Macy's Is Stocking Up On Associates This Holiday Season

By Sam Lewis

Famed retailer to fill 83,000 seasonal positions

Several retailers have announced plans for seasonal hiring this holiday season. Walmart is expecting to fill 55,000 jobs, up from 50,000 last year. Kohl’s also plans on boosting its number of seasonal employees by bringing in 53,000 seasonal workers in November and December, a slight increase from 2012’s total. Macy’s has also increased its payroll budget this holiday shopping season, with the announcement of plans to hire 83,000 seasonal workers.

Macy’s new hires will fill positions at its namesake stores along with Bloomingdale’s locations. Help will be needed in both brands’ call centers, distribution centers, and online fulfillment centers. “Our goal is to be well-staffed to welcome and serve customers throughout the busy holiday season, whether they are shopping or buying in stores, online or via mobile devices,” says Macy’s Terry Lundgren in a press release.

The Cincinnati-based company employs more than 175,000 year-round employees across its nearly 840 stores. These employees are given the opportunity to work additional hours through the holiday season prior to bringing on seasonal hires. Despite many workers wanting the chance to make additional holiday cash, Macy’s will still need more bodies.

The famed retailer has been making improvements to its omni-channel presence,  turning 500 of its stores into online order fulfillment locations. Online holiday shopping is expected to bring 300 to 400 orders to be filled each day by each Macy’s fulfillment store in addition to existing distribution centers. Add that figure to dramatic increases to in-store traffic and spending, it’s no wonder why Macy’s plans to hire so many temps, totaling 3,000 more than 2012’s holiday season. Of the 83,000 new hires, 6,600 will be placed in existing distribution centers, and an additional 1,200 will aid individual stores’ efforts of fulfilling online orders.

Learn how retailers are managing their workforce this holiday season

Even though many retailers are beefing up their staff in preparation for the holidays, current estimates track holiday hiring to be down from last year. Current statistics show seasonal help to be at around 700,000 employees industry wide, down from last year’s industry wide total of nearly 752,000, according to employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas. With early forecasts predicting “cautious optimism,” it’s hard to say at this point if retailers’ downward seasonal hiring trend is in expectation of lowered sales or an exercise in expanding profit margins. Here’s to hoping sales push retailers to hire even more workers, and possibly hire them beyond the holiday season.