Target said Thursday that it is taking a different staffing approach this holiday season as it gears up for a rush of shoppers at stores and on its website: It will trim back seasonal hires and give more hours to existing employees.

In all, the discounter said it expects current store staff — about 300,000 people in total — will work 5 million more hours during the holiday season. It said that this translates to more than 75 million dollars in additional salary.

Target still plans to hire about 100,000 seasonal employees — but that’s smaller than the over 130,000 that it hired for each of the past two holiday seasons, the company said.

This app makes it easy for employees to take a short shift at Target’s 1,900+ stores. It also allows them to swap hours on demand. The app allows employees to choose hours and times on their own, making it easier for them to adjust for family obligations such as attending college classes or parenting.

Melissa Kremer (Chairman of Target’s Human Resources) said, “The pandemic showed our team members’ need for flexibility.”

Target and other retailers are gearing up for holiday season, which is expected to be busy but also full of complications. Sales in November and December are expected to grow at least 7% year over year, according to three different forecasts by Bain & Company, Deloitte and Mastercard SpendingPulse. According to industry experts, customers can expect to see fewer sales, more out-of stock and delays in shipping as supply chain issues caused by the pandemic spread across the globe.

Staffing has become a key challenge, too, as many struggle to fill openings and retain workers — a problem that could translate to emptier shelves, sloppier stores, longer checkout lines and other frustrations.

Korn Ferry, an American talent consultancy firm, polled 176 U.S. retail outlets earlier in the month to determine if they were experiencing difficulty hiring. Only 2% of respondents said it was not an issue.

When asked by Korn Ferry what steps they were taking to increase staffing ahead of the holiday season, 74 companies said that part-time employees were being requested to work longer hours. 63 businesses stated that full-time workers are being asked for more hours. 34 retailers also said that the hours the stores are closed are changing. Korn Ferry only 15 businesses said staffing was not an issue.

Kremer of Target stated that Target is trying to increase the hours of existing employees as part of its larger push to keep high-quality workers. She pointed to a multiyear effort to raise Target’s minimum wage, which began before the pandemic. In July, the minimum wage for a worker was $15 per hour.

This fall, Target also began a debt-free education assistance program, which covers college tuition and contributes toward graduate programs. Walmart already had a similar program and Amazon recently announced the creation of its own. Many retailers have also been hiking wages as well.

Mark Schindele from Target, Chief Stores Officer said that Target has tried to listen to employees’ preferences and have done so. Many employees requested more hours, a stable work schedule and health insurance. One group wanted flexible work that allowed them to manage child care and college classes, as well as other aspects of their lives.

According to Kremer, hourly workers work nearly 15% more per year than they did one year ago.

Kremer stated that turnover fell to its lowest level in five years over the last two years. While Kremer did not specify the rate, it said that this year’s turnover was slightly higher than in 2020.

Schindele said about 24,000 of staff members are “on-demand employees” — a pool of part-time workers that he expects will grow.

Craig Rowley, a senior client partner at Korn Ferry and head of the firm’s retail practice, said he has spoken with a number of retail businesses recently that say they’re having less of an issue hiring workers permanently, but that it’s much harder to attract seasonal help.

Rowley stated that there are many reasons for this, including the fact that Americans don’t have to do extra work in order to purchase gifts for their family members.

Rowley stated that Rowley doesn’t believe stores will be open past midnight on this holiday or until the early hours of the morning because they aren’t able to hire staff. Rowley stated, “It is difficult enough to get people to go to work during the workday. It will be more challenging to get them to come to work overnight.”

Many retailers still have high-level hiring plans ahead of Christmas.

Macy’s The company stated it hopes to recruit 76,000 workers in stores, call centres, and warehouses. It is returning to pre-pandemic seasonal hiring levels. According to the company, 48,000 are specifically designed for holiday seasons, and the remaining jobs can be extended on a permanent basis.

Kohl’s The company hopes to hire approximately 90,000. For all seasonal holiday employees, the company is providing a unique bonus between $100 and $400.

Walmart has not yet announced seasonal hiring plans, but said it is seeking 20,000 employees for permanent, supply chain roles like freight handler and order filler.

Joel Bines (global co-leader for the retail practice of consulting firm AlixPartners), said that it is difficult to track how many of these positions get filled.

“We don’t have a good accounting of companies that said [they] wanted to hire 100,000 seasonal workers. How many people did you actually hire? He said.

It’s not a good strategy to completely rely on the current staff of a retailer, especially as shoppers swarm into shops and online orders flood in.

Bines stated that you will exhaust the existing staff if your don’t plan. Holidays are an eight-to-12 week season.