Warehouse Operative: Job Profile and Role

Let’s say you have just made a nice and not-so-little IKEA purchase that you cannot just take home but that needs to be delivered. Have you ever wondered who is responsible for making your new sofa or bed ready for shipment and delivery? It is a warehouse operative who ensures that the right goods make their way to your home.

In this blog, we will explore this job in detail and maybe you will realise that it is your perfect career fit. You will find out everything you need to know about the required qualifications and skills, what you will earn, and what a typical day in the life of a warehouse operative looks like. To help you thrive in this profession, we conclude this blog with three important and helpful tips.

Short Summary

• As a warehouse operative, you operate heavy machinery such as forklifts and jack pallets to transport boxes and goods within a warehouse.
• As a warehouse operative, you need strong organisational skills to allocate a spot for each box arriving at your warehouse.
• As a warehouse operative, you are responsible for quality control, stock-taking and documentation of all goods stored in your warehouse.

Job description

Your warehouse operative job description consists of a long list of different tasks, starting with receiving and checking orders arriving at your warehouse. This part of inventory management is followed by allocating the goods to their predestined spots in the warehouse. This may involve operating a forklift, a jack pallet, or a conveyor belt. Being a warehouse operative also requires that you keep track of the relevant documentation and ensure that it is filed correctly. Your job furthermore extends to doing daily quality controls and regular stock-taking.

Responsibilities

• Adaptability
• Quality Control
• Documentation
• Goods Receiving
• Health and Safety
• Team Collaboration
• Operating Machinery
• Order Picking/Packing
• Loading and Unloading
• Inventory Management

Different types of Warehouse Operatives

• Returns Handler/Processor
• Quality Control Inspector
• Warehouse Supervisor
• Inventory Controller
• Goods Receiver

Salary

In your job as a warehouse operative in the UK, you can look forward to an average annual salary starting at ￡44,000. This can increase to ￡59,000 with work experience, good job performance and also a job change. Note that other factors will have an influence on how much you earn annually, such as your employer, possible monetary benefits/bonuses stated in your contract, and the location of the company employing you.

Working hours

Your weekly working hours depend on whether you work full- or part-time. Let’s assume you are a full-time employee. Here, you tend to work between 35 and 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday. It is also possible that you are asked to work Saturdays. In this case, you may want to discuss additional payment for weekend work. Also, keep in mind that working in this job typically means shift work. This could extend your day well into the evenings, which you should be fine with if the job of a warehouse worker is your chosen career.

Flexible Working Hours as a Warehouse Operative

You have the right to request flexible working hours. This is called “making a statutory application”, meaning that you have control over when to start and finish work. Keep in mind that you may still need to keep to set times, such as starting at 11 a.m. and finishing at 4 p.m. Also, you need to have worked in your job for 26 weeks before you can make your statutory application. 

Employers

Your first potential employment port of call is distribution and logistics companies which regularly are on the lookout for warehouse operatives. The same applies to supermarkets and retailers, food and beverage businesses, and e-commerce companies who also need personnel to pick, pack, and prepare orders for their customers. In short: you can find employment in pretty much any business that deals with selling goods that need shipping and delivering. 

Qualifications

To become a warehouse operative, you usually are not required to have specific qualifications. However, if you want to learn the ropes of the job through an apprenticeship, you need GCSEs, typically at pass grades 9 to 4 (A* to C). Mandatory subjects tend to be English and maths which show that you have good literary and numerical skills.

Furthermore, software- and machinery-related qualifications and knowledge can be advantageous. These can include RFID systems, inventory management software, enterprise resource planning software (ERP), and a forklift licence. The latter may be mandatory, depending on your employer’s expectations.

Skills

Each job comes with a set of soft skills which therefore also applies to the job of a warehouse operative. Even though these may vary from job post to job post – meaning that you should always check them thoroughly when applying – there are set skills for a warehouse operative that will give you several advantages. Let’s take a look at some skills that will a) make your working life easier and b) put you ahead of other applicants.

Technical Competence

Working in a warehouse usually involves operating (heavy) machinery. Naturally, this implies that you should have strong technical skills if you want to perform well. As you have seen from the required qualifications, you may even be asked to have a forklift licence. Knowing how to operate this particular machinery will impress your employers since it means that you will not need extensive, time-consuming, and costly training. The same goes for stackers, pallet jacks, and conveyor belts, to name but a few more machinery you will work with daily.

