A warehouse must function like a well-oiled machine. Despite this news, the space is run by fundamentally flawed humans who can, intentionally or unintentionally, incur setbacks to production processes.
Moreover, workers are becoming increasingly conscious of what they deserve. For example, in the office environment, it’s reported that one in six would quit their roles if denied flexible working opportunities. While warehouse workers can’t make identical demands, they’re defining their ideas of right and wrong in other ways too.
Conflict resolution skills are needed to ensure orderly working and staff synergy. There are numerous strategies a warehouse can employ here, and we’ve detailed them for you down below.
Safety Over Speed
The strongest staff disputes rightly occur when safety is in jeopardy. These circumstances are when emotions are most keenly felt and expressed most strongly.
Of course, Amazon workers are often forced to work through gruelling conditions, their safety compromised in favour of a speedier approach to their work. Your warehouse should take extreme care not to follow suit. Health and safety policies should be robust, well-defined, and reminded of around key points in your building. Only reasonable workloads should be allocated too.
Feedback with your warehouse staff at regular intervals. Do they feel overworked? What suggestions might they have in easing the pressure? Even if there are some shortcomings or oversights, making an effort to be accessible, engage, and improve things can cool tempers and reduce friction between staff and their superiors.
Staff safety is a critical issue in warehouses today. If these problems are left unaddressed, injuries will occur, tensions will arise, and a hostile work environment will be created. Stress levels may also rise significantly, causing workers to lash out at one another. Obviously, none of this can be tolerated at any juncture.
Improve Storage Capabilities
Storage is important when it comes to conflict resolution. Workers who are better organised are more focused on their roles and have less time to cause trouble.
It’s a good idea to improve your storage capabilities with these interests in mind. Companies like The Workplace Depot provide colour coordinated storage so that inventory managers can clearly highlight where certain items belong. Many items can fit neatly inside, from spare parts to paperwork and office supplies. Delivery is quick and free, giving you a fast way to secure more storage.
When all supplies have designated spots, warehouse workers will be less likely to accuse one another of stealing or misplacing goods. It also sets a precedent for keeping work areas tidy and organised, which workers could carry over with them into other aspects of their roles. If you can bring more storage solutions in when workers ask for them, you’ll mitigate a lot of stress on their part too.
Provide Regular Training Opportunities
It’s important to upskill staff, and training dutifully fulfils that role. However, training as a concept can also help tailor workers’ attitudes.
Training is compulsory when it comes to advancing warehouse careers. These opportunities should be dispersed indiscriminately, helping workers realise their full potential. In other words, it’s a way to enforce a sense of equal opportunities, ensuring that all staff feel content and valued in their respective roles.
Happier and more fulfilled workers are certain to treat one another better. They can utilise the new skills they have learnt to support one another, more able to work in complete coordination with each other. It can nurture staff’s passion and enthusiasm for the warehouse, which will largely contribute to a better working environment for all to enjoy.
Training can also mean that mistakes aren’t being made as regularly. When fewer errors occur, warehouse workers will spend less time playing blame games, reporting one another, and generally feuding rightly or wrongly. When minor faults occur, they’re more likely to be seen as understandable errors instead of preventable setbacks.
Improve the Warehouse Culture
All the measures mentioned so far contribute to building a more positive and nurturing warehouse culture. Still, additional measures may be necessary when building a more cohesive workforce.
For example, warehouse workers and office workers are often segregated if they work on the same premises. Merging the two workforces for things like staff social events could be useful, causing bonds to form instead of division. The warehouse staff should feel a part of things instead of afterthoughts or grunt labourers.
These strategies also encourage warehouse workers to think about the big picture of the business. After all, some staff can feel so isolated in these roles that the warehouse can feel like an entirely different world. This perspective may facilitate insular feelings and selfishness in other matters. Once they have a greater understanding and appreciation for the company, they may be more eager to excel in their careers and advance to leadership roles.
Of course, there’s also the simpler point that it’s nice for workers to feel valued by the company they work for. A more positive attitude adjustment can feasibly take place by building lasting and meaningful bonds both within and beyond the warehouse.