On Trend Hiring: Research Reveals How Retailers Can Attract In-Demand Talent This Holiday Season

- Retail workers crave flexibility and better benefits, according to research by ManpowerGroup Solutions and Retail Industry Leaders Association

- Sales representatives among top five hardest-to-fill roles in the U.S.

- Employer brand is a top criteria when making career decisions according to one in five retail workers

News provided by

ManpowerGroup

Oct 29, 2018, 16:11 ET

MILWAUKEE, Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- As the holiday season fast approaches, employers in the retail sector need to work even harder to attract workers to meet growing consumer demand. In online retail or in-store, U.S. retail candidates value flexibility and place greater emphasis on brand reputation when choosing where to work, according to a new report from ManpowerGroup Solutions (NYSE: MAN) and the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the trade association for America's retailers.

"Retail jobseekers are looking to fit a job into their lives and not their lives into their job," said Melissa Hassett, Vice President of Client Delivery at ManpowerGroup Solutions. "Sales representatives are in the top five hardest roles to fill in the U.S. That means that in this competitive labor market, employers should understand that candidates are consumers too and need to work hard to attract people using a strong employee value proposition. What's bringing retail workers into the role is the need for flexibility, an attractive benefits package and opportunities to upskill and earn more."

The report, What Retail Employers Need to Know about Candidate Preferences, provides retail insights and practical tips on how to attract and retain workers. ManpowerGroup Solutions surveyed nearly 2,500 retail workers across the U.S. to understand how they want to work. Benefits from healthcare to travel subsidies, childcare or gym memberships matter more for retail workers - more than half (52%) say benefits are a top factor when making career decisions, up 5% from the last year. Ninety-two percent of retail workers rank employer-employee trust as the number one factor in deciding where to work, versus 83% across all industries.

"As one of the nation's largest employers providing careers and opportunities to over 42 million Americans, the retail industry must continue to adopt hiring practices that offer employees the benefits and flexibility they crave," said Evan Armstrong, Vice President of Government Affairs at Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA). "Whether it's Starbucks offering hourly workers paid-time off to care for sick family members to Amazon offering full tuition reimbursement, we see employers turning to new strategies to recruit, retain and develop a workforce in an omnichannel marketplace. We are pleased to partner with ManpowerGroup Solutions to help the industry cultivate a workforce in a tech-forward industry by prioritizing the preferences of job-seekers."

To learn more about ManpowerGroup Solutions' candidate preferences research and practical strategies to close the retail talent gap, download What Retail Employers Need to Know about Candidate Preferences, visit https://www.manpowergroup.us/campaigns/manpowergroup-solutions/retail/.

About ManpowerGroup Solutions

ManpowerGroup Solutions provides clients with outsourcing services related to human resources functions, primarily in the areas of large-scale recruiting and workforce-intensive initiatives that are outcome-based, thereby sharing in the risk and reward with our clients. Our solutions offerings include TAPFIN-Managed Service Provider, Strategic Workforce Consulting, Borderless Talent Solutions, Talent Based Outsourcing and Recruitment Process Outsourcing, where we are one of the largest providers of permanent and contingent recruitment in the world. ManpowerGroup Solutions is part of the ManpowerGroup family of companies, which also includes Manpower, Experis, and Right Management. More information at www.manpowergroupsolutions.com.

About ManpowerGroup

ManpowerGroup® (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizations transform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing and managing the talent that enables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year, providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people across a wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands – Manpower®, Experis®, Right Management® and ManpowerGroup® Solutions – creates substantially more value for candidates and clients across 80 countries and territories and has done so for 70 years. In 2018, ManpowerGroup was named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies for the ninth year and one of Fortune's Most Admired Companies for the sixteenth year, confirming our position as the most trusted and admired brand in the industry. See how ManpowerGroup is powering the future of work: www.manpowergroup.com

About RILA

The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) is the trade association for the world's largest and most innovative retail companies. RILA members include more than 200 retailers, product manufacturers, and service suppliers, which together account for more than $1.5 trillion in annual sales, millions of American jobs, and more than 100,000 stores, manufacturing facilities, and distribution centers domestically and abroad.

SOURCE ManpowerGroup