Personnel

Walgreens Boots Alliance is set to lay off about 500 employees, or 10 percent of its corporate workforce, the Chicago Sun-Times reported last week. Spokesperson Marty Maloney confirmed the layoffs to the news outlet, saying most of the cuts will be at the company's Deerfield, Ill. headquarters or Chicago office. In a letter obtained by…

Talent retention continues to take center stage in the retail industry and for good reason. Retailers are experiencing higher year-over-year turnover rates. For instance, the turnover rate for hourly in-store positions reached 75.8 percent, up from 68 percent in 2021. Furthermore, nearly half of U.S. frontline retail employees and two-thirds of frontline managers report considering leaving their jobs in…

We’ve seen this one before: As prices rise and wallets shrink, consumers are changing their habits. However, not every industry is losing out. Shoppers are still spending, but they increasingly need discounts and convenience.  For dollar stores and convenience stores, this is their moment to shine. Here’s what they're up against and how they can keep…

Retailers are facing a major conundrum: consumers are flocking back to brick-and-mortar retail while the struggle to adequately staff stores has never been greater. High turnover in retail isn’t new. According to McKinsey & Company, annual employee turnover among frontline retail workers has been at least 60 percent for a long time. But record inflation…

The question of employee engagement has never been more pressing. Coming out of the pandemic, there has been a shift in employee expectations about both pay and working conditions. With potential economic headwinds — e.g., debt becoming more expensive because of Federal Reserve policy — it’s becoming more important to maintain stability wherever possible, and no…

The Home Depot on Tuesday said it will spend an additional $1 billion to give its hourly employees a raise, as retailers and restaurants compete for workers, reports CNBC. The home improvement retailer announced the wage investment as it reported fourth-quarter earnings. It didn't disclose the new average wage for employees, but said every market’s starting wage is…

Amazon.com is instructing corporate staffers to spend at least three days a week in the office, CEO Andy Jassy wrote in a memo last week. The decision marks a shift from Amazon’s previous policy, which left it up to individual managers to decide how often their employees would be required to work in the office. Jassy said he and…

After the past few difficult years it seemed the tough times might be coming to an end, yet I believe too many are beginning 2023 with more trepidation than hope. They have fears of a recession and see headlines filled with news of various organizations laying people off. While there are businesses that are struggling…

The “quit rate” in retail and hospitality now outpaces the national rate by 70 percent. With that in mind, it’s no surprise that hiring seasonal employees is a challenge retailers face every year. After the holidays pass, retailers are also tasked with the challenge of not only understanding how to improve internal processes, but also…

The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally changed the expectations of frontline retail workers, and they’re more willing than ever to leave companies that are still clinging to outdated corporate cultures. Consulting firm Korn Ferry recently surveyed more than 100 major retailers in the U.S. and found that turnover in the industry, long notoriously high, was up significantly…