Mastering Seasonal Warehouse Staffing: Strategies for Hiring, Training, and Optimizing Temporary Labor

Written by: John Seidl, TZA and Joe Henderson, Deposco

Peak season is here again!

Most of the time, we worry about order volumes, space constraints, and the intensity of the season. What gets less attention is the manpower behind making it happen.

Every year, warehouses of all types must staff up quickly. While we know that retail uses seasonal labor heavily—up to 20-30% of the workforce—logistics can use as much as 35-40% in warehousing and fulfillment. With many facilities becoming multi-channel, this accelerates the need for seasonal labor. This can lead to mass hiring, confusion with permanent team members, and questions about whether the sprint led to better results.

In today’s fast-paced economy, warehouses are the backbone of supply chain operations, driving efficiency and meeting consumer demands. With the ever-increasing need for flexibility, most companies turn to temporary labor to bridge staffing gaps. While this approach offers quick solutions, it also brings a unique set of challenges that can impact productivity, safety, and overall morale. 

From high turnover rates and training difficulties to communication barriers and varying levels of commitment, managing temporary labor in a warehouse environment is challenging. In this blog, we’ll explore these complexities, shedding light on the strategies that can help organizations not only navigate but thrive amidst the unpredictability of temporary staffing. Join us as we delve into the intricate dynamics of temporary labor and discover how to create a more resilient and effective workforce in the warehouse setting.

The Role of Seasonal Labor in Warehouse Operations

Seasonal labor plays a crucial role in managing the fluctuations in demand that occur throughout the year. During peak periods, such as holiday seasons or promotional events, warehouses experience a surge in inventory and shipping needs. Seasonal workers help handle the increased volume by performing tasks such as picking, packing, sorting, and stocking items. Their assistance ensures that operations run smoothly and efficiently, preventing delays and maintaining a steady flow of goods. By supplementing the core workforce during these high-demand times, seasonal labor helps warehouses meet customer expectations and optimize their logistical processes without the long-term commitment of permanent hires.

Without the addition of this labor, many operations would struggle to handle the demand triggered by surges. It is not reasonable to manage this volume with overtime, as that could be cost-prohibitive and lead to burnout among the permanent team. The fully loaded cost of maintaining a full-time workforce based on peak season—where some retail companies do 50% of their annual sales in three months—doesn’t make sense.

The deployment of planned temporary labor is the way to balance this problem of uneven demands on the operations team.

Recruitment Strategies for Seasonal Warehouse Labor

An effective recruiting strategy for seasonal warehouse labor involves several key steps to attract and secure the right candidates:

Early Planning and Outreach: Start recruiting well in advance of the peak season to build a pool of potential candidates. Utilize job fairs, community events, and online job boards to reach a broad audience. Partnering with local workforce development agencies or community organizations can also help tap into diverse talent pools.

Clear Job Descriptions and Requirements: Provide detailed job descriptions that outline the responsibilities, skills required, and physical demands of the role. Transparency about the temporary nature of the position and expected work hours helps manage candidate expectations and reduces turnover.

Streamlined Application Process: Simplify the application process to make it easy for candidates to apply quickly. Consider online applications with mobile-friendly interfaces, and offer clear instructions on how to complete the process.

Competitive Compensation and Benefits: Offer competitive wages and consider providing incentives such as bonuses for exceptional performance or completion of the seasonal term. Providing benefits like transportation assistance or flexible shift options can also make the positions more attractive.

Leverage Existing Employees: Encourage current employees to refer friends or family members for seasonal roles. Employee referrals can often lead to higher-quality hires who are a good fit for the company’s culture and work environment.

Efficient Screening and Onboarding: Implement a fast and efficient screening process to quickly identify suitable candidates. Once hired, ensure a streamlined onboarding process that includes thorough training, safety protocols, and clear guidance on job expectations.

Create a Positive Work Environment: Foster a positive work culture with recognition programs, supportive management, and opportunities for seasonal workers to provide feedback. A good work environment can lead to higher productivity and better retention rates. It will also help with the next season, as word of mouth is a huge factor in recruiting.

