The Royal Mail is recruiting for more than 33,000 temporary staff ahead of this Christmas as more shoppers do their festive shopping online.
The roles include more than 15,000 people to work in mail sorting centres, distribution centres and data centres across the UK. More than 18,000 people will be involved in delivering parcels and letters – including 1,000 people joining Royal Mail’s dedicated Covid-19 testing kit collection team.
Royal Mail says it has been recruiting temporary Christmas workers since the Second World War – but this year it cites higher rates of online Christmas shopping on top of more traditional Christmas parcels, cards and letters.
Shopping has moved online sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, with many people shopping for the first time. That’s now expected to lead to higher rates of online shopping than have been seen in previous years – and both the IMRG and BRC retail organisations have encouraged shoppers to do their online shopping early in order to spread demand.
In response the Royal Mail will be taking on more temporary staff, supporting 115,000 people who sort and deliver post full time, than are employed full time by the Royal Navy (more than 30,000 staff), Transport for London (about 28,000) or the BBC (about 24,000). Jobs will be available from late October to early January 2021.
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 temporary positions are available from late October to early January 2021, with work peaking in December. Parcelforce Worldwide is also looking for drivers and indoor workers.
