RETAILING More seasonal workers to be hired for holidays

'Retailers are taking no chances on losing business to better-staffed competitors.
THE BALTIMORE SUN
Despite worries over consumer spending during the holidays, retailers are hanging out help-wanted signs or posting jobs on the Internet in hopes of hiring as many or slightly more seasonal store workers than last year.
Retailers are expected to add 400,000 to 500,000 temporary jobs this holiday season -- about 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent more than during nonholiday months, the National Retail Federation projects.
Last year, 23.9 million people worked in retail in November and December, or 1.63 percent more than each of the first 10 months of the year, the NRF said.
That was the smallest jump in holiday hiring in a decade in which increases ranged from 1.93 percent in 1991 to 4 percent in 1994, the NRF said.
Retailers hired fewer workers than usual for the 2001 holiday season after terrorist attacks prompted forecasters to lower sales expectations.
This year, even with consumer confidence at a nine-year low, retailers are taking no chances on losing business to better-staffed competitors and won't likely skimp on the number of workers, experts say.
"Retailers know it's always busy, and the last thing they want to do is disappoint customers or not serve them because they don't have enough on staff," said Ellen Tolley, an NRF spokeswoman.
"Most retailers, from small gift card shops to huge discount or department stores, are looking to add on for the holiday season."
The Discovery Channel Store plans to staff its 167 stores at two to three times the normal levels, said Pamela Rucker, a spokeswoman.
The usual 10 employees per store would grow to 25 or 30, she said, slightly more than in previous years. The retailer will also increase the hours of current sales people.
How one store does it
Mike Zuber, the general manager of a Discovery Channel Store in Baltimore, said he typically looks to fill positions with former summer workers who are familiar with the retail chain.
"It hasn't been very difficult for us to find people; there are a lot of good quality people," said Zuber, who said he has gotten about the same number of applications as usual.
Though the number of seasonal workers might beat last year's, it still won't approach the more robust numbers of years past. Between 1998 and 2000 retailers added an average of 739,000 workers in November and December, the NRF said.
And a survey of state retail associations shows that though retailers will bring on extra help, those numbers could be 10 percent to 15 percent lower than normal because of low expectations for sales growth.
Of about 25 retail associations surveyed by outplacement consulting firm Challenger, Gray & amp; Christmas Inc., 63 percent said holiday hiring by their members would likely be down from years past, in some cases by as much as 25 percent.
The firm noted that retail employment in October was down to 23.3 million, from 23.5 million in October 2001.
Hiring is expected to be most brisk at large department and chain stores, which will probably increase staffs by the usual 20 percent to 25 percent, the survey said. Discounters, too, are expected to need more workers.
"Consumers are far more price sensitive than in the past, so whoever has the lowest prices, those guys will get the sales," said Anthony Liuzzo, professor of business and economics at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania.
Plans at Sears
Sears, Roebuck and Co., for one, will boost its numbers of store workers by 20 percent to 25 percent, as it has for the past few years.
"There is discussion about whether people are going to shop, but there's no question there will be more intense level of activity in the stores [compared with nonholiday months], and we have to have those people for customer service," said Jan Drummond, a Sears spokeswoman. "We have to be very competitive in the market this year."
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. is trying to woo applicants by making it as easy as possible to apply -- in stores, online or through a toll-free number -- by offering special incentives such as bonuses and by paying more than last year in most markets.
Penney hires holiday help based on the need and size of each store, typically 10 percent to 15 percent more than the annual crew, but "overall, hiring levels are going to remain flat as compared to last year," said Stephanie Brown, a spokeswoman.
This year, though, the chain plans to hire more people to replenish stock and work cash registers than to staff departments. The new focus is part of a shift to a centralized checkout system.
On the flip side of a weakened economy, retailers are having a somewhat easier time finding qualified workers.
They're drawing from a pool that includes the usual students seeking part-time work as well as an increasing number of workers with office jobs looking for extra spending money.