3 Levels

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Welcome back to Warehouse and Operations as a Career everybody, I’m Marty and I’m cold. I find myself in Denver, Co this week but you know what, It’s not much better, weather wise, back home in Dallas, Tx right now!

I placed several ad’s this week, for a few positions in several states, and I received a few responses complaining about the hourly pay rates, that, well, I felt were misunderstood or not just or fair. Now don’t get me wrong, I think we as applicants should always ask for the best wage possible, but we should also keep in mind that our experiences or experience level, our skill level is what should reflect our wage. One of my friends, you’ve heard me mention her podcast, Unlocking the secret of living rich, kind of my own accountability coach, mentioned how by using levels we can more clearly define expectations, roles, and really our job duties. Ever thought about something like that?

Let’s look at the position of unloader. First, we’re placed with a trainer for up to 2 weeks. I’m talking pretty generically here of course, but our roles could go something like this. So, for two weeks were in training. After that we could carry the title Unloader Level 1. That means we have completed our training and can now be eligible for production pay while working beside more experienced team members. We’d be learning better and more efficient ways to stack freight, using stronger ti and hi’s, and learning how to handle each case only once to save time. We’d still be learning proper staging of freight for the receivers etc.

After about a month of being a level 1, after we had learned all the above and were ready to work alone, we’d move to being a Level 2 Unloader. Here we’re working our own loads and earning our own production pay rates. We will typically still be handed certain loads, progressively our workload will be getting harder and harder, well, not necessarily harder, but I’ll say more complex. Meaning many more items per purchase order and maybe a mixture of small wood and large wood. Once we have mastered those loads and learned to capture the efficiencies the larger loads can bring to us, we’re ready to move to the Level 3 Unloader designation. We’re now considered a professional! This is where we’re making the big bucks now. Maybe we’ll have a few other responsibilities such as being a qualified trainer, and maybe helping out the dock leads. A level 3 unloader is where the next leads and supervisors will likely be pulled from. Continuously moving forward is what we’re all looking for right!

Soooo, back to my ad’s story! Like I was saying, I received a few negative comments regarding the pay rates for a couple of positions I posted. One was for a order selector at a low productivity produce distribution center. A comment was left saying “I was making that 10 years ago”, another gentleman stated that you could not live comfortably with that pay rate”. I went and checked out both of these profiles, just as a recruiter is going to do, and discovered that both of these gentlemen we’re definitely level 3 order selectors. Yes, they were both worth double what this job was paying. But, this job was being offered as an entry level position. A get your foot in the door position. A chance for that first job candidate to get some training to become a level three order selector one day. Everyone needs a chance, all of us level three selectors we’re given a chance, it’s time to pay it forward! Could I have done a better job posting the position. I guess so. But didn’t I do that with the wage? If we are worth more, because of our experiences and skill level, shouldn’t we just scroll on to the next ad that is asking for our qualifications? I think so.

I had another ad for a sanitation position, oh my gosh, I received like 4 or 5 comments about how I’m not going to find anyone to clean up a warehouse. That’s just not true. I’m still trying to figure out how someone can make a comment about a position they know nothing about, they haven’t called and checked out the position or asked any questions. One individual commented about cleaning toilets. The restrooms aren’t even listed in this particular job description.

I have about 6 accounts that we supply Order Selectors for, lets talk about the different levels of that skill.

1 of the accounts is what I’d call a low to zero productivity center. Accuracy is their biggest concern. This is a great facility to grow with. One of the things I admire this account about is that their management team will spend time with the new boots and train them to just about any position a new boot would like to grow into. Of course, it’s starting out wage is not like the level 3 wages, but neither is the workload. All they ask is that you’re on time for every scheduled shift. If you can do that, well, along with their training programs you can be earning really good money within like a year.

2 accounts I’d like to talk about are what I’d call level 2 facilities. Productivity here is at least doubled a level 1 operation. Think produce and fresh meat types of distribution centers. These types of operations will usually require that their selectors be very proficient on an electric rider platform pallet jack or maybe a stand-up forklift even. We could be introduced to a productivity-based compensation program or maybe even a base hourly wage and an incentive program here. Of course, these places will typically pay much higher wages than a level 1 facility because the responsibility and production levels are going to be much higher. As we’ve learned here at WAOC, we are paid according to the positions or task responsibility levels. Here we will be held much more accountable to our selection rates, or misship and short on truck ratios. These positions are preparing us for the pro’s or the level three positions.

The other 3 facilities are just that, for Level 3 Order Selectors. Talk about responsibilities! There is no room for horseplay at this level. It is all about accuracy, production, professional level pallet building and stacking. These are your distribution centers, typically the larger, high volume, no nonsense corporate settings. Yes, this is where the big bucks are to be found. But it takes experience to get here. These are the types of positions the two gentlemen I mentioned before will be applying and working. We can all get here but let’s remember there are 3 different skill levels to almost any job.

So back to my ad’s. If I’m new to the industry and read a few negative comments like that I could walk away from an excellent opportunity because a professional commented to an entry level position. I’d like us to strive at work together and help one another out ladies and gentlemen. Maybe the comments could have been something like “this position isent for me but it looks like an entry level position based on the payrate.” I know there’s job’s out there that doesn’t pay what the positions worth, usually and hopefully there’s more to it than that but we really don’t know until we make that phone call and find out right!

When we’re job seeking or looking at that next promotion please don’t try and short cut it. I can give you hundreds of examples where trying to jump to that next position without the proper training and experience has pushed back our success in that position by months or years. Think about the 3 levels, where do you fall in the skills of that job.

One other thing real quick and then I’ve got to get back to work myself!

Here we are in week 6 of the year! Seriously, have we all written out our goals for this year? Do you want to earn more money in 2022 than you did in 2021? If you answered yes, then get those goals written down on paper and get your plan put together! If you need help in any way email us here at [e-mail] and we’d be happy to help you plan it out with you. You can probably find some help from one of our peers on Facebook or Twitter using that @whseandops or from our Instagram followers @waocpodcast.

Until next week, avoid the cold stress out there, warm up our muscles before work and after breaks and lunches, and be safe out there.