Articles Discussing Workplace Issues In The Retail Industry.

In the evolving retail landscape, where competition is fierce and intellectual property is paramount, the use of restrictive covenants has long been a cornerstone for protecting proprietary information and safeguarding competitive advantages.

Although the federal COVID-19 Public Health Declaration officially proclaimed the pandemic over nearly a year ago (on May 11, 2023), many employers, especially those in the retail industry, continue to feel the pandemic’s impact. A rising number of former employees have chosen not to return to the retail workplace at all. Indeed, trends show a falling number of workers in retail. Positive employee engagement can be part of reversing the trends.

As more state and local pay transparency laws are enacted throughout the country, retail industry employers face a new challenge in an ever-evolving industry.

Welcome to We get work™ and The Year Ahead 2024 podcast series. 

Retail workers are often the unsung heroes of the holiday shopping season. Stores are open longer and have bigger crowds, and customers are tenser than usual. To navigate the holiday season smoothly, retail employers should be particularly alert to the four areas discussed below and minimize adverse effects on their full-time and seasonal employees.

The retail industry has experienced an uptick in union organizing over the last few years, and decisions from the National Labor Relations Board are expected to ease unionization. Labor law is evolving, and employers must adapt to changing unionization tactics.

Attracting and retaining the right people is a critical issue for many retailers, and the 2022 federal retirement plan reform (SECURE 2.0) can help.

The Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor has advised in an opinion letter on calculating Family and Medical Leave Act leave when employees take off part of a week during which a holiday falls that holidays are not counted toward leave, unless an employee takes the entire week off or the employee was scheduled to work on the holiday.

High-stress, demanding retail positions where constant customer demands are front and center can leave employees feeling overwhelmed and burnt out, resulting in lower productivity and higher turnover for employers.

Increasing societal awareness of mental health issues, and a general push by employees to recognize their lives outside of the workplace,

The end of the school year and the beginning of summer will bring a surge of school-age workers into the workplace as government scrutiny over employment of young workers is increasing. The Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have a Memorandum of Agreement to combat unlawful child labor practices.

With a White House and National Labor Relations Board that are more pro-labor than most recent past administrations, a “labor renaissance” will be the overarching theme of 2023.

Workplace violence remains an important and challenging issue for retailers facing customer and coworker misbehavior. We discuss establishing a workplace violence prevention plan, identifying and evaluating environmental risk factors, and implementing corrective measures.

Employers are apt to focus on OSHA’s heat-related enforcement rules when temperatures are high, but protecting workers from heat hazards is critical throughout the year when fluctuations in temperature changes are unsafe. 

During the busy holiday season, retailers work harder than any other time of the year and, consequently, can experience an uptick in workplace incidents involving customer and coworker misbehavior. 

Maintaining a competitive edge in the brick and mortar retail space can involve taking risks—having employees use ladders in day-to-day operations is one most retailers cannot avoid.