Personnel

J.C. Penney on Friday said it's cut its $5 billion pension obligation by more than 25 percent completing a lump-sum offer to 12,000 retirees and buying annuities for 43,000 retirees. No changes were made to pension plan benefits to active employees. Penney closed the plan to new hires in 2007. Most large U.S. companies only offer…

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to lay off hundreds of people at its headquarters in Arkansas as part of the retail giant's efforts to pare costs, people familiar with the matter said. Fewer than 500 employees are expected to lose their jobs and an announcement could be made as early as this Friday, according to one…

Starbucks has launched a loan program to help its U.K. staff put down a deposit on a rental property. Workers who have been at Starbucks for at least one year can apply for an interest-free loan equivalent to one month's wages to use as a deposit on a house, the coffee giant's U.K. branch announced on…

Groupon, once believed by many to be a catalyst for Chicago’s technology scene, evokes more concern than awe from some observers these days. It announced 1,100 layoffs Tuesday as it pulls back its global footprint. The flagging e-commerce company pioneered a daily-deals business in 2008, but is distancing itself from that model in favor of building…

Chicago employees of posh department store Barneys New York are seeking to unionize, with a chief concern being a company policy that requires sales associates to push the store credit card or face disciplinary action. About 70 percent of the company's 75 Chicago sales associates and shipping and distribution workers have signed cards indicating they wish…

Macy’s plans to hire slightly fewer temporary workers for the 2015 holiday season, news that comes a few weeks after the retailer lowered its full year sales forecast because of a poor start to the year. The department store chain said on Monday it would hire for about 85,000 positions at its namesake Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s…

Toys"R"Us says it won't hire as many holiday season employees as it did last year, but the toy and baby products retailer says it will give current employees and seasonal workers a chance to work more hours. The company said it plans to hire 40,000 people to work at its stores and distribution centers around the…

After falling short of expectations last year, a widely watched holiday forecast predicts that retail hiring will remain flat during the final three months of the year. Despite a strengthening U.S. economy, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas on Tuesday said that it expects retailers to once again add roughly 755,000 seasonal hires to their payrolls.

Wal-Mart, in the midst of spending $1 billion to raise employees’ wages and give them extra training, has been cutting the number of hours some of them work in a bid to keep costs in check. Regional executives told store managers at the retailer’s annual holiday planning meeting last month to rein in expenses by cutting…

Facing increasing pressure to curb erratic scheduling practices, Gap announced that it would stop requiring employees to make themselves available for last-minute shifts. The move makes Gap the latest retailer to move away from “on-call scheduling,” which regulators, workers’ rights groups and some academics say is detrimental to employees and their families.