RFID and Layoffs

Filed in archive Implementation on July 26, 2004

Here's an aspect of RFID that you don't hear much about: that this technology might -- I emphasize might -- result in a hit to millions of warehouse jobs.

At least, that's what the Yankee Group predicts. In the United States alone, 4 million workers whose jobs mainly involve reading barcodes could find their jobs going away by 2007 as the more-efficient RFID technology replaces bar coding.

However, the reality is not as sensational as it first sounds. As an article in Silicon.com notes, some of those workers might lose their jobs, but many will migrate to other, higher-value add jobs. Retraining, rather than layoffs, could be the greater impact.

Also, any such change would be gradual. We all know this is not the kind of thing that happens overnight. Rather, it gets phased in gradually as companies adopt RFID technology to make their supply chains more efficient.

Warehouse managers and HR departments need to get out in front of this issue. They need to plan in advance for re-training and transitioning workers, at the same time as they are planning for RFID implementations.

Industry advocates need to tell the entire story about worker re-training, before this issue becomes the hot potato that offshore outsourcing has become.