More seasonal workers don’t automatically mean more warehouse productivity. As 2026 holiday hiring accelerates, distribution leaders need to think beyond headcount and focus on productive capacity.
Holiday hiring is changing, and the warehouse is becoming an increasingly important part of the story.
According to research published October 15, 2026, by Indeed Hiring Lab, loading and stocking positions now account for approximately 9% of seasonal job postings, compared with just 3.5% in 2019.
Meanwhile, Amazon has announced plans to hire more than 300,000 people across seasonal, part-time, and full-time positions in its U.S. operations network for the holidays. UPS has announced plans to hire approximately 100,000 seasonal employees.
The headlines emphasize hiring. But for distribution center leaders, the more important question is what those additional workers will accomplish.
More headcount does not automatically mean more throughput.
When inbound freight increases, order volumes fluctuate, and customer delivery expectations remain high, successful warehouse operations depend on more than having enough people on the schedule.
They depend on having the right workforce, performing the right tasks, with the processes, supervision, and performance expectations needed to keep freight moving.
Why Is Seasonal Hiring Shifting Toward Warehouses?
Retailers and logistics providers are responding to changes in how consumers shop and how products reach their destinations.
Indeed’s research shows that retail remains the largest category of seasonal employment, but its share has declined from approximately two-thirds of seasonal postings in 2019 to just over 61% in 2026.
Loading and stocking positions have gained share over the same period.
That shift reflects the growing importance of the operations behind modern retail fulfillment.
Every online order requires work somewhere in the distribution network. Products must be unloaded, received, stored, replenished, selected, packed, and shipped.
As order activity increases, pressure can develop across multiple warehouse functions at the same time.
The challenge for distribution leaders is not simply finding people willing to work during the holidays. It is ensuring that available labor can support the work required throughout the facility.
What Do Amazon and UPS’s Holiday Hiring Plans Tell Us?
Large employers are making substantial workforce commitments ahead of peak season.
Amazon’s October 20 announcement outlines plans to hire more than 300,000 people across its U.S. core operations network, including seasonal, part-time, and full-time positions.
UPS’s October 7 announcement calls for approximately 100,000 seasonal hires to support holiday shipping.
These announcements demonstrate the scale of workforce planning required across major distribution and transportation networks.
They also reinforce an important distinction.
Large hiring targets describe planned workforce expansion. They do not, by themselves, tell us how effectively that labor will be deployed, how much throughput it will produce, or whether the additional capacity matches demand at each facility.
For warehouse operators outside these large networks, matching that level of recruiting activity may not be practical—or necessary.
A more useful starting point is understanding the actual work that needs to be completed.
Why Doesn’t More Warehouse Headcount Always Produce More Throughput?
Consider a distribution center preparing for an increase in outbound orders.
Management adds ten seasonal associates to its schedule. On paper, labor capacity has increased.
But what happens if replenishment cannot keep pick locations stocked? What if receiving is behind schedule, equipment is unavailable, or new associates spend substantial time learning unfamiliar processes?
The additional workers may be present without being fully productive.
That distinction matters because warehouse capacity is not simply a headcount calculation.
Productive capacity depends on several interconnected factors:
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Workload: Cases, pallets, orders, or lines that must be processed.
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Labor availability: Qualified associates available for each operating function.
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Productivity: Work completed per productive labor hour.
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Operational readiness: Equipment, inventory, systems, dock space, and staging availability.
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Supervision and coordination: Leadership that keeps work aligned with operational priorities.
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Quality and safety: Consistent execution without sacrificing accuracy or creating unnecessary risk.
If any one of these elements becomes a constraint, additional labor may deliver less value than expected.
Five Ways Distribution Centers Can Build Productive Capacity for Peak Season
1. Forecast labor requirements by workload, not headcount.
A projected increase in orders is not enough to determine staffing requirements.
Distribution leaders need to understand the work behind those orders.
How many cases will be selected? How many pallets will require replenishment? Will incoming freight arrive floor-loaded or palletized? How much sorting, labeling, or additional handling will be necessary?
Each activity creates a different labor requirement.
Translate expected volume into labor hours using realistic, function-specific productivity standards. Then compare that requirement with the productive capacity already available.
This approach helps management identify where additional resources are necessary rather than applying the same staffing increase across every department.
2. Identify the actual operational bottleneck.
A facility experiencing outbound delays may not have an order-selection labor problem.
The constraint could be in receiving, put-away, replenishment, or another upstream activity.
For example, additional selectors cannot efficiently fulfill orders when required products are not available in forward pick locations.
Similarly, adding unloading labor may have limited benefit when receiving lanes are already congested with freight waiting for put-away.
Evaluate the movement of products across the entire facility before deciding where additional labor should be deployed.
FHI explores these interconnected operating functions in our guide to order selection and its role in warehouse performance.
3. Build flexibility into the workforce plan.
Peak-season demand rarely follows a perfectly predictable schedule.
A distribution center may experience concentrated inbound freight during one week, increased replenishment requirements the next, and a surge in outbound order selection immediately afterward.
A workforce plan built around fixed staffing levels can struggle with those changes.
Instead, establish a dependable core workforce and identify how additional capacity can be introduced or reallocated when operational requirements change.
For short-term needs, experienced contingency warehouse teams can provide support without requiring an equivalent long-term increase in permanent staffing.
