Offices Are Cutting While Employers Still Can’t Find Skilled Workers
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Kroger plans to cut about 3,000 corporate jobs over the next 3 years, according to a memo from CEO Greg Foran that Reuters reviewed on Monday. Bloomberg reported the plan first. The cuts would affect about 37% of Kroger’s 8,200 corporate employees.
Foran wrote that Kroger should reduce duplicative work and adapt with technology, and that the savings would help the company cut prices and invest in in-store employees. Grocery Dive reports the memo also says Kroger has “more layers, more handoffs and more overhead than we need.” Details on which roles are affected will come “in the coming months,” so no specific roles or timeline have been named yet.
The backdrop explains the timing. Foran became CEO in February. Kroger cut about 1,000 corporate roles in June of last year. Last month it outlined an AI strategy that uses AI models to manage workflows, along with an AI shopping assistant. It also lowered its annual identical sales target and is cutting prices to compete with Walmart and Aldi.
Reuters ties the cuts to Kroger’s AI expansion, though the memo language both outlets report refers to technology in general. Both readings matter for employers, and neither one changes who loses a job.
Look at where the cuts land. Kroger is taking more than a third of its corporate staff and putting the savings into prices and store workers. The office jobs are changing first, while the people stocking shelves and working registers are the ones the company says it will invest in.
Three years gives people time, and I’d use it if I worked in a corporate role at Kroger or any large retailer. In my view, jobs built around moving information from one place to another are the most exposed. Now is the time to build skills in the part of the work that still needs a person.
Kroger’s second corporate cut in about 16 months comes with a new CEO, a lowered sales target, and a price war with Walmart and Aldi. I expect more big employers to frame cost cuts as technology and AI adoption, and last week’s Amazon and HubSpot cuts leaned on the same talk of structure and fewer layers.
If your own organization is weighing a restructure, talk to us about hiring before the plan is final. And if you’re one of the people affected, see what’s open right now.
Only 7% of Small Business Owners Say It’s a Good Time to Expand
NFIB’s Small Business Optimism Index fell 0.8 points to 97.9 in September, just under its 52-year average of 98.0. The Uncertainty Index rose 1 point to 90, well above its historical average of 68. Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said, “Small business optimism stayed near the long-term average in September.”
Owners are cautious about the months ahead. Only 7% say now is a good time to expand, down 5 points. A net 6% expect business conditions to improve, down 4 points and the second straight monthly drop. The share rating their business health “good” fell 9 points to 48%, while “fair” rose 7 points to 35%. Inflation is now the second-biggest problem at 20%, up 4 points.
Finding workers is still the biggest. 26% of owners named labor quality or availability as their single most important problem, up 3 points and the top issue for 3 straight months. The hiring figures match what I covered from NFIB’s jobs report in the September jobs report analysis: 32% had openings they couldn’t fill, 51% were hiring or trying to hire, and 87% of those hiring said they got few or no qualified applicants. A net 17% plan to create jobs over the next 3 months, the same as August.
Two members put it in their own words. A Wisconsin manufacturer wrote, “Prices for fuel and raw materials are too high, and finding qualified labor is difficult.” A Maine services owner said, “Our business could increase if we were able to hire skilled labor.”
Labor has been the top problem for owners 3 months in a row, while optimism sits right at the long-term average. Owners are holding steady, and the constraint is people. The 87% I flagged on October 2 is still the number I’d focus on, and the Maine owner is describing a ceiling on growth.
Look at the split, too. Only 7% think it’s a good time to expand, but a net 17% still plan to add jobs. Owners are cautious about growth and still looking for people. If you have a trade or a skill that lets you contribute from day 1, small businesses want to hear from you. And if you own one and your applicant pool isn’t clearing the bar, explore our staffing services to pre-screen for the skills you need.
Staffing your team doesn’t have to be hard.
Reach out and see how we can help.
Half of Workers Are Job Hugging, and Staying Put Is Starting to Cost Them
Job hugging means staying in a job for the security, stability, or comfort it provides. Monster’s second annual survey, written by career expert Vicki Salemi and fielded September 15 to 16 among 1,005 employed U.S. workers, finds 48% are doing it right now, about the same as 2025.
87% have done it at least once in their careers, up from 85%, and 51% have done it more than once. The costs are rising. 31% say it lowers their job satisfaction, up from 27%, and 31% say it limits their growth and advancement, also up from 27%. Among workers who received a new job opportunity in the past 12 months, 40% passed on it to stay with their current employer, up from 37%. 70% expect to stay in their current role for the next 2 years, down from 75%, and 33% aren’t confident they could find another job quickly.
Pay and benefits (66%) and job security (64%) top the reasons people stay, followed by flexibility at 41%. Only 35% said good relationships with their team or manager keep them there, and 23% stay because nothing better is out there. Monster describes “a workforce caught between the security of staying in their job and the potential costs of doing so,” and advises employers and workers to “make staying an intentional career choice, not simply the safer choice.”
Monster sells job postings and recruiting products, so weigh its framing with that in mind. The numbers also differ from other surveys: Owl Labs found 38% job hugging in September using its own question wording, so the two aren’t directly comparable, though both point the same direction.
Put this next to the NFIB numbers, and you see both sides of the same problem. Small businesses can’t find qualified people, and half the workforce is sitting tight. 40% of the people who got a new opportunity last year turned it down.
What employers should look at is why people stay. It’s pay and security. Only about a third credit their manager or team, and loyalty built on those terms lasts only as long as the job market stays uncertain. I saw the same thing in the Monster loyalty survey I covered last week, where half of workers called themselves only moderately loyal.
The trend line I’d watch is tenure. The share who expect to stay 2 more years dropped from 75% to 70%, and more people say staying is hurting their satisfaction and growth. Frustration like that builds, and when confidence comes back, I expect a lot of people to move at once.
UPS Is Hiring 100,000 Seasonal Workers and Cutting Up to 30,000 Jobs
UPS says it will hire 100,000 seasonal workers across the U.S. for the holidays to sort, move, and deliver packages during the busiest stretch of the year. Reuters reports that daily volume roughly doubles at peak, with temporary hiring from late November into early January.
The number is smaller than it looks. UPS hired 125,000 seasonal workers in 2024, and its 2025 annual report showed 15,000 fewer than that. This year’s 100,000 is about 9% lower than last year’s, the second straight year of reduced holiday hiring. Reuters links the pullback to inflation weighing on consumer spending.
UPS is cutting its own workforce too. In January, UPS said it would cut up to 30,000 operational jobs and close 24 facilities in 2026, as it ships less for Amazon. Holiday hiring across retail and shipping has been slowing for a while. A company cutting operational roles and trimming its holiday plan is betting on lower volume, and I read that as a cautious signal about the consumer.
For job seekers, a seasonal role is still a way to get in front of a large employer. If you want to stay past January, treat it like a 6-week interview. Show up, learn the operation, and ask early what it takes to stay on.
Put this next to the Kroger news and you can see where large employers are cutting: corporate overhead and operations. Where they still add people, it’s at the floor and only for the peak.
