The holidays are a stressful time for warehouses and order fulfillment companies. This is the busiest shopping season of the year, causing distribution centers to hire extra laborers to pick, pack, and ship orders out to customers. What makes a good seasonal order picker? What should a warehouse look for when hiring this type of person to join their team? Those are the questions we will answer in this holiday warehousing guide.
Fast Learning and Adaptability
A seasonal order picker has to jump into unfamiliar territory and learn how to adapt the fly. People who have worked in the warehouse for a long time are already familiar with how the systems work and where most things are in the building. For a seasonal worker, this is all new information. When a warehouse hires someone to work for the season, they need to look for an adaptable person who can learn quickly and make wise inferences about what to do during their shift.
Productivity and Efficiency
Because this is a high-demand time of year, the warehouse needs to be performing at maximum efficiency. Some people do not work well in fast-paced environments based their mental or physical capabilities. There may still be work for those people in certain areas of the warehouse, but they would not function well in the picking and order fulfillment department. It’s not always easy to tell how efficient a worker will be until you can see him or her the job, so many warehouse managers will hire people for a test run before making a final decision about their place for the season.
Flexibility and Versatility
This falls in line with the idea of adaptability, but the focus here is someone who can learn different tasks in the warehouse in a short amount of time. Employees who can be cross trained to work in several departments are going to be the biggest asset to the team. If someone calls in sick in a vital part of the order fulfillment line, that employee can step in to do the job. This is true about warehousing workers as a whole because they often need to wear multiple hats within the facility. Those who manage to do this well may be valuable long-term laborers, not just seasonal ones.
Trustworthiness
Even if you hire someone to work temporarily, you have to be able to trust him or her. This person is not only going to represent your company, but he or she will also play a role in your clients’ satisfaction with your services. In addition to all that pressure, the new worker may be handling valuable goods that would be easy to steal or hide. You need to make sure that you have anti-theft practices in place to prevent that. Do a background check every applicant to make sure they are worthy of being your team. With the right preparation in place, you will be able to get through the holiday season in style.
To learn more contact Overflo at 1-800-626-0616 to speak with one of our friendly representatives.