Workforce Management

Meijer is preparing to hire thousands of new employees for its stores as the growing company prepares for the fall and holiday selling seasons, announced Janet Emerson, EVP of operations for the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer.

"Meijer is always looking for good people," Emerson said. "Our continued growth provides a great opportunity to find new team members who will help deliver on the Meijer promise of providing exceptional customer service."

As the holiday season approaches, many retailers will ramp up their staff to accommodate the increase in customers and other operational demands. However, in today’s era of widespread employment litigation, employers must be even more conscientious of the legal liabilities and practical consequences they face during this time of year.

Despite the fast-paced nature of the holiday rush, companies should still conduct their due diligence when screening new employees, whether they are long-term or seasonal.

Everyone knows that stores need extra staff during the holiday shopping rush, but there is a big difference between carefully scheduling employees when and where they are needed and simply adding bodies to a store’s headcount. San Francisco-based beauty retailer Sephora has come up with a solution: The company is expanding its use of the Ceridian Dayforce workforce management platform to adjust holiday staffing according to both historical sales data and current trends.

“We forecast the entire quarter’s sales and payroll,” explained Gino Filice, IT manager of Sephora.

Emeryville, Calif. -- Jamba Inc., operators of Jamba Juice stores, reaffirmed its commitment to accelerate its move to an asset-light model with the announcement that the company has entered into an agreement with Capgemini, a leader provider of consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. The agreement provides enhanced administrative tools, technology services, and capabilities for Jamba, and is anticipated to create workflow efficiencies while reducing costs as the brand pursues a 10%-20% reduction of overall G&A in 2015.

Salisbury, N.C. -- Delhaize America banner Food Lion has unveiled a new shopping experience for customers in 31 stores in the greater Wilmington, North Carolina, market, and has announced plans to remodel 45 stores in Greenville as part of the grocery’s "Easy, Fresh and Affordable…You Can Count on Food Lion Every Day" strategy.

Seattle – Starbucks Corp. is reportedly changing its scheduling rules to prevent employees from having to work an opening shift after a closing shift the previous evening. According to Bloomberg, Starbucks is altering its scheduling policy following a report in the New York Times about a Starbucks barista who had difficulty managing her schedule with her childcare needs.

Bentonville, Ark. -- A day after announcing a disappointing second quarter, Wal-Mart Stores has made an aggressive holiday promise to its customers: the world’s largest retailer says it will staff every cash register from the day after Thanksgiving through the days just before Christmas during peak shopping times.

Wal-Mart’s "checkout promise" is aimed at addressing lengthy waits in checkout lines.

New York -- Following Starbucks Corp.’s announcement that it would change its scheduling rules to prevent employees from having to work an opening shift after a closing shift the previous evening, some workers have expressed skepticism that the changes would be universally enforced.