Staffing Up for the 2016 Holidays with the Lowest US Unemployment Rate in 10 years

gift-box-498595_640In the months of November and December, perhaps the biggest users of temporary labor are retailers, logistics and shipping companies. To meet the extra consumer demand driven by holiday shopping, they rely on temporary workers to fill a variety of roles in their stores, warehouses or even on delivery vehicles. This year is no exception, as the National Retail Federation predicts U.S. retailers will bring on nearly 700,000 temporary workers this holiday season.

With unemployment rates between 7-10% for much of the last decade, there’s been no shortage of workers to fill these temporary roles during the holiday season. This year is a bit different, as the unemployment rate is under five percent (4.9%) for the first time since early 2008. In addition, the gig economy didn’t exist a decade ago. Now over one million people are choosing flexible work to make extra money by turning on their smart phone, tapping a mobile app, and driving passengers, food or packages in their cars. While a low unemployment rate and access to flexible work is great for the working population, it means fewer people are available to take on that seasonal retail and e-commerce work.

What does this mean for retailers, logistics and shipping companies trying to staff up for the holiday season? It’s important to understand the needs and choices of today’s workforce.

They don’t actually want a job. Today’s workforce has fully embraced the gig economy and are looking for shifts, not jobs. Many of the seasonal workers you’ll see in stores and warehouses this winter aren’t simply out of work, hoping for their temp gig to turn into full-time employment. In fact, most already have a primary “occupation.” They’re students, caregivers, part-time workers, moms … but have the capacity to pick up shifts where they fit with their schedule. Many are working 30 hours at one company but would be happy to work additional hours. Taking part in the gig economy provides an opportunity earn money quickly without committing to long-term employment, and holiday shifts are a great example of this.

They aren’t looking for you. A sign in the window and a press release isn’t enough to fill all your open seasonal shifts effectively. Gig workers are connecting in sophisticated ways with their employers of choice, often using technology platforms to match them to available shifts. If retailers want access to a high-quality, targeted labor force, they need to connect with staffing providers that have those relationships. The bonus? They’re already vetted, skills-assessed and background-checked, taking the burden off your already busy HR team

They can pitch in quickly. Workers that are shift-based tend to have an easier time assimilating into a day’s work than a typical temporary worker who holds the same 40-hour-a-week job for weeks or months at a time. They are customer service driven, task-oriented, and understand the importance of being a productive part of a team. Because they’ve worked for many different companies, they come armed with a breadth of experience and aren’t intimidated by something new or different.

Contingent labor is changing. For some companies, they most often take the form of longer-term consultants and contractors. For others, on-demand workers are making their way into the mix. Today’s low unemployment rate means that retailers will need to expand their search for labor this Christmas season, and on-demand workers just might be the perfect match.

Eddie Lou
Eddie Lou is co-founder and executive chairman of Shiftgig, a workforce technology company focused on empowering people to find local employment opportunities in a flexible manner and enabling leading staffing agencies retain, optimize, and redeploy their workforce.


Share This Post

Tweet

Recent Articles

21 Responses to “Staffing Up for the 2016 Holidays with the Lowest US Unemployment Rate in 10 years”

  1. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|Here you can find 34609 additional Infos|Infos to that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  2. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Find More Informations here|There you can find 60108 more Informations|Informations on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  3. Tuzilac says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 69622 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  4. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 73358 more Informations|Informations on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ [……

  5. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 65539 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  6. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 22005 additional Informations|Informations to that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years…

  7. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More on|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you can find 66938 additional Informations|Infos on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  8. Recipes says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|Here you can find 38645 more Informations|Infos to that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  9. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|There you will find 81979 more Infos|Informations on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  10. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Infos here|Here you can find 87508 additional Infos|Informations on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  11. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Informations here|Here you will find 671 additional Informations|Informations to that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […

  12. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Informations here|Here you will find 56475 more Informations|Infos on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  13. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Read More Informations here|Here you can find 24475 additional Informations|Informations to that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/…

  14. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Informations here|There you will find 86923 additional Informations|Informations on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/…

  15. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you will find 81553 more Infos|Infos on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  16. … [Trackback]

    […] Find More here|Find More|Read More Informations here|There you will find 86500 additional Informations|Infos on that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  17. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More on|Read More|Find More Infos here|There you can find 22197 more Infos|Infos to that Topic: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  18. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  19. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More here: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  20. 123movies says:

    … [Trackback]

    […] There you will find 70196 more Infos: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

  21. … [Trackback]

    […] Read More Infos here: thestaffingstream.com/2016/11/21/staffing-up-for-the-2016-holidays-with-the-lowest-us-unemployment-rate-in-10-years/ […]

Powered by staffingindustry.com ·