Employers from
McDonald’s Corp.
to home builder
PulteGroup Inc.
said staffing pressures caused by hiring challenges and surging Covid-19 cases suppressed growth or cut into operations in the fourth quarter. But many companies have already seen those pressures ease, indicating a diminishing impact from the Omicron variant.
Staffing challenges were so acute at McDonald’s in mid-December that its restaurants cut back hours by about 10%, Chief Executive
Christopher Kempczinski
said on a conference call with analysts last month. As of late January, only 1% of McDonald’s restaurants still had reduced hours, he said.
“What we’ve seen throughout the pandemic is that the economic fallout from each successive wave of case counts…
