The Warehouse Staffing Crisis:
Labor Shortages and High Turnover

Why Warehouse Workers Are Harder to Attract and Keep

From forklift drivers to pallet unloaders (lumpers) and truck assistants (swampers), every warehouse role is getting tougher to fill. What’s going on? Several harsh realities:

• The work is physically punishing. Warehousing jobs demand heavy lifting, repetitive motions, long hours on your feet, and often dealing with extreme temperatures. Not everyone can handle spending all day lugging 50-pound boxes or moving pallets. Many new hires quit once they experience how grueling the work truly is. Even with pay raises, companies simply can’t find enough people willing to take on the physical demands that warehouse roles entail. In short, the pool of workers willing to do back-breaking labor is shrinking.

• Competing industries offer easier or better-paying options. Let’s be honest: a potential hire can make similar money flipping burgers or stocking shelves, without needing to bust their back. Post-pandemic, fast food and retail employers raised wages; gig economy jobs offer flexible hours. A warehouse worker earning around $17 an hour might see a less strenuous job at a similar wage and jump ship. Even within logistics, competition is fierce for labor. For example, e-commerce giants have had to boost starting pay just to staff their warehouses – Amazon upped its base pay to $18/hour to stay competitive, while rivals like Walmart now pay up to $25/hour for experienced warehouse hires. If your offer doesn’t stack up in pay and conditions, workers have plenty of other places to go.

• Post-pandemic shifts shrank the blue-collar workforce. COVID-19 didn’t just spike e-commerce demand; it also triggered a labor shakeup. Warehousing became one of the fastest-growing sectors during the pandemic boom, adding thousands of jobs that now need filling. But at the same time, many workers reevaluated their careers. Older, seasoned workers retired early. Younger workers found gig work or remote jobs more appealing than hauling freight in a warehouse. Immigration slowdowns and relocation out of urban areas further tightened the labor supply. The result? Fewer able-bodied, willing workers for physically intensive jobs like lumping and order picking. Unemployment has hovered at record lows, so you’re competing for a very small talent pool. In this climate, attracting applicants feels like a never-ending uphill battle.

The Cost of High Turnover and Short Staffing

High turnover isn’t just a statistic – it’s a knife in the ribs of your operation. When you do manage to hire and train people, they often don’t stick around. That revolving door comes with serious consequences:

• Skyrocketing training and hiring costs. Every time a warehouse associate quits, you have to recruit, hire, and train a replacement. That means advertising jobs, overtime for other staff to cover shifts, and weeks of onboarding for each new hire. Conservative estimates put the cost of replacing a single hourly warehouse worker in the thousands of dollars once you factor in HR time, training hours, and lost productivity. Multiply that by dozens or hundreds of exits a year, and it’s a huge hidden cost. And while you’re training Joe Newhire on the forklift, orders are backing up.

• Plummeting productivity and delays. When you’re short-staffed, everything slows down. Boxes don’t get unloaded fast enough, pick rates drop, trucks depart late, customers wait longer. Seasoned employees are constantly asked to do more with less, which only increases their stress and fatigue. It’s a vicious cycle: being perpetually understaffed is actually the number one stress factor for frontline warehouse workers (34% rank it as their top work issue). That stress leads to burnout, mistakes, and – you guessed it – more people quitting. The overall effect of high churn is chaos on the floor and uneven operations. Consistency goes out the window when you can’t retain a core team.

• Quality and safety risks. A constantly changing crew means you often have inexperienced people on the floor. Error rates climb – the new guy mis-picks an order or damages product due to lack of experience. Safety incidents can rise too: fatigue and rushing (common when understaffed) contribute to accidents. High turnover basically erodes the skill level of your workforce at any given time, because folks leave before they ever become truly proficient. You’re always playing catch-up.

• Employee morale tanking. Imagine being one of the few reliable workers who hasn’t quit. You’re doing 1.5 jobs every day, training newbies who might bail next week, and watching friends leave for better gigs. That’s demoralizing. Good people will only tolerate this for so long before they also head for the door. High turnover breeds a culture of apathy – “why get to know the new hires when they’ll be gone next month?” – which is toxic for teamwork and efficiency.

Real-world example: One of our clients, a mid-sized distribution center, was caught in this downward spiral. They’d hire ten new lumpers for unloading each month and lose eight of them by the end of the quarter. The constant vacancies meant shipments getting delayed daily. Their remaining staff was burned out from covering extra shifts, and training each batch of rookies stole time from managing the operation. It felt like an unwinnable game of whack-a-mole – as soon as they filled one position, two more employees quit. This is the kind of costly turmoil many warehouses face right now.

Stop Doing What Doesn’t Work (Challenging Old Assumptions)

It’s time to call out the outdated assumptions that might be sabotaging your staffing efforts:

• “We can just pay a little more and be fine.” Higher pay is necessary, but it’s not a silver bullet. Yes, you should offer competitive wages – but if the job is miserable, $1 extra an hour won’t buy loyalty. Don’t assume you can throw money at the problem without addressing working conditions.

• “Anyone can do this job, they’re replaceable.” This mindset leads to minimal investment in training or employee well-being. In 2025’s labor market, treating workers as disposable is a recipe for disaster. Your people are not cogs in a machine; if you invest in them, they’ll become more productive and stick around longer. If you don’t, someone else will gladly hire and value them.

• “No one wants to work anymore.” Let’s burst this myth. Plenty of folks want to work – they just don’t want dead-end, dangerous, low-respect jobs. Warehouse employees will work hard when they are valued, safe, and see a future for themselves. Blaming “work ethic” is a cop-out. The real issue is whether the job is attractive enough to draw and keep the talent you need.

