The labor shortage is a harsh reality impacting businesses across industries. Warehouse operators, in particular, are struggling to fill open positions while facing an ever-growing demand for efficient order fulfillment. A survey from 2024 by Descartes and SAPIO Research shows that 76% of logistics leaders across North America and Europe are experiencing a noticeable labor shortage, severely limiting the growth of these businesses. The rise of automation, AI and humanoids as a solution often also revolves around the fear that these technologies will replace people, instead of how they will support current workers and attract new ones. Let’s take a look!
The workforce shortage isn’t going away
The labor shortage in warehousing and logistics isn’t just a short-term challenge, it’s a structural shift that’s here to stay. Solving it requires more than temporary fixes, and here’s why.
- First of all, the continued growth of e-commerce might be good news for businesses, this increased order volume also means that companies need to invest in innovative staffing solutions and technology to support this growth.
- Secondly, more and more experienced workers are reaching retirement and are not being replaced by younger workers. This challenge could be a unique opportunity to rethink workforce planning as a whole, introducing new tools and processes that make warehouse work less physically demanding and more rewarding, while transferring valuable knowledge to the next generation.
- Lastly, younger generations gravitate more toward tech-driven careers. This trend highlights the importance of reimagining warehouse roles and making them more dynamic, engaging and aligned with the expectations of the modern workforce.
The result is a widening labor gap that can’t be solved by recruitment alone. It calls for a fundamental rethinking of how work gets done—one where technology plays a central role in keeping operations running efficiently.
Redefining work in warehousing and logistics
In response to these persistent labor challenges, many logistics operations are turning to automation, AI and even humanoid systems. Why? Rather than just replacing people, these technologies support the workforce and shift the nature of the work where it’s most critical. By reducing strain, increasing efficiency and improving job quality, they offer long-term benefits that make the investment worthwhile.
Automation and robotics are taking over some of the most physically demanding and repetitive warehouse tasks, such as manual picking, palletizing, sorting, scanning and transporting inventory. These activities are not only labor-intensive but also prone to human error and injury.
This shift creates new, tech-enabled roles focused on oversight and coordination, including:
- Optimizing robotic workflows and performance
- Configuring task assignments to robots
- Troubleshooting and resolving complex system exceptions
- Maintaining and upgrading robotic systems
- Coordinating human-robot collaboration zones
AI and algorithms are transforming warehouse operations by replacing time-consuming, error-prone tasks like manual scheduling, route planning, inventory checks and basic data entry. Algorithms handle these processes faster and more accurately, freeing up human workers to focus on higher-value tasks:
- Analyzing demand patterns to shape inventory strategy
- Collaborating with teams to improve AI models and outputs
- Investigating anomalies and driving continuous process improvements
- Leading AI-enabled workforce planning for peak efficiency
- Training or tagging data sets
While traditional robotics are built for one task in a fixed environment, humanoids can handle variability and complex movements that machines can’t easily replicate. Think of physically demanding jobs, monitoring hazards and assisting during emergencies. They work alongside people, minimizing injury risks and helping with tasks like training, inventory checks and equipment alerts. New jobs focus on:
- Define tasks and policies to balance workloads between operators and humanoids
- Coordinating hybrid teams and humanoid assistants
- Identifying and resolving edge cases
- Tag-teaming stock replenishment
- Providing feedback or data to improve systems
Building a future-ready warehouse workforce
“At MOVU, I worked on these kinds of solutions, allowing warehouses to automate their inventory and reduce the operator workload to a minimum”, says Thomas, Mechanical Design Engineer at Verhaert On-site Consulting. “Automated warehouse solutions are systems that manage the inventory, optimize the operations and improve efficiency and picking accuracy, using different automated storage, retrieval and picking solutions. This dramatically reduces the workforce needed to fulfill all orders, while increasing efficiency and productivity.”
“But the impact goes beyond efficiency”, the on-site consultant continues. “Automation creates opportunities for upskilling and role diversification, enabling workers to take on more technical, engaging responsibilities. This shift makes warehouse roles more attractive, especially to younger generations seeking tech-driven careers, and helps build a more resilient, future-ready workforce.”
Need expert support to implement or develop advanced warehouse systems? Let’s discuss how Verhaert’s on-site consultants can drive innovation within your R&D team!