Labor shortage has Home Depot pushing 'accelerated hiring process'

Home improvement retailer aiming to offer job to prospective applicants within a day

Home Depot has launched a new "accelerated hiring process" aimed at providing prospective applicants with a job offer at the home improvement retailer within as little as a day in an effort to combat ongoing labor shortages.

JOB OPENINGS REMAINED ELEVATED IN DECEMBER AS AMERICANS CONTINUED TO QUIT

The company, which is hosting a virtual Spring Career Day event on Feb. 16, plans to hire more than 100,000 associates ahead of its busy spring season for flexible, full-time and part-time positions in areas including customer service and sales, store support, freight, merchandising and warehouse. 

"In today’s climate, jobseekers are shopping for the best opportunity," Home Depot vice president of global talent acquisition Eric Schelling said in a statement. "At The Home Depot, they’ll find a company that offers much more than a job and a paycheck." 

Home Depot store in Kentucky

An employee assists customers at a Home Depot Inc. store in Louisville, Kentucky, on Feb. 25, 2019.  (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Home Depot offers a variety of health and personal benefits to employees, including upskilling programs, tuition reimbursement, paid family leave, back-up dependent care, a company performance-based cash bonus program, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, a discounted company stock purchase program and more. 

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
HD THE HOME DEPOT INC. 332.89 -6.04 -1.78%

Over the past three years, Home Depot store associates have received more than $1 billion in Success Sharing awards, according to the company.

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The announcement comes as 4.3 million Americans, or about 2.9% of the workforce, quit their jobs in December, down from a fresh high of 4.5 million in November, but well above the pre-pandemic level of about 3.6 million. Meanwhile, the number of job openings rose to 10.9 million by the end of December. 

The data precedes the release of the January jobs report on Friday morning, which is expected to show that employers hired just 153,000 new workers last month as the highly contagious omicron variant sidelined millions of Americans from the workforce. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, is expected to hold steady at 3.9%.

Fox Business' Megan Henney contributed to this report