Dive Brief:
- Retailers say they’re turning to cross-training and incentives to meet holiday season staffing needs. Eighty-one percent of employers surveyed recently by UKG said they’re cross-training employees, and 71% said they incentivize employees to pick up hard-to-fill shifts.
- While 84% of retailers surveyed plan to hire seasonal workers to cover increased holiday demand, that’s down from 96% last year. Labor shortages are at least partly to blame, retailers said in the Oct. 17 results.
- Retailers said labor shortages affect their ability to meet customer expectations; 71% of those surveyed said they’re understaffed one to three days per week.
Dive Insight:
Reskilling workers can be a key way to manage costs and fill jobs, August research from Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll indicated.
Whether via company-led training sessions or on-the-job training by other workers, cross-training initiatives also can be a more predictable model than recruiting, the organizations concluded.
Incentives such as shift premiums have long proved useful for finding coverage for undesirable shifts. Spirit Halloween, for example, reported using pay incentives for holiday hiring this year. Notably, however, such benefits may require a thoughtful approach that takes wage and hour compliance into consideration.
Other retailers, like Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods, have touted employee discounts and early access to wages.
