January 9, 2024 Addressing the Labor Shortage with Innovative Hiring

It is critical for the warehousing industry to implement innovative hiring approaches to address the “forever labor shortage”.

By Yong Kim, Wonolo

The warehousing industry has been experiencing a “forever labor shortage” as companies continue to struggle to meet increased consumer demand and expectations. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warehousing would fill about 75% of jobs if every unemployed person with experience in the manufacturing industry were employed. It was also reported that the industry still has 616,000 total job openings that need to be filled. With the talent pool significantly smaller than the current hiring demands, manufacturing companies have to get creative with their hiring and staffing approaches and finally shift away from traditional labor strategies.

So as we settle into 2024, how exactly can the warehousing sector address this ongoing labor shortage issue and ensure their labor strategy is meeting their needs of today and tomorrow? The key is to deploy an innovative hiring approach tapping into new and emerging forms of technology to help you find the talent that your team needs to be successful.

Why Current Staffing Options Aren’t Working

Thousands of job openings are anticipated to persist in 2024, as was seen in 2023. Why is this the case? On top of simply not having enough manufacturing workers to fill hiring needs, companies are struggling to attract new talent to the space because they tend to use archaic approaches to staffing. For example, many manufacturing companies only offer rigid scheduling structures, siloed positions that do not allow workers to experience other roles and strict time-off policies. This rigid approach to the employee experience has created a setback for the industry as a whole because current strategies overlook what every worker wants: flexibility. In fact, 51% of manufacturing workers want more flexible work options but only 9% of manufacturing HR leaders say there is flexible work at their organization.

These outdated forms of hiring include only hiring for roles that rely on a consistent and full-time schedule. Prioritizing roles like this hinders a warehouse employee’s ability to have a flexible schedule, and can in turn impact the high level of job opportunities that are looking to be filled.

The Future of Hiring for Warehousing

The future of hiring for warehouse workers will heavily depend on emerging forms of technology in 2024 and beyond to provide workers with a modern working experience.

In today’s workplace, employees expect a flexible working environment, but historically, flexibility was not a workplace perk that warehouses could provide their workforce. However, new technology and workplace policies are evolving the warehousing industry to meet the workforce where they are and deliver an agile working structure.

One example of a new and emerging technology that can be depended upon in 2024 is on-demand staffing platforms. On-demand staffing platforms provide an unparalleled level of flexibility for workers and employers; helping to attract and retain more talent while also providing warehouses with a more agile labor approach that is needed to meet unpredictable consumer demand.

These platforms provide this newfound level of flexibility because they empower workers to pursue short-term work opportunities; which enables these workers to choose their desired work engagements and create their own schedule. On the flip side for employers, these platforms provide them with an agile staffing structure as they can tap this pool of experienced talent to fill their hiring needs on a case-by-case basis, helping to mitigate over and under-hiring issues that have been recently plaguing the industry.

Flexible Staffing for Warehouses

The warehousing sector as a whole needs to tap into these more agile forms of labor strategies to fill the major hiring gaps in the industry. By implementing more flexible labor structures and emerging forms of technology, warehousing organizations would be instantly connected to thousands of experienced workers. These workers can pick up any available shifts to help offset the needs of one’s full-time workers. This is extra critical in times of high demand, such as the holiday shopping season.

In 2023, there was a heavy focus on how companies can improve the engagement of in-office workers. However, warehouse worker engagement is just as, or even more, important yet there was minimal conversation surrounding it. Similar efforts that are put in place surrounding in-office worker engagement need to be applied to front-line and warehouse workers.

As we move into 2024 and beyond, it is more than critical for the warehousing industry to tap into new and emerging forms of technology, like on-demand staffing platforms, to fill the talent gaps within their teams. Implementing these innovative strategies can have a direct and positive impact on the labor shortage that the warehousing industry continues to face.

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