WINNING THE RETAIL TALENT WAR: Record-low unemployment is good news for workers but is causing headaches for employers.

• Position: RETAIL

Walk into any retailer, and you'll likely see a sign on the front door that reads, "We're Hiring." Throughout the COVID pandemic, retail workers have been departing the industry in droves--searching for better opportunities and higher wages, leaving business owners and managers scrambling to hire replacements.

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, some 722,000 retail workers gave notice across the United States during December. That's a sharp increase compared to the 549,000 workers who quit during the same month the year prior. It also happens to be one of the highest totals on record.

Economists say this trend appears most prevalent amongst workers living in states in the West--including here in Utah--which saw some of the most significant upticks in employees quitting across the job market.

For example, in the most recent data broken down by state, 55,000 Utah workers across all sectors quit their jobs in November--an increase from 48,000 workers during October. Though not the pinnacle of this trend, Q1 of 2022 posted similar numbers with 1.8 available jobs for every American job seeker. Economists fear that those numbers will stand pat, especially amongst retail workers who have cited everything from burnout to low pay to better opportunities elsewhere as some of the critical reasons they left.

To help lessen the loss of talent, retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Target, and Walmart are heeding the call by raising the hourly wages of their employees, a move that is particularly critical now that the $ 15 minimum wage portion of President Joe Biden's COVID relief bill was repelled by Congress. The minimum wage in Utah has stayed at $7.25, which amounts to a little more than $15,000 per year for full-time employees--not precisely a livable wage, especially in a state where the cost of living and inflation continues to increase alongside rents and mortgages.

"Retailers are faced with providing higher pay and other benefits to employees considering joining the retail team," says Anjee Solanki, US Director of Retail Services at Colliers. "[This includes things like] better company discounts, signing bonuses or providing employees with the opportunity to select working hours on a specific day within a month."

But is that enough to stop the hemorrhaging of talent and keep current and potential employees satisfied? What more can employers do to help retain workers and ensure they don't continue to leave for greener pastures?

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