Workforce Management

By John Orr, [email protected]

Passive-aggressive, unengaged employees just aren’t that into your customers. Worse, they might be taking it out on customers, whose experience sends them to competitors. Contrast that with the upside of having an engaged staff happy at their jobs and going out of their way to treat customers well.

SEATTLE — As Amazon prepares one of its distribution warehouses for a visit from President Barack Obama, and the economy continues on its path toward recovery, the Internet retailer has announced plans to create more than 5,000 new full-time jobs in its U.S. fulfillment network to meet growing customer demand. 

Seattle -- Amazon said it will hire more than 5,000 full-time workers in its U.S. fulfillment centers and 2,000 customer service staff, including part-time and seasonal employees, to meet growing customer demand.

The company said it will immediately begin hiring at 17 fulfillment centers for tasks that include picking items from warehouse shelves, packing them for delivery and operating new technology installed to streamline operations.

By Lee Peterson, wdpartners.com

Across-the-board payroll cuts have rarely delivered margins long-term for retailers. Crude cuts are more than misguided today, but a dangerous strategy for stores in the fight for survival against Amazon.

Greenwood Village, Colo. -- Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has named Cathy Cooney as senior VP and chief people officer of the burger chain. Cooney will be responsible for leading the development and execution of human resource strategies.

Before joining Red Robin, Cooney served as executive VP of human resources for Carefusion, a $4 billion medical technology company.

NEW YORK — Walmart is ditching plans to build three stores in Washington, D.C., after the city council passed a bill on late Wednesday setting a higher minimum wage for large retailers.

“This was a difficult decision for us — and unfortunate news for most D.C. residents — but the council has forced our hand,” said Wal-Mart spokesman Steven Restivo in a statement released after vote, which passed 8 to 5.

Pittsburgh -- Dick’s Sporting Goods is opening a new store at the Chico Mall in Chico, Calif. on July 12. The Chico location will be the retailer's 29th store in the state of California and its 525th nationwide. The new store will feature more than 40 in-store services performed by expert associates.

"We look forward to becoming part of the Chico community and serving all athletes by providing the equipment they need to help them excel," said Lauren Hobart, Dick’s Sporting Goods chief marketing officer.

Tapping into the data to increase conversion — and sales

The quickest, surest and most cost-effective way to increase store sales is to improve each store's conversion rate.

It's estimated that more than 50% of North American specialty retailers have installed traffic monitoring/counting systems in some or all of their stores. But many retailers have failed to take advantage of the fact that the data these increasingly sophisticated devices generate can help them improve performance and capitalize on sales.