two years out of their career to start a family. "Yes, there are some families where the woman goes out to work and the stay-at-home parent is the dad, but on the whole it is the mother who puts her career to one side in order to raise a family," Ms. Swain wrote. "ere is nothing wrong with that but it does play a part as to why there are less women at senior level in any industry, not just sup- ply chain and logistics." 4. Lack of applications. Ms. Swain said some culpability rests on the women who are in logistics and supply chain careers but don't ap- ply for leadership roles. "[O]ut of the 40 or so jobs I posted in one year, I received four appli- cations [from women] … when I advertise on any [social media] plat- form, the ratio of male to female applicants can be as much as 40:1," she wrote. "A man will look at a job specification and highlight all the things he can do and apply for the role on the basis that he may tick 70 percent of the boxes. A woman will look at the same job description and look at all the things they cannot do and not apply because they don't tick 30 percent of the boxes." n The CBO believes businesses with younger employees earning higher incomes are most likely to stop offering in- surance coverage. 3. Average premiums would spike within the first two years of implementation and then begin to decrease until they are 10 percent below current levels. Average premiums in the individual market would increase 15 to 20 percent over current levels in 2018 and 2019 under the AHCA, according to the report. This increase is directly re- lated to the elimination of the individual mandate — fewer healthy people would enroll, driving up costs. However, the CBO expects these increases to eventually be offset by other factors. These offsetting factors include the Patient and State Stability Fund, which would help states offset premium increases in the individual market, and an increase in the number of younger enrollees, who will be able to buy coverage at a lower cost due to the change in age rating rules. The AHCA changes ratios that let pay- ers charge customers differently depending on their age. Under the AHCA, commercial insurers would be able to charge older Americans up to five times more than their younger counterparts for the same plan. The CBO expects these factors to begin having an effect on premiums in 2020, so that by 2026, premiums for individu- als in the nongroup market are expected to be 10 percent lower than current premiums. However, these changes are averages — due to the age rating changes, older enrollees will likely experience higher commercial premiums while younger enrollees will experience lower premiums. 4. The health insurance market is expected to remain stable under the proposed legislation. The AHCA would keep the nongroup market stable by offering subsidies to buy insurance, and though these subsidies would likely be less generous than those enrollees are currently receiving, the legislation's other changes would keep the cost of pre- miums low enough to ensure enough healthy people enter the risk pool. The CBO and JCT also found the nongroup market is stable under the current law, however. 5. The estimates come with a disclaimer. Because the CBO and JCT cannot predict how various industry players would react to the legislation, some estimates are uncer- tain, the report states. The agencies also note they were un- able to provide estimates of the macroeconomic budget- ary impact due to a short deadline. "[B]ecause of the very short time available to prepare this cost estimate, quantify- ing and incorporating those macroeconomic effects have not been practicable," the report reads. n

• Cover