By combining these strategies, companies can effectively recruit and retain seasonal warehouse labor, ensuring they are well-prepared to handle peak periods with a capable and motivated workforce.

Onboarding and Training Temporary Warehouse Staff

You’ve found the workers; now getting them from onboarding to productivity is essential. While ramping up full-time employees is equally challenging, temporary labor has the added constraint of a time crunch. You only have these people for a limited amount of time. You want to get the most out of them and create value for your customers quickly.

Onboarding should have a clear series of actions starting from hiring.

Before coming on site

Document Collection: List all legal requirements for work and leverage recruiting firms or staffing agencies to screen applicants and collect any required documentation.

Pre-Assign to Teams: Know where these people will be focused before they get on-site. Build the plan and staffing model to ensure the work and labor capacity are aligned.

Identify Mentors and Leaders: Have full-time team members or managers trained to coach and develop staff.

Prior and Day-One Training: When possible, getting them into a training environment before showing up to the work site is ideal. Use this for regulatory considerations (by industry) as well as task familiarization.

Define In and Out of Scope: It’s important to acknowledge that temp labor isn’t suited for every task. Define which tasks are appropriate for this cohort and reserve certain responsibilities for full-time employees.

If designing any of this from scratch, leverage templates, checklists, and best practices. Make them standard practice with all involved teams. Ensuring this is done consistently and is reusable year after year is critical.

On site

Final Tasks: Complete document steps that must be done, such as I-9 forms.

Break into Groups by Function: Quickly assign them to their team leads for introduction and orientation.

Post-Start Training: Have a logical approach to teaching the tasks they will perform, ideally through an LMS environment for consistency.

Pair Up: Assign temporary workers to an instructor early on, and ensure they are reassigned if they switch tasks.

Skilling up to productivity quickly is both a time- and cost-conscious move. Ensuring all teams approach this consistently helps the full-time team develop muscle memory as well.

Bottom line: have a system and work it diligently. This sets clear expectations for both temporary and full-time employees and minimizes surprises. Above all, set these processes in place before you need them, and test them. You want these systems to execute as smoothly as your peak strategy.

Strategies to Optimize Warehouse Workflow with Seasonal Labor

Optimizing warehouse workflow with seasonal labor involves strategically integrating these workers into your existing processes to ensure efficiency and productivity. Here are some effective strategies:

Efficient Training Programs: Develop a streamlined training program that quickly brings seasonal workers up to speed. Focus on essential skills and processes to minimize downtime and reduce the learning curve. Use training materials like videos and manuals to support on-the-job learning.

Optimize Staffing and Scheduling: Use data-driven scheduling tools to ensure that seasonal labor is allocated effectively during peak times. Flexibility in shifts and task assignments can help manage fluctuating workloads and maintain productivity.

Standardize Processes: Develop and enforce standardized procedures for common tasks, such as picking, packing, and shipping. This ensures consistency and reduces errors, making it easier for seasonal workers to integrate into the workflow.

Monitor Performance: Implement performance tracking metrics (with a learning curve) via the Labor Management System to evaluate the efficiency and productivity of seasonal workers. Use this data to make real-time adjustments and identify areas for improvement. The LMS can guide observations and coaching for seasonal labor.

Flexible and Scalable Infrastructure: Design the warehouse layout and processes to be adaptable. Ensure that storage, picking, and packing areas can be adjusted based on the volume and type of products being handled.

Safety and Well-Being: Prioritize safety and provide adequate training on handling equipment and materials. Ensuring a safe work environment helps prevent accidents and maintains high levels of productivity.

By focusing on these strategies, you can effectively integrate seasonal labor into your warehouse operations, enhancing workflow and ensuring that peak periods are managed efficiently.

Improving Communication and Integration of Seasonal Workers

Once the team is deployed, you need to get them thinking as one. One of the quickest ways to create friction in the warehouse is for people to see themselves as part of two different groups—especially when one is viewed as better than the other.

