Personnel

After more than 1,100 deaths exposed dangerous labor conditions in Bangladesh in 2013, brands like H&M, Wal-Mart and Gap were among the most powerful companies that pledged to improve the safety of some of the country’s poorest workers. But human rights groups say that three years later, those promises are still unfulfilled, and that safety, labor…

As you've probably heard by now, President Obama announced the Department of Labor’s final rule updating the overtime regulations for middle-class workers yesterday. While the White House said the ruling is expected to boost wages for workers by $12 billion over the next 10 years, it's not going over well with many business associations, including the…

Consumers today are demanding the highest levels of environmental responsibility and consciousness from the retailers they shop with. A recent study by Nielsen found that 55 percent of global online consumers are willing to pay more for products and services provided by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. And retailers, which…

The looming prospect of higher minimum wage laws in the United States, whether federal or state-by-state, is forcing retailers to consider what they can do to weather the storm and stay alive. Already concerned with squeezed profit margins — thanks to higher costs associated with online delivery, processing orders and managing a massive increase in product…

Beset by fierce online competition, a lackluster retail climate, the costs of rapid expansion and sagging profits of late, Nordstrom on Monday said it expects to lay off 350 to 400 people in a cost-cutting measure aimed at becoming more efficient. The majority of the cuts will come from its corporate headquarters in Seattle, where departments…

Target Corp has started raising employee wages to a minimum of $10 an hour, its second hike in a year, pressured by a competitive job market and labor groups calling for higher wages at retail chains, sources said. Target management has informed store managers, who in turn have started informing employees about the wage hike. Most…

On April 4, the governors of California and New York voted to approve new legislation that will increase the states’ minimum wages over the next six years. Both states will gradually raise the minimum wage rates to $15 an hour by 2022. The minimum wage in New York is currently $9.00, equating to just under…

Amazon.com said Wednesday that there’s no gender or ethnic imbalance in how it pays its employees, heading off pressure from activist investors who wanted the company to prepare a detailed report on the issue. A recent review of its 2015 compensation showed that women earned 99.9 cents for every dollar men earned in the same jobs,…

When Sports Authority filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy recently, some of the headlines blamed the retailer's woes on the shift to online shopping. While that's a convenient excuse — and no doubt has some validity — retailers both local and national have shown that online shopping isn't necessarily the be-all, end-all. Consider Big Lots.

Avon Products Inc., which split off its North American operations earlier this month, plans to eliminate about 2,500 jobs and shift its headquarters to the U.K. in a cost-cutting move. The shake-up will generate one-time expenses of about $60 million in the first quarter from severance and other costs, the New York-based cosmetics company said in…