Warehouse associates are a dime a dozen. They perform lots of tasks that the typical office worker would not ever think of performing. They are the kings of the warehouse department.
The warehouse associate job description entails many different duties, all of them mainly taking place in the warehouse. They make sure the production of the warehouse is maintaining its functions and running properly and smoothly.
Warehouse Associate Job Description
Warehouse associates hold the warehouses together and perform many difficult tasks that include manual labor, heavy lifting, and lots of moving of objects.
The job description is of course widely dependent on the type of company and size of company, but general job functions remain the same.
This job is usually found in companies that produce goods, ship goods, import goods, or transfer and process goods. They are usually on their feet all day, working long hours, and lifting or operating things with forklifts.
Warehouse Associate Job Duties and Responsibilities
Warehouse associates perform duties such as preparing goods for shipments and getting goods from the loading dock into the truck and vice versa. Warehouse workers must be able to fulfill orders and move quickly, while also paying extreme caution to safety procedures.
Warehouse associates work in the shipping and receiving department of a company. They track inventory, store products, and oversee deliveries and shipments. A successful warehouse worker is a hard worker with wonderful strength.
Product Delivery
Most warehouse associates will operate forklift machinery as well as other heavy operating machinery and equipment. They transport heavy materials and supplies by way of heavy machinery.
The warehouse associate job description includes a wide variety of job duties and responsibilities and is dependent on what company or organization they are working for.
Those who work in the warehouse will sign for deliveries, unload deliveries, and make sure the deliveries make it to the correct storage place or recipient. They organize and restock products in the warehouse and make sure everything is in its right place.
Product Inventory
Warehouse workers are responsible for taking inventory of everything in the warehouse including supplies, equipment, and other things necessary for running the warehouse excellently.
Soft Skills Needed
A successful worker of the warehouse delivers orders to clients and employees with a friendly demeanor. They address and resolve shipment issues and delivery errors and troubleshoot anything related to delivery and shipment issues.
Safety and Security
Warehouse workers work to improve the environment of the warehouse by maintaining safe and clean workspaces. This means keeping things superbly clean and organized as to minimize messes, errors, and accidents.
The job also entails keeping shelves, pallet areas, workstations, and shipment areas as clean as possible.
A strict following of rules and regulations is crucial to the warehouse associate job description. Warehouse workers complete reports by entering required information and filling out needed paperwork daily, weekly, and monthly.
Continuing Education
Warehouse associates keep their knowledge at the forefront the educational frontier by taking any continuing educational opportunities that come their way. This can be an offering by the company or by outwardly seeking other educational feats or certifications.
Workers who are in the warehouse department must contribute to the team morale by accomplishing related results as necessary. They update warehouse management leaders by staying in a constant line of communication.
A Sense of Leadership and Dedication
A proactive, successful warehouse worker is always on the lookout for new and improves ways to store and ship products and make the warehouse run more efficiently and smoothly.
Some warehouse jobs require extra long hours and extended periods of standing on your feet.
Warehouse workers have the ability to pick and pack orders and make sure they are linked up with a purchase order. They must match the correct merchandise to proper invoices and make sure they are properly fulfilled with 100% customer satisfaction.
Some warehouse associate jobs ask workers to think creatively and spatially, in order to effectively organize the warehouse. Other similar jobs to warehouse associate include the roles of warehouse manager and stock manager.
Qualifications and Skills of Warehouse Associates
Those who are looking for jobs in the warehouse possess a certain type of character as well as a quantified list of skills.
Warehouse associates typically at least have a high school diploma or GED. Most warehouse associate job listings require some type of warehouse setting experience as well.
Heavy Machine Operation
Those who wish to work as a warehouse associate must be able to spend long days on their feet, lift heavy objects, and operate a lot of heavy machinery. Most warehouse associate hiring managers require the worker to have certifications in forklift operation.
Other heavy machinery that a warehouse associate worker must be able to operate includes trucks, pallet jacks, hand trucks, and heavy lifting of objects.
The worker must not only be able to operate these machines, but operate these machines with skill and safety in mind. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) knowledge is definitely a desirable trait of those looking to have a career as a warehouse associate.
Moreover, this position requires an extreme amount of physical labor, requiring long hours of lifting, packing, standing, and movement around the warehouse.
Communication and Soft Skills
As far as soft skills go, there is definitely certain character traits found in warehouse associate workers.
Solid communication skills and inventory skills are necessary for successful warehouse workers. Verbal communication skills are necessary to maintain the integrity of the company and be able to efficiently process orders and communicate with other department members.
Character traits of warehouse workers include extremely capable of teamwork, coordination, organization, planning, time management, reporting skills, inventory control, equipment maintenance, documentation capabilities, data entry abilities, and extreme punctuality.
Warehouse associates usually are proficient in troubleshooting breakdowns and mechanics of the heavy equipment they operate. They must posses a valid driver’s license, excellent driving record, forklift certification, and the ability to lift one hundred pounds.
Other character traits of warehouse workers include the ability to multitask different equations, organize, clean the workspace, be super conscious of safety regulations.
They must have solid problem solving skills, radio-frequency tracking, troubleshooting, and extremely strong interpersonal skills.
Salary Information of Warehouse Associates
According to Glassdoor, warehouse associates make a salary range between $19,000 and $33,000 a year. Glassdoor says the average warehouse associate salary is $24,000 a year. The average salary for warehouse associate workers ranges from approximately $11.17 an hour to $13.32 an hour.
A warehouse worker salary according to Payscale says that the average hourly rate is $12.68. The site has also found that the average additional compensation for this job in form of a bonus is $968.00. Profit sharing is said to be an average of $1,526 and an average commission for a warehouse worker is $3,537.
If we look at Simply Hired, they say that the average warehouse worker makes $25,000 a year. The range they reported was from $18,975 to $33,778. If we look at comparable jobs found on the site, a production worker typically makes $22,590 and a typical warehouse supervisor makes an average of $45,922.
Furthermore, Simply Hired says that forklift operates make an average of $27,621 and dockworkers make an average of $30,148. Laboratory technicians make an average of $33,427 and warehouse managers make an average of $55,537.
Other Important Facts and Information
Warehouse Associates are the glue of a company. The workers perform extremely tiring tasks to make sure the integral part of the business is done in the most satisfactory manner.
The warehouse associate job description showcases a wide variety of different obligations that range from keeping the warehouse and production areas organized – to operating forklifts to receive and shipping out product and deliveries.
A successful warehouse associate possesses a keen power of observation and an insightful awareness to all of the occurrences of the workplace.
They must maintain a strong ability to organize their work and hold professionally accountability to ensure the highest quality of showmanship is present within the entire department.
Ensuring that each delivery entering and exiting the warehouse is matched to its purchase order and heading to the correct destination is one of the primary responsibilities of employees who work in the warehouse.
Those who wish to become a warehouse associate must offer at least a GED or high school equivalent, the ability to operate heavy machinery, and confirm all functions of the job are done in a timely and appropriate manner.
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