As businesses around the world close to prevent the spread of coronavirus, companies that provide essential goods and services have been stretched thin for human resources.
Globally, workers who've been laid off in the airline, hotel, and restaurant industries have settled into new jobs in the healthcare, grocery, and online retail sectors. From China to Germany to the United States, companies and governments have had to activate otherwise dormant workers to perform key roles within their organizations.
At a time when a record 3.28 million people applied for unemployment benefits, companies like CVS Health Corp and Walmart need to fill close to 500,000 role within weeks.
Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup North America, a staffing company, says a workforce shift like this hasn't occurred since 1948.
“Tens of thousands of jobs open up overnight,” Frankiewicz told the Wall Street Journal. “We have to move within hours.”
However, economists say these jobs will likely be temporary. And they don't anticipate that this recent hiring surge will balance out the job losses that are expected in the coming months.
In England, the Marks & Spencer chain rerouted more than 4,600 of its employees from its department stores to its grocery stores.
After the coronavirus put employees out of work in the restaurant and leisure industries, their managers handed those workers over to e-commerce businesses who were swamped with demand from millions homebound customers.
Even McDonald's is desperate for more workers. When franchisees needed 3,000 workers, the company acted quickly.
The fast food giant has allowed its employees to move to short-term contracts at each restaurant. The new contracts last for two months and give workers an option to come back to their regular job with the company once the coronavirus pandemic dies down.
And McDonald's expects those new workers to get up to speed quickly since its workers require minimal training.
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