Warehouse manpower supply that holds throughput, not just headcount.
A warehouse does not fail on people count, it fails on lines per hour. Our warehouse manpower supply staffs to your throughput plan — pickers, packers, loaders, inventory and dispatch staff with the ratios that keep a dock moving — deployed on our payroll with supervisors per shift, safety induction for material handling, and productivity reported against your own targets rather than an attendance sheet.
Volume, shift pattern and dock profile are enough to size the team.
Inbound, storage, picking, packing and dispatch.
Throughput comes from ratios: pickers to packers, loaders to docks, checkers to lines. We build the structure with you and staff every layer, including the supervisor who actually chases the plan.
- ✓Pickers, packers and scanner operators
- ✓Loaders, unloaders and dock helpers
- ✓Inventory, cycle-count and stock-audit staff
- ✓Dispatch, documentation and gate clerks
- ✓Warehouse supervisors and shift in-charge
Where dispatch plans quietly slip
Not in the WMS. On the dock, at 9 pm, three people short.
Twenty pickers and four packers is not a team, it is a bottleneck with a payroll cost. The plan looks staffed and the dock still misses cut-off.
A late truck is a missed customer promise, a penalty clause, and a next-day backlog that consumes tomorrow's capacity too.
Ratios agreed against your throughput plan, a supervisor per shift, and productivity reported weekly so drift is corrected in days not quarters.
Get a rate card →
How a warehouse team is built
Slider gives an indicative monthly bill for a general shift at an illustrative 12% markup (an assumption, not our rate card). Night shift and peak allowances are billed as actuals.
How the number is arrived at.
Warehouse roles and what each is tested on
A warehouse team is several jobs with different skills. We screen each role for the part of the job that goes wrong most:
| Role | Core work | What we test |
|---|---|---|
| Picker | Picks lines to order by RF scanner, pick-to-light or paper list | Reading SKU and location codes, scanner use, accuracy on a trial pick |
| Packer | Packs, weighs and labels to your standard | Following a packing SOP, fragile handling, label accuracy |
| Loader / unloader | Trucks and containers, palletising, stacking | Fitness for manual handling, stacking stability, safe lifting technique |
| Inventory and cycle counter | Counts, reconciliations, bin audits | Counting accuracy, basic arithmetic, WMS adjustment discipline |
| Dispatch and documentation | Manifests, invoices, e-way bills, carrier handover | Spreadsheet and WMS basics, document checks |
| Returns and QC | Inspection, grading and restocking of returns | Grading consistency against your checklist |
Forklift and reach truck operators for the same floor: forklift operator staffing and reach truck operator staffing.
How a warehouse team is sized from throughput
Headcount follows volume, rate and hours — not last year's number. The same method works for pickers, packers and loaders:
Lines, units or trucks per shift
From your forecast, split by shift and by peak and normal days.
Output per person per hour
From your time study or WMS history on this layout and product mix.
Productive hours per shift
Shift length minus breaks, briefings and travel to the first pick.
Absence and ramp-up allowance
Added on top, and larger for new starters in their first weeks.
Worked example with assumed inputs: 12,000 lines a shift ÷ 80 lines per picker-hour ÷ 7 productive hours = 21.4, so 22 pickers; with a 10% absence buffer, 25 pickers rostered. Change any input and the number changes — which is why we ask for the throughput plan first.
