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ISE Magazine – Volume 48, Number 12

Distribution centers and logistics companies seek more workers

Holiday predictions reveal that major retailers expect the e-commerce aspect of logistics and supply chain issues to continue growing. Macy’s and Target are bumping up their holiday-season hiring for e-commerce warehouses. Macy’s expects to hire 15,000 temporary workers in distribution centers instead of the 12,000 last year. This could make workforce management more difficult; distribution center jobs usually are in remote areas and thus are harder to fill.

But overall hiring expectations have barely changed from last year: Macy’s plans to hire 83,000 employees, Target is seeking 70,000 store workers and another 7,500 people in its e-commerce warehouses, and Kohl’s expects another 69,000 seasonal staffers. That’s despite the fact that forecasters think 2016 will beat 2015, with estimates of sales increases ranging from 3.3 percent to 4 percent.

Logistics companies are answering the call, though. The U.S. Postal Service plans to hire 35,000 to 40,000 seasonal workers, FedEx 50,000 and UPS 95,000, according to the MHI trade association.