Human Resources

Walmart hourly employees are being rewarded for helping to improve customers’ satisfaction with the discounter’s stores.   The world's largest retailer said Wednesday it awarded more than $200 million in second quarter cash bonuses to more than 900,000 hourly workers across the United States.  

The National Retail Federation filed suit in U.S. District Court on Wednesday on behalf of the millions of employers and employees who it said will be drastically affected if the Labor Department’s changes to the federal overtime rules go into effect on Dec. 1.   Retailers have argued that the new rule will force employers to reduce hours and base pay in order to make up for increased payroll costs.  

While most of the industry is focused on the upcoming holiday season, Party City has bigger fish to fry — hiring for Halloween.   To prepare for the retailer’s make-or-break season, the chain will hire an additional 35,000 employees nationwide over the next four weeks.  

Macy’s is the latest retailer to announce it will hire roughly the same amount of holiday employees as last year.    This holiday season, the department store giant plans to hire approximately 83,000 associates for positions across its Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s stores, call centers, distribution centers and online fulfillment centers nationwide.   

The new Hamilton Crossings shopping center in Lower Macungie Township, Pennsylvania, will benefit from an innovative new traffic control system that manages signal timing based on continuously monitored traffic volumes.   The system allows traffic approaching the center from a major artery to the mall “largely unstopped” by lights, township engineer Alan Fornwalt told Allentown’s Morning Call.  

MarineMax, the nation’s largest recreational boat and yacht retailer, has promoted longtime associate Brett McGill to COO, effective October 1, 2016.   McGill has served as executive VP operations at MarineMax since October 1, 2015 after serving as VP of West operations since May 2012. He began his career with MarineMax at its formation in 1998 and served in several roles with the company in positions that included director of information services and eventually VP of information technology, service and arts, before 

Petco has named William Engen senior VP of retail market expansion, a newly created role dedicated to optimizing the company’s investments in store growth.    Engen, who joins Petco from Wingstop Restaurants, where he served as COO, will be in charge of real estate, construction, and store design. He previously served in senior operations roles at 7-Eleven and Circuit City.  

The nation’s improving job market has a down side for the retail industry, particularly as the crucial holiday season arrives.   With the U.S. employment rate declining and minimum wages rising, it’s getting more challenging and more expensive for retailers to attract the best workers, reported CNBC.