The warehouse supervisor role is one of the most integral and significant in the entire organization and the operations. Many companies, in recent times, have opted for a non-supervisory policy in their warehouses. Concepts like self regulation, teamwork, workers empowerment and managers working more as colleagues and less as supervisors have become omnipresent. There is nothing wrong with teamwork, empowerment and self regulation of employees but without supervision, the operations in a warehouse can quickly and easily go haywire.

The warehouse supervisor role is what bestows accountability. Someone has to be responsible for what is going on in the field. A worker is responsible for his own task, errors and achievements but if he is not being supervised, how does one hold him or her accountable if something goes wrong? A company has numerous policies in a warehouse, from compliance to safety, packaging to storing, stock maintenance to scheduling of shifts or roistering. Unless the warehouse supervisor role involves strictly following protocols and ensuring that everyone does the same, the entire system might collapse. Numerous accidents in warehouses, compliance issues and workers problems have become realities because of the lack of supervision in the first place.

What Is The Warehouse Supervisor Role

The warehouse supervisor role starts with training all the team members or workers on every aspect of the operation and their tasks. Every worker must be well trained on the job, must be made aware of the policies, his or her rights and should be tested for the skills and acquired training prior to being put on the job.

Discipline is integral to the warehouse supervisor role. Disciplining doesn’t imply lambasting people but simply ensuring that the decorum is maintained, everyone works as expected and the good gets rewarded and the bad gets reported and fixed. If a worker is not doing his or her job, if he or she is not doing the job properly and if there are errors, voluntary or involuntary, then there must be action. Else, there is no way to fix accountability and to amend the bad and in the process the good workers, those who are doing the job well would become complacent and eventually complicit.

Lucid communication is also integral to the warehouse supervisor role. Going about the disciplining, training or supervising job without proper communication would be futile. Also, the warehouse supervisor role would involve exercising fairness and consistence in implementing policies or taking actions, ensuring safety and that the operations are carried out as desired.

 

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