COMP NEWS – Companies are offering bonuses in an attempt to fill jobs.

Companies continue to offer bonuses, particularly for seasonal jobs like holiday package delivery. A United Parcel Service job ad on Friday offers $21 an hour along with $125 extra per week for drivers who can deliver packages using their own cars, along with 56 cents a mile to cover vehicle usage costs. 

While seasonal job spikes are not uncommon, more significant industry shifts toward e-commerce strain the prominent logistics players.

UPS had the largest number of openings on Indeed on Friday, at nearly 2,200 in all. Yale New Haven Health and Hartford Health Care were next with more than 1,500 openings each. 

 

UPS CEO Carol Tome, said during a conference call in late October. “Within 30 minutes, you can get an offer. Before, you had to go through a gaming exercise before you could get an offer.” 

Yet, this high demand does not only point to industry shifts but also a swift acceleration in economic recovery and growth.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported a net gain of 531,000 jobs in October based on surveys of business establishments, up from a gain of 312,000 the previous month. Employers had about 3.2 million fewer jobs filled than in October 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. In a separate report Thursday, DOL indicated that hours worked by U.S. employees were up 7 percent on average in the third quarter, as employers asked more of their existing workers as they scrambled to fill openings. 

As companies look to fill roles, the deployment of variable and incentive pay plans will only increase in popularity, as seen in UPS’s encouragement for employees to use their own vehicles to deliver packages. As the labor market tries to keep up, companies must become more creative with their compensation strategies.

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