An examination of warehouse employee recruitment and retention practices in the USA

Despite the recent economic slowdown and the subsequent increase in unemployment rates across the USA and Europe, many warehouses are still experiencing difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified labour. Since warehouse productivity can be directly affected by the availability and quality of labour, a warehouse employee shortage may have a lasting effect on a firm's competitiveness. To alleviate a warehouse employee shortage, a growing number of firms have attempted to formulate various warehouse employee recruitment and retention strategies, including pay raises, bonuses, gain sharing and paid time off. This paper aims to help firms assess the extent of the labour shortages in warehouses and their impact on competitiveness, while fostering a more effective employee recruitment and retention strategy based on the findings of our exploratory study of selected US firms. Our findings suggest that warehouse employee shortages have become an industry-wide problem and larger firms are more vulnerable to high employee turnover than their smaller counterparts.