Strength

Part of your job description is not only to operate heavy machinery but also to lift and carry heavy boxes. Physical strength will be one of your most important assets, both when applying for a job and performing it. Coupled with your physical strength should be mental strength – high resilience and good stress management, to be precise. In your job, you will sometimes work towards tight deadlines and schedules, meaning that being a warehouse operative can be stressful, challenging, and full-on at times.

Organisational Competencies

Everything in a warehouse has its place, meaning that each box and order needs to be allocated to a spot to ensure smooth and efficient workflows and efficient loading and delivery. Therefore, strong organisational competencies are skills you will benefit from in your warehouse operative job. Being familiar with warehouse management systems (WMS) can support you in this skill and will further impress your employer.

Career Path

Being a warehouse operative is only one step on your career ladder. It depends on your ambitions whether you want to climb said ladder or are happy to stay in your current job. If you want to progress to more senior roles in a warehouse, you may want to look into the following positions: a shift leader, a warehouse manager, or a quality control manager.

Educational Background

You need no specific educational/academic background if you want to become a warehouse operative unless your future employer explicitly states that you need to present some GCSEs, including maths and English. Keep in mind that despite the possibility of directly applying, you will benefit from professional training. This is why you may want to look into completing an apprenticeship, for instance, a supply chain warehouse operative intermediate apprenticeship.

Entry Level

Your entry-level position in a warehouse is also your first job. Here, you may start as an assistant to a more senior warehouse operative. He or she functions as your mentor who guides you through the daily work processes and gives you valuable tips. By gaining ever more experience and improving your work, you can think about progressing to different positions in the warehouse.

Continuous Learning

To achieve this, you should look into ways to improve your skills and gain further useful qualifications. How about earning health and safety certifications, such as the IOSH Managing Safely certification (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) or the CITB Site Safety Plus Health and Safety Awareness certification? 

Other beneficial options can be NVQs/SVQs in stock control and logistics and operations, and warehouse management courses which are offered by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), and some UK universities, for example, the Manchester Metropolitan University.

A Day in the Life of a Warehouse Operative

One of your first jobs after arriving at the warehouse is to receive shipments and deliveries that then need to be allocated to their respective warehouse spots. This can involve another daily job, driving a forklift, for example. What other tasks you are asked to perform is what we will look at in this section.

Preparing Shipments

You are not only in charge of receiving goods at the warehouse, you are also in charge of preparing them for further shipment. This involves a fair amount of paperwork, including printing the correct labels, ticking each item of an analogue or digital list, and coordinating with (other) logistics companies.

Warehouse Cleanliness

Ensuring smooth workflows is one of your daily responsibilities in a warehouse. This extends to the overall warehouse cleanliness, an important factor for various reasons. For a start, a clean warehouse is an organised warehouse. It is also a safe working environment which may be even more important than a warehouse that looks like a well-played Tetris game.

Stock-Taking

Stock-taking can take place at different times in your working day. You can do it after your shift since you then have an overview of the stock that has both arrived at and left the warehouse. This task is vitally important to ensure that every item is in sufficient supply. If you notice that stock is running low, you also need to reorder accordingly to avoid future disruptions and disgruntled end customers.

Tips for Thriving as a Warehouse Operative

Working on your hard skills is an option if you want to thrive in your chosen career. It is also sensible to improve your other competencies since it can give you an advantage when it comes to promotions or starting a new job. In this section, you will get three tips for thriving as a warehouse operative which will set you up for whatever career path you may choose:

• Teamwork
• Safety awareness
• Quality time

Teamwork

You may be in charge of various work processes in the warehouse but you are by no means the only person working there. You will work with a team of other warehouse workers and therefore need to be on top of your teamwork skills. It is all well and good if you think you can rock any task in the warehouse. But it will not curry you any favours with your colleagues since they may regard you as a loner/attention-seeker/over-eager beaver. Try to be a team player, instead. It not only eases your workload, it can also make you new friends.

Safety Awareness

A warehouse is not among the safest working environments in the world – regardless of the organisational effort put into storing everything safely. It can always happen that a box falls off a shelf, for example. Therefore, you must adhere to the implemented safety measures and protocols at all times, for instance, by wearing the proper attire like helmets and gloves.

Quality Time

We have mentioned that physical and mental strength are important skills to have when working in a warehouse. This also means that you need to take some time out after work which you reserve as your personal quality time. The main thing is that you switch off from work by doing whatever resets you, and also do some exercise that relaxes your muscles and keeps up your physical strength. 

Frequently Asked Questions