As of 2019, the warehouse employee turnover rate in the United States was nearly 46%. Then the COVID pandemic struck and the number jumped to a whopping 59.5% by 2020. This is proving to be a serious problem for manufacturers, distributors, and fulfillment companies.
Uncontrolled employee attrition severely impacts company profitability. If you have enough people with the right skills in your employ, you can achieve your business goals faster and grow your company.
The opposite is true if you keep having to spend resources on finding new people to hire and train, several times a year. Another reason is time saved. It’s taking longer to hire people, especially as remote working has become a staple option in the new normal.
It’s basically a jobseeker’s market out there as the options and accompanying perks keep growing. It would take a lot more than the usual offer to convince people to leave the comfort of their homes to come work at the factory or warehouse.
Lastly, consistently high employee turnovers is not a good record to have as a company. It does not bode well for your brand if people keep quitting a few months after signing on. What kind of message does that send to your potential hires and the general job market?
Now that we’ve established why your company needs to reduce employee attrition, let’s share our five proven ways to go about it.
Reasons for high turnover in the warehousing industry vary widely — the most common ones include low pay, increased safety risks, intense work, lack of respect and rising productivity requirements. Any of these situations can quickly lead to burnout, and with it, another turnover waiting to happen.
By taking the time to understand what exactly is causing the turnover, you will be better equipped to tackle the issue head-on. This means training managers to recognize signs of burnout, such as frequent absences, lowered productivity, and changes in demeanor.
It’s also important to communicate with your staff regularly about safety measures, being respectful and provide them with the resources to do their jobs more efficiently.
Retaining employees begins with hiring the right ones. You’ll likely go for employees with strong skills that match the open positions at your company. But that should not be your only consideration. It’s equally important that they fit well into your business’s culture.
During the interview, you can ask behavioral questions to learn more about their motivations for wanting the job, as well as how they react in certain situations. You won’t learn everything in a single meeting, but you might learn enough to know whether they would be a good fit.
Admittedly, this can be a time-consuming endeavor. To save time, you can outsource the hiring to a professional warehouse staffing agency. At Action Logistix, we provide top-notch staffing solutions for production employers or companies. We can take away the bulk of the hassles involved in the recruitment process.
Check out our Guide to Finding High Caliber Workers to learn more about our pre-qualification and hiring processes.
Scheduling can be tough, especially since many warehouses operate on a 24/7 basis and production is starting to pick up once again after the pandemic. On top of that, the holidays are upon us, which can create added pressure on your team to meet rising seasonal demands.
Being flexible with the scheduling improves work-life balance, which is a critical deciding factor among today’s employees.
There are several ways to do this — you could allow employees to work unconventional hours, work four-day weeks, or shift swap with managerial approval.
Employees who feel stagnant in their career development are more likely to start looking for new opportunities outside.
Make this a non-issue by providing employee development opportunities at your company. This can be through promotional tracks or training to upskill them and move them up the career ladder.
The industry pay is generally competitive. But there’s a new player to contend with — the US Government. Since the pandemic began they have dished out a series of $1400 stimulus checks, plus $300/week from the Federal Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) payments, Child Care Credit payments, and other related benefits.
With all these benefits, the average employee may be better off staying unemployed and end up making more money than if they were employed.
Of course, many of these aid programs are no longer active, but the effects appear to be long-lasting. Today if you want people to leave their homes and come do manual work at the warehouse, the pay better be worth it.
Our team at Action Logistix can help reduce warehouse employee turnover in Missouri & Illinois. Thanks to our robust 3-point employee verification system, we are able to provide higher caliber candidates for our clients.
Contact us now to discuss your warehouse staffing requirements. Call 314-757-0904 or reach us through our contact form. We look forward to helping you hire your dream warehousing team and improve your work processes to reduce employee turnover.
