Dec. 23, 2022 "Hiring for holiday season 'chaotic' as applicants ghost retailers in tight labour market": Today I found this article by Bianca Bharti on the Financial Post:
Hiring retail sales associates for this year’s holiday shopping season hasn’t been easy for Ana Gamboa. In fact, the associate manager at a Montreal store describes it in one word — “chaotic.”
“One day I had six interviews. Nobody came,” said Gamboa, who helps run the downtown Toronto location of Hatley Little Blue House Inc., a Montreal-based retailer that primarily sells kids’ clothing and matching family pyjama sets.
“(The candidates) set up a time, they set up a date, they knew where the location is, and they just don’t show up. We don’t get any responses from them.”
Faced with a holiday hiring environment that’s very different from before the pandemic, and after having had a similar experience last year, Gamboa rolled out job postings a full month earlier than in years’ past, hoping to get a bite. But even that didn’t work the way she expected, and she was still trying to hire into December.
She’s not the only one who’s been forced to try new hiring tactics, as sticking to the traditional playbook could mean facing the busiest shopping season of the year without adequate staff.
A tight labour market that’s left thousands of positions unfilled across the retail sector has companies bringing on recruiters, hiking wages or even turning to virtual interviews for in-store positions.
Retail labour shortage
The retail sector has been particularly hard hit by labour shortages in the aftermath of the pandemic.
In October, there were nearly 115,000 open retail jobs, Statistics Canada said, up 38 per cent from the same time in 2019.
Meanwhile, retail sales continued to grow, while payroll employment has stayed relatively level. “Job vacancies in the sector have remained elevated, reflecting the recruitment and retention challenges facing many employers,” Statistics Canada reported in its most recent labour force survey.
Gamboa points to pandemic lockdowns for her hiring troubles today.
She thinks they prompted experienced workers to flee the industry, after becoming fed up with off-again, on-again closures that brought a new level of uncertainty to an already precarious industry.
The result has been a dearth in the applicant pool. Gamboa said she now sees more high-schoolers and post-secondary students who’ve never worked in a boutique submitting resumes, which are often loaded with volunteer experience rather than paid work.
That lack of qualified applicants has made the hiring process much slower.
Pre-pandemic, Gamboa would be able to hire five additional people to handle the holiday rush by the middle of October.
This year, even though the company posted seasonal positions on job boards by the end of September, Gamboa brought on her last hire by Dec. 10.
Lately, there’s also a risk those new hires won’t show up on their first day of work.
One recruit accepted a job offer after a successful interview, Gamboa said.
But after managers prepared training materials and a sign-in code for the Sunday the new hire was supposed to start, they were left with an unstaffed shift. “She just didn’t show up. They tried messaging her, emailing her — (they got) nothing,” Gamboa said.
Recruiters get creative
To find qualified managers for empty roles, Hatley even hired a dedicated recruiter this year, something that wasn’t deemed a necessity until now. The recruiter also helped hire two associates for the downtown Toronto location over a Zoom call.
Other, bigger retailers also turned to virtual interviews this season. Chris Taylor, chief human resources officer for Best Buy Co. Inc.’s Canadian unit, said hiring managers at stores “fast track” the process, conducting more virtual interviews and offering jobs the same day.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for (candidates) to decide on where they’re going for seasonal retail or hospitality, frankly,” Taylor said.
It’s no longer the same as even just five years ago, where candidates would face multiple interviews and come in another day to meet managers for a culture fit check.
“The applicant process
as well as the interview process
and the offer process,
we’re moving through that in the very same week,” he said.
Indigo Books & Music Inc. is also using technology to fast-track its recruitment process. This year, it began posting QR codes on hiring signs throughout the store to simplify the application process.
When scanned, the codes show applicants vacant roles and allow them to upload their information.
There’s also an AI tracking system attached to match people with potential jobs, said Agatha De Santis, vice-president of talent for the bookstore.
Some retailers are also turning to wage hikes to get more people on board.
Best Buy has raised wages in stores in some of the tougher job markets, Taylor said.
