Warehouse work can be demanding and physically taxing. For this reason, it is important to properly onboard new warehouse staff to ensure they are set up for success. Failing to do so can lead to high turnover rates, which can be costly and disruptive to your operations.

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Onboarding new employees should involve more than just giving them a tour of the warehouse and assigning them a task. In this article, we will go over the three most common mistakes made when onboarding warehouse workers and give you our tips on how to avoid them.

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Mistake 1: You don't allocate sufficient time for training

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For warehouses to operate efficiently, employees must be properly trained. Warehouse personnel must be able to operate machinery, handle products, and perform shipping and receiving tasks. If employees are not properly trained, the warehouse can experience operational disruptions that can lead to a decrease in sales. To minimize these incidents, warehouse managers should allow adequate time for employee training.

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The orientation that each employee goes through in the first few weeks after starting work can often be overwhelming. New employees must acquire a large amount of knowledge in a very short period of time. It is important to give your employees time to process and memorize all of the new information. Rushing through policies and procedures can lead to mistakes and accidents. To ensure your employees have access to all the information they need, equip them with a mobile instruction set app that includes a video-based knowledge base. With Yoho, your new employees can learn the details of their jobs by watching training videos, which they can later access on their devices as needed.

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When you store all training materials and machine manuals in one app, you save a lot of time and ensure that all employees have free access to the key knowledge they need to do their jobs safely.

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Mistake 2: You don't leverage technology

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In today's business world, using technology in order to stay ahead of the competition is a must. But you can also leverage digital solutions to streamline your onboarding and training process.

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Digital training through videos is proven to be much more engaging than reading instructional text. With a mobile onboarding and instruction set app like Yoho, you can record and store a series of instructional videos for your new hires to watch. You can review safety procedures, demonstrate the machine manuals, provide detailed information about certain workstations or even create virtual tours of the facility.

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With 24/7 access to a video knowledge base, your employees will feel more confident and independent. What is more, you can upload content in multiple languages to ensure workers from different cultural backgrounds can fully understand all the instructions.

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Mistake 3: You don’t gamify the onboarding process

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Sticking to your tried-and-true onboarding procedures may work, but it will not ensure that your new employees are excited and engaged. And if you want them to stick around, make sure they do not yawn during another hour of health and safety training. That's why you should adapt your onboarding to include elements of game mechanics. Gamifying tasks will improve your employees' engagement, motivation, productivity, and retention. With a mobile onboarding app, you can assign tasks to your employees, create checklists for them to work through as they train, create weekly and monthly challenges, and allow them to see how they are doing compared to others.

With regular knowledge quizzes and team-building activities, you can make onboarding more fun and exciting, and ensure that your new employees retain the information they learn.

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Onboard your warehouse staff effectively with Yoho

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Yoho is a digital onboarding and instruction set solution for non-desk workers, such as warehouse employees. It combines the most effective video-based training with a transparent task management system and communication features.

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Implementing Yoho in your warehouse ensures that your new employees come to work well prepared, have access to all the knowledge they need, and know exactly what they need to do. You can track the training progress to monitor your team's performance and identify their strengths and weaknesses.

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Using the chat feature, you'll be able to communicate with your employees and give them feedback to improve the information flow and keep everyone on the same page. Thanks to the task assignment system, everyone has a clear idea of the tasks that need to be done. With clear dashboards and reports, you can monitor the work progress and make more informed decisions.

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Book a demo to see how Yoho can help streamline onboarding in your warehouse.

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