Only 9 percent of midstate companies plan to hire more employees from October to December, the survey said.

Kronos Incorporated has unveiled the first installment of its Kronos Retail Labor Index, a family of metrics and indices that analyze the relationship between the demand and supply sides of the labor market within the U.S. retail sector.

Keeping a sales team motivated these days can be a full-time job. With all the doom and gloom in the marketplace, it’s easy to fall into a slump, particularly when sales are down and the pressure is on to perform.

While conventional wisdom suggests that you want attractive, well-groomed people staffing the aisles and counters of your retail establishment, a new study suggests the opposite may be partly true - at least when it comes to female shoppers.

Remember that creative writing class you took your senior year of college because you wanted an easy elective? It turns out that dusting off the notebook where you wrote about plots and characters might be a way to help you lead your company.

A survey done by Ponemon Institute found out that more employees are engaging in risky activities that can put a company’s secure information in the wrong hands. A large number of employees have copies of confidential data on their USB drives or use their mobile device with the security settings turned off.

With the fears of job loss and the scarce job openings more people are taking the incentive to start their own businesses. Last year as the recession deepened, the number of people who began new businesses rose significantly.

A lot of companies focus on promoting their brand and forget about the importance of staffing. Training your staff to know the products as well as knowing their customers is key to the success of your company.

Best Buy is seeking new ways to market to women shoppers in their stores, as well as getting more women employees. To be specific, in their boardroom.

In March, the 14th consecutive month of job losses in the sector, U.S. retailers laid off 47,800 workers as cash-strapped consumers curbed spending amid economic recession, tight credit, a housing downturn and a bear market on Wall Street. But discounters are bucking the trend and adding names to their payrolls, looking to cash in while others close shop, slowing the pace of job cuts. Retail job cuts in March were about even with February and January, at 51,000 and 46,000, respectively, but well below December’s 88,000 cuts and November’s 91,000 lost jobs.

Employee Hold’em suggests that employers consider the “4R’s of Workforce Engagement” as they seek ways to increase revenue and hold down costs in these troubled economic times: recruit, retrain, reward, retain.

Online retailer, Zappos, understands that employees are the most important part about building any brand. Much of Zappos’ success boils down to a crystal clear corporate culture that was created and is owned by employees.

Have the store manager greet them on their first day, assign mentors, offer at least 20 hours of training, and more.