In Quebec City, sales associates “make in the neighbourhood” of $1 to $1.50 more per hour than the typical starting rate. The electronics retailer also bumped up the hourly wages in distribution centres in Ontario and B.C. from $15.50 to $18.50.
“In some markets, we’ve needed to be a bit more reactive,” he said.
Best Buy also tells managers to keep a look out for workers at other retailers, and gives them the power to make job offers on the spot if they feel they received excellent customer service.
For Gamboa, this year’s recruitment challenges have proven that she and her team will need to continue tweaking their seasonal hiring strategy to weather the holiday shopping crunch.
“Your biggest worry is you don’t want to be burn out for those two months having to deal with the amount of customers we have to deal with,” she said. “It’s nice to have a lot of people on hand that are reliable.”
• Email: bbharti@postmedia.com | Twitter: biancabharti
Hiring this holiday season has been 'chaotic' for retailers | Financial Post
It’s funny. So many people including the Governor of the BoC are mystified by this. Well in case you forgot the Liberals replaced CERB with a permanent version of EI that is too generous and requires virtually no effort to qualify for. So when faced with the decision to work or live on the dole, Canadians that now are mostly characterized as lazy and unambitious, with a feeling of entitlement, the choice is easy, why work. Why does this mystify so called experts.
Were it people sitting on their rears collecting EI/CERB/CRB/whatever, then you'd expect labour participation to go *down*. Statistically, it has not - a larger proportion of people are working than before the pandemic There are fewer in absolute terms, but that's because Canada, in general, does not have a lot of 20 year old's. .
What *has* happened? A bunch of 60 ear old's retired, and everyone else has moved up a step or tow on the food chain. The arts major/barista finally got a real job. On top of this, for every two people retiring, only one youth is entering the workforce - that ratio has only developed since the pandemic though we knew it was coming.
TLDR, if you *must* blame a government benefit, blame OAS.
- December 28, 2022
"Empty"? Lol. The parking lot traffic jam at the local outlet mall spilled onto nearby streets on Monday.
I'm tempted to believe the people that actually have the underlying data, which may or may not be politically convenient to our closely held beliefs.
By the way, the government does not want consumer spending to increase. The whole point of the rate hikes is to discourage that as the excess demand is a primary driver if inflation. Even the FP (an example of that famously liberal media) has a few articles on the home page pointing out why this is such a stubborn problem.
If you're a parent of young kids, chances are you've already purchased matching family Christmas pyjamas.
Stores typically start carrying them in October if not sooner, after all, and if you want the correct sizes (or close enough) and one of your top three choices of prints, you have to move fast. And that's just the pyjamas.
Christmas decor? Your local dollar store has probably had it on display beside the Halloween candy since the leaves started turning.
Christmas inflatables? Costco has had them on display for months, so if you've entered the store with a child in that time, good luck to you — your yard is already Bluey's Family Christmas. But at least you can take in the sight while sipping your favourite Starbucks holiday drink, ready to fill the PSL-sized hole in your wallet since Nov. 7.
If it seems like the Christmas shopping season starts earlier every year, you're not wrong.
In response to growing customer demand, stores of all stripes have brought out their festive collections weeks before the unofficial Nov. 1 start of the holiday shopping season
— and well in advance of the other unofficial "only after Remembrance Day" cut-off.
In the United States, a shorter holiday season — with only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas — has forced retailers, including Walmart, Target and Amazon, as well as China's Shein and Temu, to introduce early deals.
With Black Friday falling five days later than in previous years, the retail competition is steep, notes Deloitte Canada.
"There's more time before Black Friday than after, creating a unique dynamic," Eric Morris, managing director of Google's retail practice in Canada, told Canadian retail news site Retail Insider on Monday.
He added that this means a lengthier research phase for shoppers, giving retailers more time to engage.
In Canada, consumers plan to do most of their shopping between Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, according to PwC's 2024 Canadian Holiday Outlook.
