Customers and Web Surfers Make the Most Dedicated Retail Employees, Unicru Study Shows; Employees Sourced Via Advertising Alone are Twice as Likely to be Terminated by Employer.

Business Editors

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 2002

Retailers seeking to hire better hourly employees should set sights on their customers and Internet users.

While employee referrals have been long recognized as an effective way to find good workers, the first in a series of new reports by Unicru, Inc. shows that customers and Internet users are also an excellent source for employees.

As the nation's leading provider of hiring management systems for recruiting and retaining hourly workers, Unicru has processed 10 million job applications for retailers, food services businesses and call centers over the past three years. In fact, over 5.5 percent of all wage hires for enterprise-class retailers are currently facilitated by Unicru's Hiring Management System. Data from seven leading retailers including Finish Line, Blockbuster Video and The Sports Authority was analyzed for this study.

Two statistics were examined and correlated against various recruitment and referral sources to determine employee dedication -- length of employment as measured in tenure days, and involuntary termination rate. When job seekers fill out an electronic application with a Unicru client, generally at a client's retail location, they are asked how they found out about the job in addition to other job related questions. Unicru tracks and correlates all the data in order to provide customers with best practice hiring statistics and performance improvement benchmark data. It also allows them to identify critical trends in hiring hourly employees.

According to the Unicru study, the average tenure for a retail employee from an Internet referral (encompassing corporate web sites, job boards and Internet advertising) was 112 days and the involuntary termination rate was 31 percent. On the other end of the spectrum, the average tenure for a retail employee responding to traditional advertising alone was 80 days and the involuntary termination rate was 64 percent.

Previous research has found that hourly employees learn about jobs primarily from local sources such as newspapers and radio, and an increasing number are using the Web to research opportunities and/or apply for a job. Combined with Unicru research, this suggests that while advertising remains an important method to generate awareness of job opportunities, candidates who are Internet savvy often turn out to be better employees. With the cost of retail turnover ranging from $1,000 to $2,600 per employee, a shift in hiring practices based upon sourcing data alone could reduce turnover. If a company with 5,000 hourly employees reduces turnover by a mere 10 percent, it could save $1 million annually.

"Retailers constantly struggle with high turnover rates," said Chris Marsh, Unicru's president and chief executive officer. "We help our customers find employees who are a good match to the their work requirements and culture -- satisfied employees that will save them millions of dollars though reduced turnover, higher productivity and improved customer service. In addition to streamlining the entire hiring process, our system provides a way for companies to understand where they find the best hourly talent. One of our customers, The Sports Authority, has been able to apply these new insights to create more effective sourcing strategy combining traditional and new methods while saving $500,000 a year."

"Hiring is a huge job considering the type of turnover that is present in this industry," said Jim Tener, executive vice president and chief operating officer at The Sports Authority. "The hard facts are that we've seen a 10 percent reduction in turnover using the Unicru system."

         Unicru Results Based Upon Impact of Referral Source


               Tenure                     Involuntary Termination


Referral Source         Days           Referral Source         Rate

Internet                 112           Advertising              64%
Employee Referral        112           Employee Referral        35%
Customer/Walk-In          96           Customer/Walk-In         34%
Advertising               80           Internet                 31%
Signage/Job Line          77           Signage/Job Line         27%


               Results based on a sample size of 66,758

About Unicru

Unicru, Inc. is the leading provider of hiring management systems for employers of more than 80 percent of the American workforce -- hourly workers. The Unicru system is deployed via on-site application centers, the Web, and through back-office processing of employers' job applications, hiring, and terminations. With more than 14,000 on-site application centers and Web-based solutions, Unicru's services are used nationwide by large retailers, call centers, and hospitality businesses. Unicru currently processes more than six million job applications per year. Clients include Universal Studios, Blockbuster Video, Metro One, Target, and Bennigan's. On average, Unicru customers decrease employee turnover by 10-30 percent and reduce hiring time by more than half. For more information visit the company's Web site at www.unicru.com.

Editor's Note: Additional information on this research can be obtained by contacting Unicru.