• “We’ll just run lean and push through.” Running perpetually understaffed and hoping the remaining team can take up the slack is not sustainable. It leads to burnout and more turnover (as you’ve likely already seen). Overtime and exhaustion are short-term Band-Aids that hide a gaping wound. A better approach is to fix the root causes and get the staffing levels right.

In short, the old ways of hiring and managing warehouse labor need an overhaul. To overcome today’s labor shortages, you must be willing to change your approach.

How to Attract and Retain a Stable Warehouse Workforce

Enough about the problems – let’s talk solutions. You can turn this situation around by taking concrete actions to make your warehouse a place people want to work (and stay working). Here are actionable strategies to build a more stable, efficient team:

• → Improve the job itself. Look at ways to make the daily work less of a grind. Little changes add up: invest in pallet jacks, conveyors, or lift-assist devices to reduce the heavy lifting. Implement reasonable shift lengths and rotate tasks to avoid repetitive strain. Ensure the warehouse is as comfortable as possible (think fans, water stations, better lighting). When the job isn’t pure physical punishment, workers will last longer.

• → Pay competitively and offer growth. Money isn’t everything, but it matters. Benchmark your wages against other employers in your region – if nearby factories or delivery companies pay more for similar skill, bump up your rates or add bonuses. Just as important, show workers a future: outline a path from loader to lead hand to supervisor, so they see this as a career, not a dead-end gig. Tuition reimbursement, CDL training programs, or internal promotions can turn a “job” into a long-term opportunity that people stick with.

• → Treat your people with respect. This should be obvious, but often gets lost in the daily hustle. Listen to employee feedback about the workload and safety. Involve them in improving processes. Recognize and reward hard work – something as simple as a catered lunch after a tough week or an “Employee of the Month” parking spot can boost morale. Frontline workers who feel respected by management are far less likely to quit at the first chance. Culture matters: build one where lumpers, pickers, and managers are all on the same team.

• → Provide training and upskilling. Don’t just throw newcomers onto the floor and hope for the best. A structured training program not only gets workers productive faster, it also makes them feel invested in. Cross-train your team on multiple tasks; this breaks monotony and increases flexibility in staffing. Offer certifications (forklift licenses, safety training) that not only benefit you but also give employees transferable skills. An engaged, skilled worker is going to feel more pride and attachment to the job.

• → Embrace flexibility where you can. Rigid schedules can drive people away, especially post-pandemic when many workers expect some work-life balance. If possible, offer alternative shifts (e.g. four-day workweeks or staggered start times) or allow shift swapping. Some warehouses are even experimenting with part-time shifts to attract those who can’t do 40 hours. Flexibility can widen your labor pool to include students, parents, or semi-retirees who would be great workers on a modified schedule.

• → Leverage a staffing partner. You don’t have to fight this battle alone. A specialized logistics staffing firm (like Group NB) can help fill gaps fast with pre-vetted, trained personnel. Whether you need temporary lumpers for peak season or a pipeline of full-time hires, a partner who understands warehouse work can supply reliable labor when you need it most. This takes a huge load off your HR team and keeps operations running smoothly even when hiring is tough. Crucially, it also lets you be more selective in hiring for permanent roles – you can convert only the best fits, reducing long-term turnover.

These steps aren’t pie-in-the-sky theories – they’re proven tactics from warehouses that have stabilized their workforce. Remember the client story above? After Group NB stepped in and helped implement changes like the ones listed here, that distribution center saw dramatic improvements. They introduced better safety gear and adjusted shifts (making the job less physically crushing), raised wages to lead the local market, and started an incentive program for attendance and performance. Group NB supplied interim skilled workers to fill immediate openings and trained their existing staff on efficient unloading techniques. Within six months, turnover dropped by 40% and productivity metrics were climbing. The client’s warehouse went from constant crisis mode to a far more controlled operation.

Take Action: Build Your Warehouse Dream Team with Group NB

Don’t wait until you’re missing half your crew to address this. It’s time to act. The longer you accept the status quo, the further you’ll fall behind. The good news is you can solve your labor shortage – but you have to start now.

Reach out to Group NB today and put an end to your warehouse staffing headaches. As a trusted partner in the warehousing industry, Group NB specializes in helping operations like yours overcome labor shortages and high turnover. We bring deep expertise in recruiting, training, and retaining warehouse talent. Whether you need temporary relief or a long-term workforce strategy, Group NB will help you build a stable, efficient team that keeps your business moving.

Contact Group NB for a consultation and take back control of your workforce. It’s time to stop scrambling and start building the warehouse team you need to succeed.

In Summary: No More Excuses – Solve the Labor Crunch

Labor shortages and high turnover are tough – but they’re not insurmountable. By being brutally honest about the problem, challenging old assumptions, and taking strategic action, you can turn your warehouse into a place where people want to work. That means making the job better, paying competitively, respecting your crew, and getting expert help when needed. The result? Lower hiring costs, higher productivity, and a reliable workforce that keeps your operation running like a well-oiled machine.

The post-pandemic world has changed the game in warehouse staffing. Those who adapt will thrive; those who don’t will be left behind with empty roles and idle forklifts. Choose to adapt. With the right approach – and the right partner like Group NB – you can overcome labor shortages and build the rock-solid warehouse team your business needs for long-term success. Your workers are out there. Let’s go get them and keep them.

Citations

• Companies Rethinking Warehouse Experience Amid Labor Shortage – foodinstitute.com
• Amazon Could Run Out of Warehouse Workers to Wear Down by 2024 – gizmodo.com
• Amazon’s ‘turnover machine’: Inside the NYT’s investigation into the tech giant’s HR… – geekwire.com