They also plan to spend eight per cent more than last year, according to the Retail Council of Canada's 2024 holiday shopping survey.
"Advertisers are starting their holiday campaigns earlier — a strategy known as 'Christmas Creep' — to combat holiday fatigue and reach consumers before the main season," writes media and streaming industry analysis organization MNTN Research.
"Hearing the echoes of Mariah Carey's iconic holiday song on the wind? You're not alone: advertisers are ramping up their holiday and Q4 efforts earlier than ever."
Speaking of which, Carey herself declared "it's time" on Nov. 1 as she posted her annual introduction to her Christmas anthem, All I Want For Christmas Is You — this year in partnership with Kay Jewelers, which launched "Mariah Carey's Holiday Gift Picks."
Holiday merch out early
The top holiday toy lists are typically released early. Walmart released its annual holiday top toys list on Sept. 9, Amazon's came out Oct. 2 and Toys "R" Us Canada's was launched on Oct. 3 — all similar dates to the previous year.
But MNTN Research notes there were almost double the number of holiday advertising campaigns in September this year compared with last, and says that 40 per cent of consumers started their holiday shopping that month.
Holiday merchandise traditionally has started showing up in stores in mid-October,
and holiday offerings ramp up starting in mid-November.
But the big push this year is expected to be in early November, according to Stephen Yalof, president and CEO of Tanger, a leading operator of upscale, outdoor shopping centres across 20 U.S. states and Canada.
Members of Bath and Body Works' loyalty program could peruse a holiday preview collection of candles in scents like "Winter Candy Apple" and "Bright Christmas Morning" starting Sept. 24. Last year, customers in the rewards program didn't get access to those products until Oct. 3, and the holiday-themed merchandise didn't launch in stores until Oct. 9.
Influencers have joined in on social media, posting videos (often set to Mariah Carey) of tearing down their Halloween decor and replacing it with Christmas decor on Nov. 1.
"My pumpkin!" jokingly screams the daughter of influencer Jane Williamson, a.k.a. "Utah Mom," as Williamson punts the jack-o'-lantern down the street, rips off her Halloween costume to reveal a festive sweater and says, "Chickenleigh, it's Christmas" before sprinting to Walmart to stock up on supplies.
"It's been an ongoing retail movement over the last few years of bringing sales forward, it's 'holiday creep,' or 'Black October' — whatever you want to call it," Adam Davis, managing director of Wells Fargo retail finance, told CBS MoneyWatch in October.
"Retailers are trying to maximize sales by elongating the season to get as much share of wallet as possible."
'A cultural signal'
But Forbes has a different take, calling "Christmas creep" a reflection of our modern culture and "collective desire for traditions and comfort in times that can feel uncertain."
"While some may view the early onset of Christmas as a sign of commercial overreach, it's ultimately a cultural signal.
We are creatures who seek connection and celebration, and Christmas — no matter when it starts — is the ultimate expression of that need," the publication noted last week.
Others on social media have expressed a similar sentiment. Of the roughly 50,000 TikTok videos that use the hashtag #November1st, most are about the user's joy of setting up for the holidays.
"They say those who put up their Christmas decor early are 100 per cent happier than those who don't," writes one user in a video of her fully decorated house on Oct. 31.
"I have been called a nutcase a few times for putting up my tree so early. Any more nutcases like me out there who are full embracing the cosy season? It makes us happy, OK?" wrote another person on Nov. 10.
"Decorating brings joy and reduces stress. They're just decorating earlier because it's freaking stressful right now," Balsam Hill CEO Mac Harman told The Associated Press, citing war in the Mideast, hurricanes and political division, among other crises. "There's just so much going on."
But Suzanne Rath, an assistant professor of business at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, recently told CBC Radio's Island Morning that even though it's beneficial for brands, she finds the holiday creep stressful and annoying. And so could some consumers.
"There might be some part of the population who might have some sort of visceral negative response," Rath said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/christmas-season-creep-retailers-1.7380354
Stop being sheep, tune out the advertisement and take personal responsibility of what you think you need to buy. Own it.
