Coronavirus: CVS Health Looks To Hire 50,000 Workers; H&M Mulls Temporary Layoffs

Retailers are adapting their operations and rolling out initiatives amid COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Here are the latest updates from the retail industry.

H&M is considering temporary layoffs throughout the globe while it handles business disruptions from COVID-19, CNBC reported. The company said it began discussions regarding layoffs that are not permanent “in a number of markets.” It has closed all of its locations in many of its largest markets, and 3,441 of its 5,062 shops throughout the globe are shuttered as of Monday morning (March 23). The company is reworking its supply chain to assist in creating personal protective equipment for use in medical facilities with a great need, and it has also called off dividend plans.

Meanwhile, CVS Health said in an announcement that is seeking to fill 50,000 full-time, part-time, and temporary positions throughout the nation in what the retailer is describing as the “most ambitious hiring drive in the company’s history.” The company will tap into a hiring procedure that will be enabled by technology that includes virtual interviews, virtual job tryouts, and virtual job fairs. Positions encompass home delivery drivers, store associates, member/customer service professionals, and distribution center employees. A number of positions will be filled through current clients of CVS Health that have needed to furlough staffers.

In other news, as investors wager on heightened demand on the part of consumers who have to remain in their residences, HelloFresh is approaching a high in trading, Bloomberg reported. The stock has increased as nations throughout Europe and states in the U.S. have made cafes and restaurants shutter, while putting forward limitations on individuals going out of their residences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The biggest market for the company, according to the report, is the United States. Berenberg Analyst Sarah Simon said, according to the report, “HelloFresh is the biggest globally, they’re the biggest in America, and we think they’ll be a beneficiary.”

And, European online food ordering service Takeaway.com will let Dutch eateries impacted by the COVID-19 fallout have a delay in payments, Reuters reported. The company forecasts that approximately two-tenths of restaurants will seek the exception. It possesses some in-house delivery, but it is rushing to launch its own scooter delivery service as soon as it can in the Netherlands. It was also reported that the company has approximately 2,000 new eateries that have chosen its services after eateries had to shutter to the public per the Dutch government.