THERE IS A HELL! - - - IT IS CALLED RETAIL THE WAREHOUSE

THE WAREHOUSE the safety practices you put forth (the rules) and those that don’t. Those that don’t shouldn’t be working for you. Those that do are just doing their jobs. I think the same applies for all other policies and procedures in your organization. Following policies and procedures is really the bare minimum standard for employment. Save the rewards for something else. WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT SUPERVISION IN THE WAREHOUSE? For the most part, supervision is supervision. However, in a warehouse environment you do have the added challenge of monitoring workers that are constantly moving around the warehouse. In most very large warehouses and many smaller ones it's a good idea to have a policy that restricts the travel of workers to only the areas their responsibilities require them to be in. This cuts down quite a bit on productivity lost to "visiting", prevents injuries that occur when people are hanging out in areas they are not trained in, and also is a big step in helping to prevent theft. It's also a good idea in these environments to occasionally stop people as they're moving through the warehouse and ask them what they are doing (assuming it's not obvious). If your workers know you do this on a regular basis, they will not be offended by it. An issue I frequently encounter in many warehouses is a result of "the boss" not being a warehouse guy (or gal). It's not uncommon in these smaller operations for the warehouse personnel to report the branch manager, office manager, or even someone in sales. These people tend to have no clue about the actual work that goes on in the warehouse and are therefore a bit intimated by it. So basically they're afraid to tell the warehouse workers how to do their jobs or to discipline them if they don't. If you're in this position, you need to get at least some basic warehouse training. You don't need to be an expert and you need to accept the fact that the people in the warehouse know more about it than you do, but that doesn't mean you can't effectively supervise them. SUPERVISION TIPS Supervision just comes down to making sure people do what they are supposed to do. It's really not all that complicated, but here are some pointers based on what I have learned over the years. TRAINING People can’t do what they’re supposed to do unless they clearly understand what they’re supposed to do. That’s where training comes in. Training starts with clearly documented policies and procedures. Without documented policies and procedures, you are unlikely to get thorough and consistent training, and are going to have a hard time holding people accountable because you’ll never be sure they were given the proper information. While you don’t need to cover every excruciating detail in your documentation, you want to make sure you cover the critical details and especially those aspects of the task that you have historically had issues with people following consistently. dodie ste®eo p®odu©tion ™ Page 7 of 9

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