The Royal Mail is looking to recruit a record number of temporary seasonal staff this year to help it deal with a surge in online orders heading into the festive period.
It has plans to hire up to 33,000 temporary staff between October and January – a two-thirds increase on previous years, the BBC reportd.
The reason for the leap in the numbers is due to the surge in ecommerce that has been driven by the pandemic with the majority of temporary staff being assigned to work in sorting offices, delivery vans and data centres.
Workers will also be needed to sort a larger volume of Christmas deliveries of letters, cards and parcels this year as many more people will be staying home.
Royal Mail chief HR officer Sally Ashford said: “During these unprecedented times we believe it is critical that Royal Mail continues to deliver.
“We want to do our best to deliver Christmas for our customers and support the effort on the pandemic.
“This helps the whole country to celebrate and stay safe during these difficult times.”
The explosion in ecommerce due to the pandemic has been a boon for the Royal Mail, which earlier this month said it would begin collecting parcels and mail from people’s homes for the first time in its history.
A number of analysts and delivery firm operators have warned customers to spread their Christmas shopping out this year as the rapid growth in online has put strain on existing supply chains.
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