How Much Does It Really Cost to Hire and Train a Warehouse Worker?

If you’ve ever looked at your payroll and thought, “Why are we spending so much on labor, and still falling short on performance?”—you’re asking the right question.

The truth is, hiring and training warehouse workers costs far more than most operations leaders realize. And when turnover is high or productivity lags, that cost multiplies.

Let’s break down the real numbers—and show you how some DCs are cutting costs without cutting corners.

The Real Cost of Hiring Warehouse Labor

On paper, the hourly wage is only part of the story. Behind every new hire are hidden expenses like:

Recruiting and advertising: Job board fees, referral bonuses, HR time

Background checks and onboarding: Paperwork, compliance, and admin

Training time: Nonproductive hours during ramp-up

PPE, uniforms, and tools: Standard equipment costs

Mistakes during the learning curve: Errors, damaged goods, or slow rates

Turnover and re-hiring: The cost to start over again when someone quits


When you add it all up, the average cost to hire and train a warehouse employee ranges from $4,500 to $6,000—and that’s if they stay longer than 90 days.

Now imagine losing 10% of your workforce each month. That’s tens of thousands quietly draining from your budget before a single pallet moves.


Why Most Cost-Cutting Strategies Don’t Work

You could try to reduce costs by:

Relying on temp agencies

Hiring faster

Trimming training or onboarding

Paying lower wages


But those moves often backfire. They lead to higher turnover, lower morale, and inconsistent performance—costing you more in the long run.


The Smarter Alternative: Managed Labor That Pays for Itself

At FHI, we help DCs control labor costs by giving them a fully managed workforce—recruited, trained, and led by us, with performance baked in.

Here’s how that reduces your true cost per worker:

No recruiting burden—we handle hiring, screening, and onboarding

Lower turnover—our teams stay longer and perform better

Faster ramp-up—we use proven onboarding frameworks tailored to warehouse roles

Built-in leadership—our supervisors keep your shift on pace and on target


Best of all, you get predictable labor costs—no surprise overtime, retraining, or missed targets to clean up after.


How to Evaluate If You’re Overspending

Ask yourself:

1. What’s our average cost to hire a new warehouse associate?


2. How many workers are still here after 90 days?


3. How much of my team’s time is spent on hiring, training, and managing turnover?


4. Could we perform better if that time was spent on operations instead?


If the answers point to hidden inefficiencies, it might be time to consider a new model.


You Don’t Need More People. You Need the Right People, Managed the Right Way.

You’ve got enough on your plate without trying to play recruiter, trainer, and shift leader on top of running a distribution center. With the right partner, you can spend less on labor—and get more done.

Let’s talk about how to reduce cost-per-hire and increase productivity through managed labor.

Schedule your complimentary analysis today.