It depends. It comes down to factors in a specific warehouse facility. Some that come to mind include:
- The work culture in the facility
- The type of work involved
- The department you’ll be working in
Let me explain. As someone who’s worked in multiple warehouses throughout my life I found that some were (by their nature) pleasant to work in while others were hardly welcoming to introverts.
To expound farther on the aforementioned factors:
Culture in the warehouse facility: I have worked in places where people preferred to mind their own businesses and just work. I have also worked in places that were very cliquey and if you didn’t belong to a clique, you were basically an outcast to almost everyone else.
As an introvert, it’s best to look for warehouses where people are less likely to form cliques. An example would be warehouses that have (unfortunately) an extremely high turnover rate – Amazon warehouses come to mind.
In such places, people don’t stay long enough to form cliques that might become toxic to people who are not part of the in-group.
Having said that though, larger warehouses with more employees tend to have more cliquey behavior than smaller cohesive ones.
If you are an introvert who just prefers to be alone, warehouses with cliques tend to seem like a prison, which might feel very hostile if you are not part of an in-group.
The type of work involved: Not all warehouse jobs are the same. In some, you can work all day at your station by yourself and not really have to interact with or cross paths with anyone. Good examples are stow associate and packer at Amazon facilities.
On the other hand, some warehouse jobs require you to be in constant touch with your teammates in order to get the job done. Some examples are:
- Caselot order filler at Walmart distribution centers
- Order selector jobs. Even though you are not required to talk as an order selector, you might meet some chatty folks in the aisles!
- Reach-truck/forklift operator
The department you’ll be working in: some warehouses are large places with many people and many departments. You’ll find that some departments (for whatever reason) are more chill and welcoming than others.
It might be due to the leadership in these departments but some are a lot more accommodating to people of all personality types than others.
Some words of advice
It is easy to be misunderstood while working in some warehouses as an introvert.
People might begin to form misconceptions about you and since you don’t talk much, you might be ill-prepared to defend yourself.
You might be mistaken for being mean or “not a team player”. You might be treated unfairly/harassed because of this too especially if you work in a warehouse with a toxic workplace culture.
I have personally experienced all this so here is my advise if you do find yourself working in such places:
- Smile and laugh a bit more. This will make you look more approachable and non-threatening. Unfortunately, the modern workplace is build for extroverts and sometimes we have to adapt to it as introverts.
- If you work in an introvert-hostile environment and have enough savings to fall back on, I would urge you to quit ASAP and look for other job opportunities. Your mental health is more important than your job.
- There are better warehouses out there where you can work comfortably as an introvert. I have worked in a few of them.
Other jobs suitable for introverts
If you can’t find good warehouses suitable for your personality, remember that there are plenty of other options you can take. Here are a few ideas:
Long haul truck driver: Long haul truck drivers work for long periods of time by themselves. Although the pay is not as good as it used to be, it’s still decent for entry level drivers. According to ZipRecruiter, you can earn as much as $1,200 to $1,500 per week.
Security Guard: Security guard and loss prevention jobs are good entry level jobs for introverts. They also tend to pay more than other low skill labor jobs such as cashier.
Being an overnight security guard in large establishments such as colleges is even better since the chance of encountering anyone are greatly reduced.
Gig work: Delivering for Uber Eats or DoorDash is popular with many introverts since they don’t have to interact with people too much especially now that contactless delivery seems to be here to stay.
Some work from home jobs: There are certain WFH jobs that are a good fit for introverted people. Many gigs in the transcription, translation and classification spaces are great since you will never have to talk to your workmates (in person at least). The downside is that some pay very little. Also keep an eye out for scams.
