The recent increase in Employers National Insurance contributions has focused everyone’s minds on the cost of staff. The attitude, expertise and experience of your team are a fundamental component of every business. This is particularly true in warehousing and fulfilment operations that rely on well-motivated staff to deliver consistent results in what can be a challenging and pressured environment. In the current economic environment it is becoming increasingly challenging to find and retain high quality warehouse staff.

How can a WMS help with staff retention?

A modern flexible Warehouse Management System can play a key role in helping you retain your best staff and manage temporary staff more effectively.

Improved efficiency and better use of staff resources

A modern WMS such as OrderFlow will allow you to manage your staff’s workload more effectively and will give them the tools and information they need.

• Automated order batching will identify the most effective method of picking orders, reducing the distance pickers need to walk and enabling them to complete their work faster and more accurately.
• The use of hand-held scanners will eliminate miss-picks and provide realtime information about user activity and throughput. Potential errors are avoided before they arise and can be used to highlight the need for process refinements or user training.
• Embedding your business rules into the WMS will dramatically reduce the time required to on-board new team members.

Automation and robotics

A modern WMS such as OrderFlow will enable you to integrate with warehouse automation and robots. These systems take away many of the strenuous labour intensive tasks which reduces the risk of injury and fatigue in the warehouse but they are only effective if they are integrated into the broader WMS processes .

Improved visibility and planning

Systems such as OrderFlow provide accurate live information about stock levels, order status, deliveries and task priorities. Managers and team leaders are able to plan their work and give staff a clear understanding of what needs to be done and how work should be prioritised. Without this information staff often feel that they are firefighting to stay afloat and that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Performance Metrics

Sophisticated WMS’s such as OrderFlow provide a wide range of reports and dashboards about user productivity. This can be motivating for staff who are putting in extra effort and allows them to be rewarded. It can be used to identify training needs for other staff.

Balancing workloads

Structured reports and dashboards can also be used to balance workloads in the warehouse. For example, the ratio of pickers and packers can be adjusted to remove any bottleneck between the two processes.

Bringing new and temporary staff up to speed quickly

Introducing new and temporary staff into the warehouse can be challenging. In the short-term it is very time consuming for existing staff who are already overworked to train new members of the team. Using handheld scanners with simple to follow instructions and built in checks dramatically reduces the time required for new staff to get up to speed and cuts out those costly errors.

Improved retention and recruitment

The reporting features of OrderFlow allow managers to identify areas of the warehouse operation where errors occur, even when the errors are identified and corrected at the time. This information can be used to identify training needs and updates to processes. Staff who believe that management understands their issues and is willing to make changes are more likely to feel motivated and want to stay.

Similarly, when recruiting, higher quality staff are likely to be interested in working for an organisation who have invested in systems to help their staff.

Increased productivity.

A modern WMS will enable you to increase the productivity of your staff and better utilise the space in your warehouse to cope with peak periods and growth. Higher productivity will allow you to pay your staff more rather than rely on bridging the gap with temporary staff. In turn, this should allow you to retain your experienced staff.

In summary, by automating routine tasks, improving communication, enhancing safety, and providing clear data to guide employees, a WMS can create a more efficient, organized, and positive work environment. These improvements directly contribute to job satisfaction, lower stress levels, and reduced turnover in warehouse staff.