6 Essential Warehouse Roles Your Ecommerce Business Needs to Hire

Running your own ecommerce warehouse is not only possible, but it is an excellent way to transition your third-party online sales into a growth-focused, omnichannel business. Once you have calculated the right amount of space for your inventory needs and determined the optimal warehouse layout for your fulfillment needs, you need to start thinking about staffing.

The effectiveness of your warehouse depends on hiring the right people in the right positions.

The Types of Warehouse Employees and Their Job Descriptions

Typically, there are six different types of roles you need to consider when hiring a warehouse team. It is worth noting that each of these positions may look and operate differently depending upon the type of ecommerce business you are running, the types of inventory you are handling, the size of your warehouse, and your order processing needs.

1. Warehouse Associates and Clerks

Associates and clerks will make up the majority of your warehouse workforce. These employees are responsible for many of the day-to-day tasks of an operating warehouse. Associates and clerks are usually hourly workers who can be employed in either full- or part-time capacities.

Common responsibilities of warehouse associates and clerks include:

• Organizing inventory.
• Picking, packing, and shipping orders.
• Assembling and disassembling kitted SKUs.
• Scanning and tracking inventory across the warehouse.
• Maintaining inventory records.
• Operating and maintaining relevant machinery.
• General warehouse upkeep and cleaning.

2. Warehouse Technicians

Warehouse technicians are essentially higher-level warehouse associates and clerks. These employees perform many associate-level tasks but also receive additional training that enables them to perform critical tasks such as:

• Operating machinery (like forklifts and conveyors).
• Interacting with higher-order functions of your warehouse management system (WMS).
• Receiving and signing incoming orders.
• Assessing returned merchandise.
• Organizing stacks, shelves, and bins.
• Transitioning inventory back and forth between long-term and short-term storage.
• Facilitating order shipping.

3. Warehouse Specialists

Warehouse specialists operate as the first line of oversight for warehouse associates and clerks. While they may, from time to time, need to step in to support the floor staff, these employees are hired for their ability to coordinate and support teams.

4. Warehouse Coordinators and Supervisors

Warehouse coordinators and supervisors operate above specialists and have additional authority over the warehouse operations. These employees generally help design warehouse workflows that promote optimal productivity and safety.

5. Warehouse Foremen and Managers

These are the upper-management positions in your warehouse. Not only are they in charge of all of the aforementioned employees, but they are also responsible for hiring, promotion, and training.

6. Warehouse Director of Operations

A warehouse director of operations is the organizational leader of your warehouse. They are responsible for everything coming in and out of your facility and everything in between, including, but not limited to:

• Developing fulfillment strategies following industry best practices.
• Providing and facilitating customer service on behalf of the warehouse.
• Ensuring compliance with health and safety regulations warehouse-wide.
• Establishing and assessing performance indicators for warehouse workers and third-party partners.

Synergize Your Warehouse Workforce with a Scalable, Intuitive Warehouse Management System (WMS)

The right staff is only as good as the tools you provide for them. The Descartes Sellercloud omnichannel growth platform provides you with everything you need to keep your warehouse team running smoothly.

It all starts with a unified platform that brings together all the different elements of your ecommerce business into a single, cloud-based interface.

Our Skustack WMS uses patented inventory management technology to give your warehouse teams and logistics partners unparalleled access to your inventory data.

Skublox is an affordable, scalable, put-to-light, pack-to-light system that can further boost your warehouse workers’ efficiency and accuracy.

Contact us directly for a free demo to see for yourself how the Descartes Sellercloud products suite can fuel a streamlined, synergized warehouse staff and help take your omnichannel ecommerce business to the next level.