’Tis the Season for Hiring

If you're one to predict if the holidays will be successful by how many seasonal employees companies hire, than this year we're going to be seeing a lot of happy retailers.

Several companies have announced that they’re ramping up their seasonal hiring for the holidays.
 
GameStop, for example, said today that it’s planning to hire 25,000 employees across the country for the 2014 holiday season — a 47 percent increase compared to last year.

The video game and consumer electronics retailer is currently recruiting in-store game advisors and 250 consumer electronic technicians for its refurbishment operation center. It’s also recruiting warehouse staff for its two distribution centers in Grapevine, Tex. and Louisville, Ky.

Other retailers hiring more seasonal workers than last year are Wal-Mart and Kohl’s. Wal-Mart, for example, said it's planning to add 60,000 seasonal workers, up 10 percent compared to last year. Kohl's, which has fewer U.S. stores than Wal-Mart, is hiring 67,000 seasonal workers, which is 34 percent more staff than the 2013 season. Meanwhile, Target is hiring 70,000 workers, which is roughly the same amount as it hired last year.

Holiday retail stalwart Toys"R"Us announced plans this week to hire 45,000 seasonal employees at its stores and distribution centers nationwide, more than doubling the company’s workforce. These seasonal workers include sales associates, stock crew and omnichannel fulfillment teams, as well as distribution center workers and department managers. Toys"R"Us announced that it would hire the same amount of employees as last year.

In addition, parcel delivery companies are hiring more seasonal workers than they did last year — another indication that the season may be a merry one. This is a result of the growth of online shopping during the holidays.

UPS, for example, said earlier this week that it will nearly double its holiday workforce to 95,000 jobs, a 70 percent increase over last year, when a surge in late online shopping had the company scrambling. And FedEx is adding about 50,000 workers, up more than 50 percent from last year. 2014 appears to be shaping up as a record year for holiday-season package deliveries.