While your HR process may be divided, start by treating everyone the same:

• Seasonal labor should be included in updates and communications.
• Stand-ups should be held together as one group.
• Critical information, that isn’t proprietary, should be shared quickly.

Feedback is critical, especially for correction or discipline. Both your seasonal and full-time workers need to see it as timely, accurate, fair, and—ultimately—consistent across the entire team. Leverage your LMS to accomplish this.

• Identify low and high performers quickly.
• Corrective coaching should be backed by data.
• Focus on specific, quantifiable points for both improvement and praise.
• Publicly praise both groups, especially if a collective team effort can be highlighted.

Finally, foster a safe environment for feedback. Ask seasonal workers about processes that are difficult or have hidden friction that you might not be aware of. Full-timers can develop process blinders and simply accept a workaround as necessary. Seasonal employees don’t have those biases and can offer valuable insights.

Regardless of their employment duration, a team member is a team member. You should see this as an opportunity to recruit top performers, not just get the job done. That only happens when they feel included and supported.

Maintaining Motivation and Morale for Seasonal Warehouse Workers

Maintaining motivation and morale for seasonal warehouse workers is crucial for ensuring a productive and positive work environment.

One effective approach is to create a sense of inclusion and appreciation by recognizing and rewarding exceptional performance through incentives, such as performance bonuses or “Employee of the Week” programs.

Providing regular feedback and opportunities for seasonal workers to voice their concerns can foster a supportive atmosphere.

Additionally, fostering a team-oriented culture through team-building activities and social events can enhance camaraderie and engagement. Ensuring that the workplace is safe, well-organized, and equipped with necessary resources also contributes to job satisfaction.

By demonstrating that seasonal workers are valued and respected, employers can keep morale high and motivate their workforce to perform at their best.

Effective Labor Forecasting for Future Peak Seasons

That’ll get you through this year. But how good is your forecasting? Labor forecasting is a derivative of demand forecasting. You know if you want to put “x” units in a week, you need “y” bodies to make that happen.

When did you come to that conclusion? Was it six months out? Six days out?

Your labor planning should start with a thorough after-analysis of how effective your temp labor was compared to your full-time labor:

• Identify who your top performers were, in which department and tasks.
• Identify bottlenecks and areas that underperformed or were understaffed.
• Get feedback on process and systems issues—the problem might not have been the people.

Once you’ve reviewed, think about your manpower needs for next year:

• Were some temps exceptional? Bring them on full-time.
• Were some great, but you can’t afford the headcount? Build a Rolodex and go straight to them next year.
• Did you identify recruiting firms with higher-quality hires? Incentivize those contracts and drop firms that couldn’t deliver or that produce low-quality help.

Finally, look at your forecasting process itself. Did you have a good estimate of your labor needs? Was it low, and you over-hired? Was it high, and you still struggled to get orders out? 

• Implement strong business intelligence.
• Share forecasts with your buyers and your 3PLs to ensure everyone is operating to the same guiding KPIs.
• Use the achievable throughput from your labor analysis above and craft a labor needs forecast broken out by in-house full-time and temp labor.
• Share those headcount forecasts with your chosen recruiter early.

You’ve collected incredible amounts of data to analyze your labor. If you aren’t being proactive with it, you’re leaving a lot on the warehouse floor. With how taxing peak season is on logistics and how critical it is for financial forecasting, it just makes sense to base the quantity and timing of seasonal hiring on that data.

If you don’t have this data, invest quickly. With tight margins and continued problems in logistics staffing, it can be the difference between success and failure.

The Formula for Peak Season Success

The keys to a successful peak season include the right people, operational processes, and technology to maximize the efficiency of the warehouse operation and achieve the various performance metrics that define success for the company and its customers. 

The right mix of human talent, material handling & advanced automation processing capacity, supported by best-in-class warehouse and labor management systems, is critical. At the end of the day, it comes down to a performance-based work culture with a high level of one-on-one human engagement to get the most out of a productive team.