Online boom boosts jobs at delivery firm

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 21, 2020

As the news continues to be largely about job losses and potential job losses, the extent to which consumers have switched their retail activity online can be seen by news of some job creation. 

Parcel delivery company Hermes said this week that it's creating over 10,000 jobs as it works to adapt to what it sees as a longer-term shift to shopping online as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

The company is looking for 9,000 more couriers, although these will be signed up on a self-employed basis. It's also going to take on 1,500 full-time staff with some of those deployed at its Yorkshire head office while others will be in the warehouse operation.

It's a big combined additional number for the company as it currently has 20,000 couriers and a little over 4,500 other staff.

The firm has been investing heavily into expansion this year with £30 million used to open depots and buy vans, among other actions, as the lockdown caused a huge spike in e-commerce.

And Hermes clearly doesn't think that this money has been spent for the short term because it's expecting online orders to continue rising. In fact, it believes the volume of parcels it will handle will nearly double in the coming Black Friday and Christmas shopping season.

That expectation is probably justified given that retailers themselves are also assuming their online operations will continue to prosper. John Lewis has already said that online accounted for around 60% of its sales this year because of the lockdown and it expects it to be the same for the rest of 2020 and next year, despite stores now being open again.