FHI’s warehouse travel teams are designed to support temporary increases in workload and operational disruptions.
4. Measure output, not just attendance.
Labor availability is important, but attendance alone is not an indicator of operational success.
Management should evaluate whether available labor is producing the expected results.
Useful performance measures include:
| Warehouse function | Performance indicators |
|---|---|
| Unloading | Cases or pallets per labor hour; trailer completion time |
| Receiving | Receiving accuracy; dock-to-stock time |
| Put-away | Pallets or units processed per labor hour |
| Replenishment | Pick-location availability; completed replenishment tasks |
| Order selection | Cases or lines per labor hour; selection accuracy |
| Outbound loading | Loading productivity; shipping schedule attainment |
| Overall workforce | Labor utilization; overtime; cost per unit handled |
The purpose of these measures is not simply to push associates to work faster.
It is to identify operational constraints, improve processes, allocate resources appropriately, and deliver consistent performance while maintaining safety and accuracy.
5. Evaluate managed warehouse labor as an operating strategy.
Traditional seasonal hiring typically focuses on filling open positions.
A managed warehouse labor approach goes further by connecting staffing, onsite leadership, performance measurement, and operational execution.
Depending on the scope of the partnership, a managed labor provider can assume responsibility for specific warehouse functions or broader distribution operations.
That can include unloading, receiving, put-away, replenishment, order selection, loading, and related activities.
The objective is not merely to supply workers.
It is to establish a more accountable structure for completing the work.
FHI’s managed distribution services support labor-intensive warehouse operations with experienced teams, onsite leadership, and measurable productivity expectations.
When Does Contingency Warehouse Labor Make Sense?
Not every increase in warehouse workload justifies additional permanent headcount.
Temporary labor support may be appropriate when a facility is facing:
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Unexpected increases in inbound freight.
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Seasonal order-selection or fulfillment surges.
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A shortage of available warehouse associates.
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New facility startups or operational transitions.
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Temporary backlogs that existing teams cannot resolve.
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Short-term disruptions affecting productivity or service commitments.
In these situations, a defined deployment of experienced warehouse associates can help operations stabilize while management focuses on the broader business.
FHI NOW provides rapid-response warehouse labor support, with experienced teams that can mobilize in as little as 72 hours, depending on operational requirements.
The right solution depends on the duration of the workload, the skills required, and the outcomes the operation needs to achieve.
What Should Distribution Leaders Do Before the Holiday Peak?
Before expanding the workforce, leadership teams should answer several practical questions.
Do we know our expected workload by operating function? Are productivity standards based on actual performance? Can our receiving and replenishment processes support increased outbound demand?
Where will our existing workforce reach its limits? What options do we have to introduce qualified capacity without disrupting established operations?
These questions become especially important as inbound and outbound volume move at different speeds.
As discussed in FHI’s recent article, Warehouse Inventory Surges 113% in New Data. Is Your DC Ready?, inventory availability and operational throughput must be managed together.
The labor strategy should support that same objective.
The Goal Isn’t More Workers. It’s More Productive Capacity.
The 2026 holiday hiring headlines illustrate the continued importance of warehouse labor in modern supply chains.
But workforce expansion should never become the objective by itself.
Distribution leaders need operations that can respond to changing volume, maintain productivity, protect service commitments, and control labor costs.
That requires experienced people, effective processes, dependable supervision, and the flexibility to adjust capacity as demand changes.
For more than 30 years, FHI has supported distribution operations with managed warehouse labor, unloading, order selection, and contingency workforce solutions.
Whether your facility needs additional capacity for a seasonal surge or a longer-term approach to warehouse labor performance, FHI can help build a solution around the work that needs to be done.
Peak season is approaching. Is your warehouse labor strategy built for headcount—or performance?
Talk with FHI about your warehouse labor requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are more seasonal jobs moving into warehouses?
More retail fulfillment activity takes place through distribution centers and e-commerce networks. Indeed Hiring Lab reports that loading and stocking roles represented approximately 9% of seasonal postings in 2026, compared with 3.5% in 2019.
Does hiring more warehouse workers increase productivity?
Not automatically. Productivity also depends on training, supervision, inventory availability, equipment, workflow coordination, and the amount of work completed per productive labor hour.
What is the difference between temporary staffing and managed warehouse labor?
Traditional temporary staffing generally focuses on supplying workers. Managed warehouse labor can include workforce planning, onsite supervision, productivity standards, and operational accountability for defined warehouse functions.
How can distribution centers prepare for seasonal labor shortages?
Start with workload forecasts, function-specific productivity measurements, existing labor capacity, cross-training opportunities, and contingency plans for temporary increases in demand.
What warehouse functions benefit from additional peak-season labor?
Depending on the facility, unloading, receiving, put-away, replenishment, order selection, packing, loading, and inventory support may all require additional capacity during seasonal surges.
What is contingency warehouse labor?
Contingency warehouse labor provides additional workers or experienced teams for temporary operating needs, such as seasonal peaks, labor shortages, warehouse startups, backlogs, and unexpected disruptions.
How quickly can FHI provide contingency warehouse labor?
FHI NOW can mobilize experienced warehouse teams in as little as 72 hours, depending on the operation’s location, requirements, scope, and deployment conditions.
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Amazon — 2026 Holiday Hiring Announcement (October 20, 2026)
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UPS — 2026 Seasonal Workforce Announcement (October 7, 2026)
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