They are hiring to absorb the elimination of full-time employees. With part-time employees working such low hours, we are not required to pay certain benefits. We also lower (or eliminate) their liability for unemployment when the time comes to lay them off, close their location or the eventual folding of the company. It's sick and twisted, but that's the way they run things around here, and it's too bad because we lost some dedicated people.
We are also hiring because SO MANY people are leaving. As people come in, people leave. We must be the certain winner for the highest turnover award. It's hard not to see the writing on the wall that the company isn't long for the world. I mean, this layoff site is pretty well known that just about everyone at my store, myself included, have at least acknowledged its existence. I'm sure just about everyone at other stores are well aware with this site. In fact, I first heard about it from an associate during a rally meeting. Everyone piped up about how they have learned so much that "they" (upper management) aren't telling "us" (associates and managers at the store level). This site has actually underscored the bad things unfolding for Sears and has pushed me to get out ASAP. If everything goes to plan, I'll ride through the end of June and I'm out.
Is Walmart or Target closing 1 or 2 stores A DAY in secret? No! Even the struggling retailers like JCPenney isn't puling off a secret liquidation like we are. Anyone who isn't a student, totally desperate for a paycheck or oblivious to the dire situation here will not be applying to work at Sears or Kmart, because aside from the certain death of this company, the pay and the amount of hours are lower than average for many positions elsewhere. I conduct a lot of interviews and when we get to the part about pay and hours oftentimes the candidate expresses their disinterest. The company is self-defeating because it says it wants to hire people to replace the vacancies and the fulltimers they let go but they don't wanna pay the prevailing wage that other retailers are paying for similar positions.
Existing associates have told me that they can work at a place like McDonald's with no stress over metrics or being fired/laid off for the same pay they earn here, with more hours to boot. Even though that remark is slightly smart-alecky, I can't be inclined to disagree with them, and some of them went off to a job with fewer responsibilities and, ironically, get paid a bit more with some level of stability in hours and the fact that the company they are working for will be around for some time.
Original poster is @TkUdHCt-1hsb.