Walk into a typical warehouse, DC, or fulfillment center on a busy day, and you’ll see the same pattern: supervisors expediting orders, reassigning people on the fly, hunting down inventory, and answering constant “where is it?” questions. By the end of the shift, leadership has two frustrations that seem to coexist far too often: labor costs are high, and service levels (such as accuracy, timeliness, capacity) still aren’t where they should be.
In most of these operations, the workforce itself isn’t the root problem. The real problem is that the operation lacks a repeatable system to define “good work,” measure it fairly, and manage performance on a day-to-day basis. If performance depends on heroics, then it’s not a labor issue — it’s a management issue.
Here are six best practices that consistently move warehouse labor from firefighting to performance. The emphasis here is intentional: this isn’t about optimizing schedules or chasing down workers. It’s about improving how work is managed so you get more output and better service from the workforce you already have.
1.Standardize the work, so “good” is defined
If two associates can perform the same task in two different ways, you don’t really have a process. What you really have is a collection of habits. Standard work doesn’t need to be complicated. Start with the primary activities that consume the most labor hours in your operation (usually order picking, but also receiving, putaway, replenishment, packing, and shipping). Then define the best-known way to execute each of them.
Here’s what “standardized” looks like in practice:
•A clearly defined, recommended method that removes ambiguity
•Simple standard operating procedures (SOPs) and visuals that match and clearly articulate the established methods
•Actively training workers to follow the established methods (not just asking them to “shadow” another worker for a day)
Standard work isn’t bureaucracy; it’s fairness. It creates an objective foundation for measurement, coaching, and improvement.
2.Measure what matters and can be trusted
Most warehouses have productivity reports. The common failure with these is that workers don’t trust the productivity numbers because they don’t account for differences in work content, such as order profiles, product types, travel distances, congestion, and complexity. When productivity metrics feel arbitrary or unfair, they get debated — or worse, ignored.
A more practical approach involves these steps:
•Measuring performance by function and by other work attributes when needed
•Keeping the scorecard tight to support output goals (quantity and quality)
•Using reasonable “lost time” categories to expose what steals hours from productive work (such as waiting, searching, rework, and exceptions)
Where do labor standards and labor management systems (LMS) come into play? Think in levels:
•A simple start: established methods, basic productivity tracking, visible (and reasonable) daily targets, etc.
•More rigorous practices: reasonable expectancies, consistent feedback, a formalized coaching program, etc.
•Advanced practices (for larger or more complex operations): multi-variable engineered labor standards and an LMS that automates measurement, reporting, coaching workflows, and (optionally) performance incentives
A realistic, qualified view of outcomes helps leaders prioritize: many operations experience meaningful improvements (often a 10-30% performance boost) from fundamentals like standard work, clear metrics, and daily management. Bigger gains (sometimes a 40%+ performance boost) typically come as measurement becomes more engineered and performance management becomes more systematic.
3.Turn supervisors from babysitters into coaches
If a supervisor spends their whole shift chasing down workers and expediting work, then the operation is essentially unmanaged. Coaching is what turns labor standards into real performance.
A simple, effective coaching cadence looks like this:
•Start-of-shift huddle (10 minutes): what are the plans, the constraints, and the two to three measures that really matter today?
•Mid-shift check: how are we doing on today’s goals, and are there any barriers that are stealing time?
•End-of-shift post-mortem: what did we learn, what broke, and what should be improved or fixed before tomorrow?
Coaching should be frequent, short, and specific. It should reinforce standard work, encourage workers, recognize wins, correct gaps early, and remove barriers fast. And the coach should rarely (if ever) leave the warehouse floor. They can’t supervise from the back office.
4.Remove systemic barriers that force “heroics”
A surprising amount of labor “underperformance” is actually various forms of waste that crush potential productive work: walking (especially walking), waiting, searching, rework, and exception handling. This is where performance improvement becomes tangible.
These are some common barriers that quietly steal hours from productive time:
•Replenishment lapses that hold up picking
•Congestion
•Excess travel
•Rework loops caused upstream (such as receiving errors, damage, incorrect labeling)
•Equipment downtime
•Unclear priorities (such as “everything is hot!”)
If you want fast results, do the following every month:
•Intentionally track time thieves.
•Identify the top three.
•Assign owners.
•Eliminate at least one thief every month.
You’re likely to find that a few chronic barriers account for a disproportionate amount of labor losses.
5.Build flexibility without chaos
Everyone wants flexibility. But few operations effectively design it into practice. “Everyone can do everything” sounds great until it creates inconsistent methods, quality compromises, and constant reassignment.
Instead, do this:
•Build a simple skills matrix and certify cross-training intentionally.
•Create a small flex pool of “floaters” to attack predictable bottlenecks.
•Define rules for labor moves (such as who moves, when, and why), so changes don’t feel random.
Flexibility shouldn’t be seat-of-the-pants improvisation; it should be planned, thoughtful adaptation.
6.Put guardrails around service, quality, and safety
One common failure mode in labor performance programs is “winning” the productivity battle while quietly losing the war. If productivity gains create errors, injuries, or missed cutoffs, you didn’t improve performance — you just shifted cost downstream. And lost customers.
The fix is simple: keep a short set of non‑negotiable guardrails (KPIs) on the same dashboard you use to drive labor performance. Here are a few examples:
•On‑Time Shipments (to ensure adherence to cutoffs)
•Order Picking Accuracy (to ensure quality)
•Perfect Order Rate (to ensure service)
•OSHA Recordable Rate (TRIR) (to ensure safety)
The goal is higher productivity that also improves service, quality, and safety, not productivity that creates rework, missed commitments, returns, or injuries.
A quick self-check
If you want a quick diagnostic of how effectively you’re managing your workforce, then ask yourself these five questions:
1.Have we established standard work for our top labor-consuming tasks?
2.Do we have trusted, objective, reasonable productivity metrics by function?
3.Are our supervisors coaching, or just babysitting and putting out fires?
4.Have we identified our top time thieves and who is responsible for stopping them?
5.Are we improving labor performance without hurting service, quality, or safety?
If you answered “no” to even one of these, then you probably have significant opportunities for improvement.
When a warehouse relies on expediting and heroics, it’s not a “people problem.” It’s really a performance management problem. A simple operating system provides a way out. If you consistently focus on the fundamentals, you’ll get what every business wants: lower labor costs and better service.
Stephen (Steve) T. Hopper, P.E., is Founder & Principal of Inviscid Consulting. Inviscid helps businesses drive down costs and boost service levels in warehousing, fulfillment, distribution, and logistics operations. He can be reached at steve.hopper@inviscidconsulting.com or 404.832.5326.
This article originally appeared in the March/April, 2026 issue.
