The market has cooled, and that changes how depots plan. The labour market is now described as 'low hire, low fire', with weaker recruitment but only slight increases in redundancies, and vacancies have dropped below pre-pandemic levels the Low Pay Commission's 2025 report. In other words, fewer people are moving, so holding on to your best operators matters more than it did a year ago.
There are early signs of a floor under the market, too. Permanent placements have finally stabilised, ending a decline in place for 45 months, while temporary billings rose for a fourth consecutive month the REC and KPMG Report on Jobs. For depots, that mix points to steady demand for flexible cover alongside a more careful approach to permanent hires.
Skills, not just headcount, are the bigger worry across the wider sector. Skills shortages sit at the top of the list of barriers to growth at 75%, ahead of recruitment at 36% and talent retention at 32% Barclays Corporate's analysis of the UK skills shortage. That ordering tells you something: the gap is often about capability inside the building, not only the number of vacancies you can fill.
Automation and digitalisation are reshaping what a warehouse manager actually does. Six in ten employers (59%) cite automation and half (50%) cite wider digitalisation as trends changing jobs and skills needs, and 74% expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to increase by 2030 Make UK's 2030 Skills report. Reading data, managing systems and leading people through change now sit alongside the traditional floor-level basics.
So employers are backing the people who already know the site. 40% of firms are looking to upskill their existing workforce, specifically for redeployment as a result of automation and digitalisation, and that figure rises for firms with more than 1,000 employees the Make UK Executive Survey 2026. A manager who understands your layout, your shifts and your customers is a strong base to build new skills on.
Retention makes sense when moves are scarce. With recruitment and retention both named as barriers to growth Barclays Corporate, keeping a proven manager and growing their remit protects continuity on site. The question for each depot is simple: which of our managers can we develop, and where do we genuinely need to bring new people in?
Start by separating what you can train from what you can't. Site knowledge and systems can be taught; judgement under pressure, clear communication and the instinct to keep people safe are harder to coach. Because 74% of employers expect demand for cognitive and meta-cognitive skills to rise by 2030 Make UK, weight your interviews towards problem-solving and leading change, not just years on a forklift.
Write the role around outcomes: throughput, accuracy, safety records and team retention. Be specific about the shift pattern, the tech stack and who the manager reports to, so applicants self-select early. In a 'low hire, low fire' market the Low Pay Commission, the strong people you want are often settled, so a clear, honest advert and a quick, respectful process do a lot of the work.
Keep temporary and permanent routes open. With temporary billings rising for a fourth consecutive month the REC and KPMG Report on Jobs, a strong interim manager can steady a site during peak or cover a gap while you develop someone internally. Move fast when you find the right fit: good warehouse managers rarely stay on the market for long.
When upskilling isn't enough and you need a new warehouse manager, we help you find the right person without slowing down the floor. We search a database of 15 million candidates, rank a shortlist in under 30 seconds, contact matched people in under a minute and can book an interview in under three minutes, so you spend your time on the people who actually fit. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Tell us what good looks like on your site, and we'll surface managers who match today.
