The Body Shop to make history with ‘open’ hiring policy

The Body Shop never been a company that shies away from breaking with tradition, so why start now?

The company, best known for pioneering the natural-ingredient cosmetics market and making social responsibility a key part of company operations, is the first large retailer to embrace an unconventional hiring practice called “open hiring.” Starting this summer, The Body Shop will essentially hire the first person who applies for a job in it stores and meets the most basic of requirements — with no interview, background checks or drug test required.

The shift in hiring, detailed in a report by Fast Company, was first piloted by Body Shop in its North Carolina distribution center, which hires more than 200 seasonal employees, towards the end of 2019. The results, according to the article, were striking.

“Monthly turnover in the distribution center dropped by 60%,” the Fast Company article stated. “In 2018, the Body Shop’s distribution center saw turnover rates of 38% in November and 43% in December. In 2019, after they began using open hiring, that decreased to 14% in November and 16% in December. The company only had to work with one temp agency instead of three.”

To read the full Fast Company article, click here.