USA TODAY International Edition
Holiday hiring goes from blah to hoopla
Some companies throw parties to woo workers
When UPS lured holiday job seekers recently to its Columbus, Ohio, package sorting center, it turned the dreary process of interviews and background checks into a full-blown party complete with candy and movie-ticket giveaways.
Faced with a shrinking labor pool and a need to fill 95,000 extra jobs this holiday season, the Louisville-based delivery giant has been scrambling to find innovative ways to tempt potential employees — including turning recruiting sessions into celebrations.
It’s not just UPS. As the holidays draw closer and holiday hiring is in full swing, industries across the board are feeling the unintended side effects of a falling unemployment rate— now at a 17-year low of 4.1%. But retail, food services and delivery, industries that are an essential part of the holiday grind, are among the most vulnerable.
“It’s definitely a workers’ market,” says Peter Harrison, CEO of Snagajob, an online job search engine, who says companies on the platform are increasingly struggling to find workers. “No question about it. Right now, employers are having to do everything they can to lure people in.”
Starting with pay. Hooplas and giveaways aside, companies know nothing can help them sign up workers faster than the prospect of more cold hard cash and benefits:
Target. The retailer recently announced it’s increasing the hourly minimum wage to $11, with plans to go as high as $15 an hour by 2020.
J.C. Penney. The department store chain will start offering paid time off, up to one week a year, to eligible part-time employees in early 2018.
UPS. The deliverer with the brown trucks offers weekly retention bonuses, up to $200 a week, as a reward to employees who work every day.
As for getting out the word, that’s where the parties come in. “The competition for workers means we’ve got to be creative,” says Dan McMackin, a UPS spokesperson.