As the holiday season approaches, 44% of managers in retail, hospitality and food service say they’re planning to hire more seasonal workers this year, according to an Oct. 3 report from Axonify.
Front-line managers said they’re hiring more workers because they need additional support and their current staff lacks specific skills for seasonal demand.
“Retailers, hospitality and food service companies are gearing up for what is expected to be one of the busiest holiday seasons to date, and they’re feeling the pressure to ensure frontline teams are set up for success by adding the right talent and providing proper training,” Carol Leaman, CEO and co-founder at Axonify, said in a statement. “With another expected increase in seasonal hiring this year, these industries continue to be challenged when it comes to attracting qualified workers to ensure a smooth holiday shopping season.”
In a survey of 450 U.S. front-line managers in the aforementioned industries, 61% said the quality of applicants is worse this year in numerous areas, including skill sets, professionalism and job-related experience.
Managers said they plan to use several recruitment tactics, such as promoting a safe and secure work environment (77%), providing more training and upskilling initiatives for new employees (53%) and offering higher salaries this year for the same positions posted last year (49%).
With the responsibility of seasonal recruitment and training, front-line managers also said they’re facing increased burnout. Nearly two-thirds said they struggle with overwhelm leading up to peak work seasons, such as the holidays.
Upskilling, reskilling and de-escalation tactics are priority focus areas for training this year, the report found. About 43% of front-line managers said they’re most focused on upskilling and reskilling seasonal workers, and 29% said they’re focused on customer de-escalation training to manage conflict and disagreements.
Even as many employee engagement markers rebound, manager well-being is still “dangerously low,” according to a Perceptyx report. Managers said they feel stressed by being squeezed between the needs of their direct reports and the demands from their senior leaders.
At the same time, managers play a key role in addressing front-line turnover and skill gaps, according to a Dayforce report. Managers can help executive leaders to gain insights about ways to improve efficiencies, trust and loyalty in the workplace.
For the 2024 holiday season, Deloitte is projecting growth of 2.3% to 3.3% year over year. In particular, e-commerce is expected to make up a large part of the growth, with online sales predicted to grow 7% to 9%, requiring retailers to hire extra fulfillment center workers to prepare for demand.