by Warehouse associates deal with multiple tasks that a typical office employee would never even consider doing.
Their job involves a wide range of duties taking place mainly in a warehouse.
They ensure the smooth functioning and running of the warehouse production.
Article Table of Contents
Job Overview
Warehouse associates maintain the operation of a warehouse and deal with a variety of complicated tasks involving moving objects, heavy lifting, and other manual labor.
The job greatly depends on the type and size of the company, but the primary duties are the same.
This position is common for companies that deal with goods production, shipment, importing, processing, or transferring.
Employees work long hours on their feet, operating forklifts or manually lifting items.
Warehouse Associate Responsibilities
A warehouse associate is responsible for preparing goods for shipment, loading them into trucks and vice versa.
Workers should be able to move quickly and fulfill orders while keeping up with safety procedures.
The work of a warehouse associate is related to the shipping and receiving department of the company.
They deal with storing products, tracking inventories, and monitoring shipment and delivery.
Physical strength is one of the most important skills of a successful warehouse worker.
Product Delivery
Warehouse associates handle heavy machinery and equipment such as forklifts.
With the help of them, they transport heavy supplies and materials.
The duties of a warehouse associate are very extensive and usually, depending on the employer.
Warehouse employees are responsible for signing for deliveries, unloading them, and ensuring they get to the right recipient or storage place.
They restock and sort the goods in the warehouse and ensure everything is where it’s supposed to be.
Product Inventory
Warehouse associates also deal with taking inventory of everything stored in a warehouse including equipment, supplies, and other items they use for the smooth operation of a warehouse.
Soft Skills
Warehouse employees should deliver orders to employees and clients in a friendly manner.
They should be able to resolve delivery errors and shipment issues and troubleshoot any other delivery or shipment-related problems.
Security and Safety
Warehouse associates should maintain the workspaces keeping them clean and safe to improve the environment.
It includes maintaining cleanliness and good organization to reduce the messes, and avoid accidents, and errors.
Additionally, they have to keep workstations, pallet areas, shipment areas, and shelves clean.
Warehouse associates should strictly follow the rules and regulations.
They prepare reports by recording the necessary information and handling the daily, weekly, and monthly paperwork.
Ongoing Training
Warehouse associates keep up and expand their knowledge by taking any training opportunities they come across.
They can be offered by the company.
Otherwise, associates can find other educational certification programs.
Warehouse workers should keep up the team confidence by meeting the required results.
They also communicate with the management constantly to update them on current affairs.
Leadership and Dedication
Successful associates always seek new ways to improve the ways to ship and store products and make the warehouse operation more efficient.
Some workers have to work longer hours and be prepared to stay on their feet all the time.
Warehouse associates should pack the orders ensuring they are connected to the right purchase order.
They ensure that the goods match with the right invoices and orders are fulfilled correctly to guarantee 100% customer satisfaction.
Some jobs at a warehouse require creative thinking to organize the warehouse more efficiently.
Other jobs involve the responsibilities of a stock or warehouse manager.
Qualifications and Skills
Potential warehouse workers need a particular set of skills and qualifications as well as a certain type of personality.
Warehouse associates need a high school diploma or GED.
Most of the times, some type of warehouse-related experience is also required.
Heavy Machinery Operation
Warehouse workers should be prepared and able to work long hours on their feet, lift heavy items, and operate heavy machinery.
The majority of employers require the associates to have a forklift operation certification.
Other heavy machinery that the workers operate includes pallet jacks, trucks, hand trucks, etc.
While operating these machines, the workers should keep up with safety procedures.
Warehouse Management System is a desired qualification the warehouse workers need.
Additionally, associates should possess the great physical strength to be able to work long hours standing, moving, packing, and lifting.
Communication and Interpersonal Skills
Successful warehouse associates should possess excellent communication skills and well as inventory skills.
Verbal communication is needed to keep good integrity of the company as well as to process orders efficiently and interact with other departments.
Other personal qualities of a warehouse employee include:
- Ability to work in a team.
- Organization.
- Coordination.
- Planning.
- Time management.
- Inventory.
- Reporting.
- Documentation capabilities.
- Data entry abilities.
- Equipment maintenance.
- Extreme punctuality.
Warehouse workers should be apt in troubleshooting the malfunctions of the machinery and equipment they work with.
They need a valid driver’s license, a clean driving record, forklift certification, and should be able to lift up to 100 pounds.
Other essential skills include multitasking, good organization, ability to keep a clean work area, and strictly follow safety regulations.
They should possess excellent problem-solving skills, troubleshooting, and radio-frequency tracking, and also strong communication skills.
Salary of a Warehouse Associate
The salary of a warehouse associate ranges between $19,000 and $33,000 annually.
The average salary is at $24,000 per year.
This makes the average wages about $11.17 to $13.32 per hour.
The report is pulled from Glassdoor.
According to PayScale, the average hourly rate of a warehouse worker is $12.68.
Also, they have reported that additional compensation in bonuses amounts to $968.00.
Profit-sharing sums up to $1,526 on average while the commissions can be $3,537.
Another source, Simply Hired, reports the average annual salary to be $25,000, with a minimum of $18,975 and maximum of $33,778.
Compared to this data, the other occupations are reported to make $22,590 (production worker), $45,922 (warehouse supervisor).
Additionally, according to Simply Hired, the forklift operators make $27,621 on average, while the dockworkers make $30,148.
The average salary of lab technicians is $33,427, and warehouse managers earn $55,537.
Additional Information
Warehouse associates are vital for the company.
These professionals perform extremely tiring duties to make sure that the business is done most adequately.
The responsibilities of a warehouse associate include a wide range of tasks.
They include good organization of the storing and production areas, operating forklifts to receive and ship the deliveries and goods.
To be successful in this position, one needs to be highly attentive and precise about everything that’s happening in the work area.
They need strong organizational skills and the ability to demonstrate the highest quality of showmanship.
One of the key responsibilities of a warehouse associate is to ensure that the deliveries entering and exiting the warehouse correspond with their purchase orders and are shipped to the right destination.
If you wish to become a warehouse associate, you need to have a high school diploma or GED, or another equivalent.
You should also be able to operate heavy machinery, be extremely punctual, and perform tasks appropriately.