Retail Sector Reforms: Flexibility as a New Personnel Strategy
Rotterdam, maandag, 9 juni 2025.
Major retail chains such as Kohl’s and Lowe’s are introducing radical changes to their personnel policies, with a clear shift towards more flexible and cost-efficient work models. The focus is moving towards part-time roles in warehouse and store operations, signalling a strategic repositioning of traditional personnel approaches. This trend indicates a fundamental transformation in the retail sector, with companies adapting to changing market conditions by making their personnel deployment more dynamic and agile. The new approach emphasises the need for adaptive work structures that can ensure both organisational efficiency and personnel flexibility.
Shift Towards Part-Time Roles
The retail sector is undergoing a significant transformation with the emergence of more flexible personnel models. Major chains like Kohl’s and Lowe’s are restructuring their personnel strategies by focusing on part-time roles in warehouse and store operations [1][2]. This strategic shift is driven by the need for cost efficiency and operational agility in a changing labour market [3].
New Recruitment Approaches
The new personnel strategy reflects a broader trend in the retail sector. Walmart demonstrates that 70 percent of their managers originally started as hourly workers, indicating internal career progression opportunities [4]. Moreover, Lowe’s emphasises employee potential, as illustrated by a statement from Haley M., a store manager who began as a seasonal worker [2].
Labour Market and Safety Measures
These changes are occurring in a dynamic labour market. In early June 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an increase of 139,000 jobs in the non-farm sector, with a stable unemployment rate of 4.2% [5]. Simultaneously, new legal provisions came into effect, such as the New York Retail Worker Safety Act, which requires companies with more than 10 retail workers to have a written violence prevention policy [6].