Restaurants: Chipotle Plans September Hiring Spree
Restaurants: Chipotle plans September hiring spree
Chipotle will hire 4,000 workers in a single-day hiring binge on Sept. 9, said Julie Jargon in The Wall Street Journal. The Denver-based burrito chain will open its nearly 1,900 restaurants three hours earlier than usual that day to interview candidates in a hiring push that will expand its 59,000-member workforce by nearly 7 percent. It’s “one of the starkest examples yet” of an industrywide battle for talent. Restaurant chains like Starbucks and McDonald’s have been beefing up wages and perks as a stronger economy and wage increases shrink the pool of available workers.
Energy: Obama expands green energy loans
The White House is doubling down on its efforts to boost renewable energy, said Katie Fehrenbacher in Fortune.com. President Obama announced this week a $1 billion loan-guarantee program for smallscale green power projects, like rooftop solar, plus additional funding for the development of new clean energy technologies. The program, which has made some $30 billion in loans so far, has been “both lauded and vilified.” It counts electric car company Tesla Motors among its success stories, but it also loaned money to failed solar panel maker Solyndra.
Work: Uniqlo to offer four-day workweek
Japanese fast-fashion retailer Uniqlo plans to experiment with a shorter workweek, said Rebecca Greenfield and Kim Bhasin in Bloomberg.com. About 10,000 full-time employees at Uniqlo’s Japan locations will be given the option of working 10-hour days, four days a week. Uniqlo’s parent company, Fast Retailing, hopes the perk will help it retain more full-time talent. Japanese corporations are beginning to rethink the nation’s arduous working culture, in which 22 percent of Japanese workers put in more than 49 hours a week, compared with 16 percent of U.S. workers.
Retail: Apple buoys Best Buy’s turnaround
Best Buy’s “increasingly cozy relationship with Apple” helped propel it to a surprisingly strong quarter, said Shelly Banjo in Qz.com. The struggling big-box electronics retailer beat analysts’ expectations, reporting a 12 percent increase in earnings. Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly credited Apple products with driving store traffic. This month, Best Buy became the first non-Apple retailer to sell the Apple Watch. The retailer is also overhauling 740 Apple departments within its stores, with Apple-approved displays for iPads, iPhones, and Mac computers.
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