Staff crunch in retail, logistics as festive season nears

livemint.com:

Mumbai/New Delhi: Retailers and logistics service providers are struggling to strike a balance between hiring contract workers to maximize festive season sales and reducing costs, amid efforts to boost last-mile connectivity after two quarters of muted sales. While firms are rolling out marginal hikes for their sales teams, recruiters said they are seeking to hire contract workers at minimum wages. Therefore, getting manpower across states is becoming a challenge, they added.

“The first two quarters were challenging due to unseasonal rainfall. Consumer electronic firms are now asking for additional budget from the finance teams to hire sales workforce for the festivities," Kartik Narayan, chief executive-staffing, TeamLease Services, said. Many companies are holding back quarterly bonus payments of sales executives for September-November, planning to pay only in December, said industry insider.

As companies focus on cost control, retail stores are incentivising staff with rewards such as gold coins, travel vouchers, and cash bonus to encourage them to achieve sales targets. The festive season, running from September to December, intensifies the battle between traditional brick-and-mortar stores and online platforms as they vie for a larger share of sales via discounted offerings. However, manpower shortage has been a pressing issue, since the pandemic when offline stores were temporarily closed.

“The next couple of months, companies want to up hirings but getting manpower to move is becoming a challenge on the back of cost and inflation pressure," said Alok Kumar, president of recruitment firm Manpower India. Contract staffers will be hired at minimal wages as companies face a crunch to offer more, he added. Companies