Common challenges
You can't hire your wayout of this.
Recruitment is slow, turnover eats the training you just paid for, and every plan quietly assumes a team you don't actually have on Monday. The fix isn't a bigger job advert — it's knowing exactly how many hours the work needs, where they go, and which of them you're currently wasting.
See workforce scheduling
Is this your problem?
How to tell a labour shortage from a labour plan problem.
The two look identical from the outside and need opposite responses. The measure that separates them is planned hours against worked hours, split by role and shift, next to the task minutes the day's orders actually required. If worked hours comfortably exceed required task minutes and the day still ran late, you do not have a shortage — you have hours going somewhere you cannot see.
It is a genuinely widespread problem, so the benchmark matters. The MHI Annual Industry Report 2026 puts talent acquisition and workforce challenges at 58% of company-level challenges, and the Zebra Warehousing Vision Study found labour recruitment a top operational challenge for 79% of small warehouse operators, with 69% of associates reporting a lack of qualified staff alongside fatigue and physical exhaustion.
WareBee scores your operation against a peer set matched on order profile, SKU count and footprint — not a blanket industry figure — so 'we are short-staffed' becomes a number you can compare, argue with and act on.
What's actually causing it
Five places the hours go.
Each one is measured on your digital twin from data you already generate, so you can see which applies to you before changing a single shift pattern.
Walking, not picking
A large share of the paid hour is travel between locations, not work at them.
The twin separates standing, walking and handling time from wearable and scan data, so the walking share of the shift is a measured number rather than an estimate. When the number is high, the answer is slotting and pick sequencing, not recruitment.
The plan was never staffable
Headcount was set from last quarter's assumption, not from the volume actually coming.
Expected order volume translates into task minutes for picking, packing and dock work, then into headcount needed by role — so a plan that could never have been delivered is visible before the shift starts rather than at the end of it.
Idle time nobody counts
Waiting for replenishment, for a truck, for a system — unrecorded and unbudgeted.
True idle time is separated from productive time in the same event model as every scan, so the waiting that never appears on a WMS report is priced alongside the work that does.
Work that isn't in the WMS
Cleaning, maintenance, exceptions and rework absorb hours no task list accounts for.
Non-WMS task accounting captures the work that happens but never gets a transaction, which is usually the gap between the hours you paid for and the hours the system can explain.
Peaks staffed by averages
The team is sized for a typical day and then overwhelmed by the days that matter.
Labour demand is modelled per wave and per zone against the forecast rather than as a daily total, so the hour that actually breaks — not the shift average — is the one you staff for.
Prove the staffing plan before you commit to it.
WareBee converts forecast order volume into task minutes by role, then into the headcount and shift shape that delivers it — and re-cuts the plan automatically the moment actual order flow drifts from what was forecast.
Because it runs on your digital twin, you can test a different shift pattern, a cross-trained pool or a re-slotted pick face and see the hours it returns before anyone's rota changes. Your team approves the plan; the WMS receives it as tasks and schedules it already understands.
- Task minutes by role, not a headcount guess
- Plans re-cut when real order flow drifts from forecast
- Shift patterns tested on the twin before the rota moves
Questions
Labour shortages, answered.
How do I know if I have a labour shortage or a labour planning problem?
Compare worked hours against the task minutes the day's orders actually required, split by role and shift. If worked hours exceed required minutes and the day still ran late, the hours exist but are going somewhere unmeasured — travel, waiting or untracked work — and hiring more people will not fix it.
Can WareBee tell me how many people I actually need?
Yes. Forecast order volume is converted into task minutes for picking, packing and dock work, then into headcount by role and shift. The plan re-cuts automatically when real order flow drifts from the forecast, so the number reflects the volume that is genuinely coming rather than last quarter's assumption.
Do I need new hardware or wearables to measure this?
No. WareBee starts from data you already generate — WMS and ERP feeds, scans, or a simple CSV export. Wearable and forklift telemetry make the standing, walking and handling split sharper if you have them, but they are an enhancement rather than a prerequisite for getting a first answer.
How long before I see whether this is worth doing?
Setup takes under a day with no IT project and no code, and the first analysis of your operation completes in around an hour. Optimisation runs finish in hours rather than weeks, so the question of whether the hours are recoverable is answered in your first session rather than after a quarter.
Will this tell me to cut headcount?
It tells you where the hours go; what you do with that is your decision. Most operations use recovered hours to absorb growth or reduce overtime rather than to reduce the team, and simulations reassign tasks role by role — some positions shrink while others grow to cover exceptions and edge cases.
Does the corrected staffing plan reach the WMS, or stop at a report?
It reaches the WMS. Approved shift plans convert into pick lists, replenishment tasks and dock schedules your WMS already understands, and actuals flow back afterwards so the next plan starts from what really happened on the floor rather than from what was assumed.