On October 2nd, Exotec Nihon announced the results of a survey conducted among 1031 people nationwide working in warehouses and logistics centers, regarding workload, retention intentions, and warehouse robots.
The survey was conducted by Macromill from August 21 to 27. Of the respondents, 438 (42.5%) were part-time or temporary workers, and 61.4% of them were women.
According to the survey results, 51.0% of people working in warehouses and logistics centers are considering changing jobs or leaving their jobs. Broken down by age group, the percentage was higher among younger people, with 65.5% of those in their 20s and 60.9% of those in their 30s considering it.
When people considering changing jobs or leaving their current position were asked for their reasons, the most common overall response was "because it is physically demanding" at 39.7%, followed by "dissatisfaction with salary and working conditions" at 39.4%.
Broken down by employment type, among part-time and temporary workers (216 people), the most common reason was "because it is physically demanding" at 45.8%, which was 12.0 percentage points higher than "dissatisfaction with salary and working conditions" at 33.8%. On the other hand, among company employees (301 people), the most common reason was "dissatisfaction with salary and working conditions" at 43.2%, followed by "because it is physically demanding" at 35.5%.
Regarding the tasks that people find particularly difficult on a daily basis, "lifting and carrying heavy objects" (multiple answers allowed) was cited by 57.1% of part-time workers and 39.0% of full-time employees. Broken down by gender, 52.7% of women and 43.5% of men cited this.
Overall, the top reason cited was "working in harsh environments" at 22.9%, followed by "lifting and carrying heavy objects" at 21.9%, and 35.7% of respondents took more than 10,000 steps during their workday.
Furthermore, regarding tasks that people would like to entrust to robots, "lifting and moving heavy objects" was the most common answer for both part-time and temporary workers (66.2%) and full-time employees (58.8%). A notable feature of this survey is that, while "physical strain" is the number one reason for changing jobs or leaving a job, "handling heavy objects" was the most common task that people would like to entrust to robots.
On the other hand, when 566 people who had worked in warehouses and logistics centers for more than five years were asked why they continued working there, 35.0% said "because I'm used to the work and it's easy," 34.6% said "because it's easy to commute from home," and 32.7% said "because it's too much trouble to change jobs." Only 9.2% said "because I'm satisfied with the salary," and 3.7% said "because it's easy to work there with little physical strain."
Exotec positions this survey as material for discussing warehouse automation not merely as capital investment for reducing personnel, but as a management investment aimed at maximizing warehouse capacity, improving operational efficiency, and strengthening recruitment and retention capabilities, and says it will use it in dialogue with logistics companies.
