PathGuide Technologies ● 22745 29
th
Drive SE, Suite #150, Bothell, WA 98021 ● www.pathguide.com ● clientservices@pathguide.com
Maintain a well-kept
warehouse
Worker incentives
Fair standards
Training
Investment
EMPHASIS ON MAINTAINING A WELL-KEPT
WAREHOUSE
The way the warehouse looks says a lot about how much you
value it and the employees who work there. For employees
exposed to neglected warehouse facilities – whether that
means disorganization, dust, clutter, dim lighting, or any other
combination of qualities that ultimately indicate poor
housekeeping practices – it can start to feel like management
has failed to consider, much less prioritize, the level of wellness
they experience in their daily work environment.
In areas where temperature extremes, humidity and dust are
particularly prevalent, it is even more important to keep the
safety and comfort of your employees in mind by maintaining
a more organized, well-ventilated (or heated) warehouse.
Moreover, there is often a hidden cost to a messy warehouse,
as they almost always affect productivity and inventory control.
One of the easiest ways to make an improvement is to examine
your traffic patterns. How are items picked and put away, and
how is stock replenished? How well are you utilizing vertical
space? Once you complete a traffic analysis, group products
based on the frequency they are touched, creating efficiencies
in how products flow in and out of the warehouse.
WORKER INCENTIVES
If you consider employee turnover a cost of doing business and
are not using pay incentives in your warehouse, you might want
to reconsider. The costs of turnover are high, with some
estimates pegging it to be as much as $10,000 per employee to
cover , training and ramp-up; this amount doesn't include
recruiting costs. Or perhaps you are a proponent of teamwork,
believing that individual rewards are not necessary.
While it is true that most managers espouse teamwork,
individual rewards can often serve as more of a motivation for
employees. You can design and communicate these incentives
in many ways, such as rewards for least picking errors, the most
picks per hour, most on-time shipments, even safety records.
Really, any metric tied to customer satisfaction or employee
fulfillment can deliver a measurable ROI for your business.
Bottom line: identify and recognize your top performers, then
set benchmarks based on the high standards those individuals
have demonstrated. This will serve as both a motivation and
encourage continual performance improvement.