What we report every week, and against whose target
Targets are yours and agreed at the start; we report against them weekly so drift is corrected in days, not quarters.
| KPI | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Productivity per head | Lines, units or cases per hour against target, by role and shift |
| Pick and pack accuracy | Errors per thousand lines, with the cause coded |
| Dock-to-stock and dispatch cut-off | Inbound put-away time and orders shipped before cut-off |
| Damage | Units damaged in handling, by area |
| Attendance against plan | Heads present versus the sized requirement, by shift |
| Attrition | Exits with coded reasons, so fixable causes get fixed |
Warehouse worker minimum wages in 2026
Pickers, packers and loaders are usually paid the unskilled or semi-skilled rate; inventory and dispatch staff often sit higher. Indicative figures:
| Basis | Amount | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haryana — unskilled / semi-skilled | ₹15,220.71 / ₹16,780.74 a month | 1 Apr 2026 | Covers the large NCR warehousing belt in Haryana |
| Tamil Nadu — general worker (loading and unloading) | ₹14,044 a month (Zone A) | 1 Apr 2026 | Basic plus VDA |
| Central sphere — loading and unloading, Area A | ₹827 a day (about ₹21,502 for 26 days) | 1 Apr 2026 | Central-sphere sites such as ports and railway goods sheds |
| Market pay — helper (Indeed India) | Average ₹13,200; range ₹8,249–₹21,123 | 102 reports, Jul 2026 | Survey pay below the notified rate is not a lawful contract wage |
Sources: Haryana revision of 1 Apr 2026; Tamil Nadu notification of 18 Feb 2026; Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) VDA order effective 1 Apr 2026; Indeed India. Peak overtime is paid at twice the ordinary wage rate and needs the worker's consent.
SLAs and what your warehouse provides
Numbers are agreed per site and written into the contract. If warehousing or 3PL is your business, loading, picking and dispatch are core activities: the OSH Code’s support-activity exclusion covers them only where an establishment is not set up for that work, so contract labour there relies on the section 57 exceptions — work ordinarily done through contractors in your establishment, work that does not need full-time workers for most of the day, or a sudden rise in volume to be handled in a specified time. We confirm which applies, and the contractor-licence position, before deployment.
Service levels we propose
- ✓Heads on the floor against the sized plan, every shift
- ✓A supervisor per shift with an escalation matrix
- ✓Weekly KPI report against your targets
- ✓Peak waves planned ahead of your sale calendar
- ✓Monthly pack: wage proof, PF and ESI challans
What your warehouse provides
- ✓The throughput plan and your productivity targets
- ✓WMS logins, scanners and a short system training
- ✓Marked pedestrian routes separate from MHE aisles
- ✓Drinking water, toilets, rest area and first aid
- ✓Safe transport and lighting where women work night shifts
How do you size a warehouse team?+
From your throughput plan — lines per hour, dock profile, storage type and shift pattern — converted into picker, packer, loader and checker ratios with a buffer for absenteeism, rather than a flat headcount request.
Can you scale for e-commerce peaks?+
Yes. We aim to put peak waves on the floor within seven working days and release them at the end of the window with full and final settlement. Peaks usually run on a temporary staffing contract; if you prefer fixed-term employment, note that fixed-term workers get the same benefits as permanent staff and pro-rata gratuity after one year under the Labour Codes.
Is productivity reported?+
Yes. Productivity per head against your target, attendance and absenteeism trend, and attrition with coded exit reasons are reported weekly, so corrections happen in days.
Do you supply forklift operators as well?+
Yes, on the same contract, with training verification and a practical test on the truck class in use. Pedestrian-route and aisle discipline is part of the safety induction for all staff.
Who supervises the deployed team?+
A Godstone supervisor per shift, accountable for attendance, safety discipline and the day's plan, working alongside your warehouse manager with a written escalation matrix.
How many pickers does my warehouse need?+
Divide the lines to be picked per shift by the rate one picker achieves per productive hour on your layout, then by the productive hours in the shift, and add a buffer for absence. The rate is the number to get right — take it from your own time study or WMS history, not a generic benchmark.
Can women work night shifts in the warehouse?+
Yes, with their consent. Section 43 of the OSH Code 2020 allows women to work before 6 a.m. and after 7 p.m. subject to the safety, transport and working-hour conditions your State notifies — typically safe transport, adequate lighting and supervision, and a minimum number of women on the shift.
Peak season or a new facility?
Send the throughput plan and shift pattern. We aim to send a team structure and rate card within one working day.