Holiday hiring gets makeover
Pandemic sparks early push by retailers to add temps in reshaped roles
NEW YORK — Wanted this holiday shopping season: Cart sanitizers, curbside delivery workers and mask enforcers.
The push to hire temporary workers has begun in earnest this holiday season — in some cases, weeks earlier than last year. But the pandemic has reshaped the kinds of jobs retailers are recruiting for.
As more shoppers shy away from stores and shift their purchases online during the pandemic, retailers have stepped up the pace of hiring at warehouses. At the same time, they are looking for workers who can handle new tasks like checking temperatures and booking store appointments for shoppers who still want the in-store experience but are jittery about the coronavirus.
Signet Jewelers, which operates Zales and Jared, is hiring concierges who book store appointments, handle crowds and help out with curbside pickup at its stores during the holiday season. It began its recruiting efforts in late summer.
“We needed an early start because of the uniqueness of the environment,” said Bill Luth, executive vice president of Signet, which plans to hire 4,000 holiday workers, similar to last year.
Andrew Challenger, vice president of global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, expects the number of holiday jobs will be lower than the 702,000 jobs added in 2019, as store closings offset the surging demand for warehouse workers. More than 40 retailers have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year, including more than two dozen retailers since the coronavirus outbreak.
Retail store jobs were down 13% the week ending Oct. 13 compared to the week of March 1 before the pandemic hit, according to Snagajob, which recruits for with major retailers. Postings for e-commerce warehouse jobs, however, were up nearly fourfold.
Some big-box stores and warehouses may nonetheless end up hiring fewer seasonal workers because they added hundreds of thousands of workers in March and April to meet a sudden surge in online ordering.
Amazon said it plans to hire 100,000 people for the holidays, half the amount it hired last year. But the retailer has increased hiring throughout the year, adding 175,000 people in March and another 100,000 in September.
Target said it expects to hire more than 100,000 people for the holiday season, about the same as last year. Store workers may also be doing double duty. Someone tasked with folding shirts, for example, may be asked to bring items to shoppers in the parking lot for curbside pickup.
Walmart is hiring more than 20,000 seasonal associates at its e-commerce fulfillment centers. That’s higher than last holiday season, though the company declined to give a figure. Walmart has hired more than 500,000 workers in stores and across its distribution centers since March.
Filling some of these temporary holiday jobs, however, may not be easy, even in the face of a high unemployment rate brought on by the pandemic. Like shoppers, many workers are nervous about the spread of coronavirus.
Liisa Luick, a 13-year veteran at a Macy’s store in the Seattle area, says she won’t be working extra holiday hours this year — even as her hours were cut after COVID-19. The 53-year-old said she’s worried about getting exposed to the virus and she also believes the tensions among shoppers will be higher.
“The extra money would be nice, but it’s not worth the risk,” said Luick who works in the men’s clothing department.