Holidays ramp up need for Minot-area workers
Holiday season ramps up need for workers
From job fairs to online job boards and help-wanted signs, area employers are using a variety of avenues to try to connect with job seekers. A worker shortage that worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic is hitting retail and transportation employers particularly hard during the holiday season when the need for help picks up.
The package delivery companies have had recruiting fliers out for some time, said Susan Ogurek, center manager in Minot for Job Service North Dakota.
UPS began advertising in October for dozens of positions, she said. The company was offering bonuses for new hires and retention gifts and prizes while paying salaries ranging from $17 for inside package handlers to $21 an hour for seasonal drivers, plus mileage for those willing to drive their own vehicles.
More companies are offering bonuses to attract full-time, permanent employees, said Ogurek.
“They are, obviously, still needing people. They are not having all the jobs filled. It’s a tough environment right now,” she said. “We are certainly seeing employers increase their wages to try to attract people.”
Connor Koerbitz, owner of Jax & Henley in Dakota Square Mall, said a key factor in his company’s recruitment has been creating a team environment and a culture that people want to be part of.
“Being a smaller business, we are really able to offer flexibility. We’ve found that’s been really important to everyone on our team. One of the things that I think is important is never missing out on any part of a family event,” he said. “Also, because we’re smaller, letting everyone have a voice and an opinion on products that we bring in and how the store is laid out.”
Holiday hiring has been more of a focus this year because at the end of November Jax & Henley opened a second store at Dakota Square, which creates a need for more employees. In addition to a women’s store, Jax & Henley now has a men’s store at Dakota Square.
“We added four people to our team this year,” Koerbitz asid. “We’re still hiring and looking for more people as well. But we’re just finding ways to get creative in our scheduling to make sure that we can be open and there to serve our guests.”
Koerbitz said word of mouth and use of an online jobs platform have helped find employees who are the right fit for the stores. The stores have found quality employees even though the number of job applications that once might have been 20 or 30 has dropped to typically three or four, he said.
Denise Lindbo, owner of Gourmet Chef, said holiday shifts at her store generally can be covered by existing employees who take on extra hours. Due to some employee turnover, it has been necessary this year to hire a few new people over the past six months, she said. Gourmet Chef entered the holidays with a less seasoned but full roster of employees.
Lindbo said the store delayed extending its business hours for the holidays because of the need to get newer employees more comfortable in their jobs.
“We’ve got a pretty good crew right now,” she said. “It’s been pretty good.”
The seven-county area that makes up the Minot Job Service region had 1,483 listed job openings in November. That is not an exhaustive list because not all employers post through Job Service.
The November jobs report showed 174 open positions in retail in the Minot region, down slightly from October and also down from a year ago. It was the second highest number of classified job openings after the health care and social assistance industry.
Transportation and warehousing job openings totaled 100 in November, up from 66 in October and 35 a year ago.
The U.S. Postal Service reported its performance metrics appeared solid heading into the holidays, and its network was in position to handle the anticipated surge in volume in December.
The conversion of 63,000 pre-career employees into career positions and the onboarding of more than 185,000 employees is expected to carry USPS through the holidays. The hiring included backfilling the pre-career positions and a campaign to bring on 40,000 seasonal employees. Also, the installation of high-speed package processing equipment in 112 locations is expected to boost daily processing capacity by 4.5 million packages. More than 100 additional leased locations around the country are providing more space to accommodate mail and packages.
The Postal Service forecasts more than 12 billion packages, letters and cards will be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.
The need for employees comes as the Minot region’s overall workforce has dropped from 31,866 employees in 2019 to 31,202 in 2021.
Ogurek said the workforce losses attributed to COVID-19 include workers who chose to take early retirements, dual-income families becoming single-income and more people becoming self employed. North Dakota registered about 1,200 new businesses during the pandemic, a degree of rise not typically seen in other states, she said.
Retail businesses also may have seen workforce losses due to employees receiving job training that enabled them to move on to other positions, she added.