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Do you know that your warehouse or store design could cost you employees? Most of the times, we tend to focus on infrastructure that come with modular design concepts and solutions, but not thinking much about the employees. It should be designed in a way that it saves time along with offering flexibility, and scalability. Coupled with the benefits of customization and standardization, it should provide you with expansion and modularity. Here are some tips that you may need to consider to designing a warehouse that your staffs love.
Build for retention
Clients often complaint about high cost of worker turnover; labor cost is the most expensive thing of running a warehouse and it severely affects the overall expenditure. Replacing the existing employee is not easy; the whole process of hiring a new candidate, training them could cost high, considering peak productivity timing as well. Companies should rethink about their employee experience in the distribution centers. You need to design a new warehouse project, thinking about how to improve employee retention, as it can make a huge impact to your business.
Keeping staff comfortable
Summer weathers in a dry warehouse can be very hot and boiling; not all distribution centers are adequately cooled. It’s quite sad that in a recent survey it was found that about 20% of companies haven’t thought about cooling a warehouse. Air-conditioned distribution center (as per the nature of the business) with ambient air during the day and at night can lead to increased productivity. Keeping the distribution center dry or not giving importance to fresh air movement can lead to more dust and allergens. Consider an energy-efficient, low-charge ammonia system that can keep the warehouses refrigerated. Environmentally friendly equipments lead to less serious threats, making your employees work for a longer duration.
Build smarter infrastructure
You need to build smarter facility, not just bigger! Investing in employee-support areas, such as locker rooms, cafeterias, break rooms can help you balance employee needs. Corporate culture is a subtle quality that’s easy to measure, as it implies how employees interact. Build a facility that give a vibe of community feel. Keep your retail stores and corporate office smart, so that employees feel comfortable going downstairs, coming upstairs, talking to managers in a meeting room, etc.
Stendel Reich distribution center architects, based out of Montréal, Québec is specialized in the design of manufacturing, distribution, food, and commercial facilities. Browse through their website for more details.
