Logistics company iForce says it expects to take on up to 2,000 temporary workers to cover this year’s online Christmas shopping season.
The company, which specialises in logistics for online and multichannel retailers, says last year it dispatched 2.6m orders, sending 10m items with a total retail value of £200m – 14% up on the previous year – and it expects this year to be still busier. This Christmas it will boost its regular workforce of 550 employees plus around 200 agency workers by between 1,800 and 2,000 as it prepares for a rush set to start on October 1 and continuing to December 31.
iForce chief executive Mark Hewitt said: “We anticipate an even busier peak this year not just because clients, such as John Lewis, Sainsbury and Boots, achieve strong year-on-year online retail growth but also because the volumes being processed through iForce’s multichannel returns processing and remarketing arm will have soared.
“It’s during the peaks when the investment you make in your people, training, processes and systems particularly pays off to ensure that all service level agreements are met and all client and their customers’ expectations exceeded.”
iForce trains its peak staff through a two-day course run by its Training Academy.
