Local businesses and big-box retailers aren’t increasing seasonal hiring – and in some cases, they’re cutting back.
The reason: Analysts expect retail sales across the nation to drop for a second consecutive year.
“We anticipate we are hiring less than last year,” said Target Corp. spokesperson Kyle Thompson. Instead of hiring more seasonal helpers, Target is allowing its current employees to earn extra pay this holiday season by undergoing cross-training and working additional shifts, taking on different responsibilities as needed.
“They’re loyal to us throughout the whole year, so we want to make sure we’re providing them with all opportunities during the holiday season,” Thompson said.
Locally though, at least one Target store has added quite a bit of seasonal help. The new Westchester Commons location in Midlothian, which opened this year, has hired about 25 to 30 seasonal workers, according to Jody Sauls, assistant manager.
At Kohl’s Department Stores, spokesperson Elizabeth DeLuca would not say if hiring was up or down from last year, but said each store has hired about 20 seasonal employees, depending on the store size. Similarly, Walmart spokesperson Michelle Bradford says only that holiday hiring is “done on a store-by-store basis depending on the individual needs of the store.”
JCPenney anticipates hiring about the same level of extra holiday staff as last season – about a 10 to 20 percent increase from its normal staffing levels.
“We’re keeping the hiring the same so we can keep up the service to our customers,” said Kate Parkhouse, JCPenney’s national spokesperson.
Ukrop’s relies on its pool of returning college students. That’s why “we don’t typically do a lot of seasonal hiring,” spokesperson Susan Rowe said.
“Ukrop’s will have minimal temporary hiring during the holidays this year with a few associates in manufacturing and a few in our catering area,” adds Jim Scanlon, vice president of human resources and administration. “We are, however, bringing back returning college students on winter break. In addition, some of our part-time associates have expressed an interest in increased hours, so we are attempting to accommodate them when possible.”
At the local chain of five Barnett’s Hallmark Gold Crown Shops, owner Steve Barnett is hiring about the same number of seasonal workers as last year.
“Our experience thus far has been pretty much the same as last year, which wasn’t wonderful but survivable,” he said. “This year, we do have basically more hours for some of our workers, and we hire an additional worker when we need them.”
Nancy Thomas, president and CEO of the Richmond Retail Merchants Association, said that although many retailers are allowing their current employees to work more hours rather than hiring more help during the holidays, that isn’t necessarily the best strategy when it comes to customer service.
“[Retailers] need additional bodies, not additional hours with current staff. You need extra hands helping people and ringing them up,” Thomas said, “It’s a really mixed bag of what’s going on out there.”
Many retailers are compromising and waiting later than usual in the season to hire additional workers, Thomas said: “That helps decrease the payroll by a few weeks.”
Other stores are just utilizing seasonal workers on the weekends, when shopping is heavier.
Metro Richmond area holiday retail sales have been stronger than the national average. Whereas national sales have been falling off the past couple of years, local holiday sales figures last year were up by about 3.2 percent from the previous year, and this year they’re expected to remain essentially the same as last year.
“We’re hoping to be flat or just above flat,” Thomas said. “The new buzzword is that the new up is flat. That’s the new comedy line in retail: If you’re flat, you’re up.”
This story first ran in the Chesterfield Observer, which is an RBS News Partner.
