by aishwarya venugopalmajor us retailers macys inc kohls corp and gap inc said on monday they would furlough tens of thousands of employees as they prepare to keep stores shut for longer to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak kohls also said it would suspend its share repurchase program evaluate its dividend plan and draw down 1 billion from an existing credit line joining a growing list of companies seeking to shore up their cash reserves to weather the financial hit from the health crisis macys and gap have suspended their dividends and have also tapped into their credit facilities advt gap said the furloughs will affect its store employees in the united states and canada the company had about 129000 employees at the end of last year the action will impact a majority of its about 130000 employees macys said while all workers at store and store distribution centers as well as some corporate office associates will be affected according to kohls shares of kohls which had about 122000 employees in 2019 closed down nearly 9 macys stock ended nearly 3 lower given these extraordinary circumstances we are taking difficult and decisive actions to strengthen our financial liquidity kohls chief executive officer michelle gass said in a statement gass said she will not take a salary widespread lockdowns to arrest the spread of the outbreak in the united states have hammered sales for brickandmortar retailers as most stores remain closed despite their online business staying up and running president donald trump on sunday extended his stayathome guidelines until the end of april dropping a hotly criticized plan to get the economy up and running by midapril after a top medical adviser said more than 100000 americans could die from the outbreak the pandemic which has killed about 34000 people across the globe has compounded sales pressure for retailers already facing stiff competition and a shift to online shopping advt kohls said furloughed employees would continue to get health benefits macys specified that employees enrolled in health benefits will continue to receive coverage at least through may macys said it would maintain the absolute minimum workforce needed to maintain basic operations across its macys bloomingdales and bluemercury brands the retailer added there would be fewer furloughs in its digital business supporting distribution centers and call centers while kohls said it would start buy online and pick upatstore services later this week reuters published on mar 31 2020 at 0505 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates