Warehousing

WAREHOUSE STAFF AND LABOUR MANAGEMENT

Labour
Many warehouses store agricultural produce and hence their typical labour requirement may be influence by the seasonal cycle. It follows that though they remain operational year end, their labour requirements fluctuate. In order to operate economically, warehouse employ two broad categories of workers

Permanent-these are needed throughout the year and their cost is fixed.

Casual labour-These are normally recruited based on the available work after which they are discharged. Casual workers further fall into two categories namely
    • piece rate-these are paid based on the amount of work and
    • Daily rate workers –paid based on the amount of hours they have worked.
In order for the warehouse to function efficiently, the management must blend with the correct timing the two categories of workers to reap maxim benefits.

Manpower management
Work organization and good human relations play a significant part in improving efficiency in the warehouse. Each member of staff should know his role and duties and understand how they interact with those of his colleagues in achieving the warehouses’ objectives. At the same time, the management will have to ensure that the workforce is effectively deployed. Effective manpower management encompasses the following:
(a) Proper organization;
(b) Allocation of adequate manpower;
(c) Assigning the right man to the right job;
(d) Fair distribution of workload.

1. Proper organization
Manpower in warehouses must be well organized to enable each member of the staff to be aware of his role and duties. The aim is to accomplish most effectively the work required to meet the warehouse’s objectives. To achieve this, we need to consider the following five main steps:

(i) Activity analysis: all activities in the warehouse must be clearly defined. They must be interrelated and shown to meet the warehouses objectives, e.g. receipt of inward cargo, release of cargo to... [continues]

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