Royal Mail Hiring 16,000 Temps Nationwide Before Christmas 2023
Royal Mail has announced plans to hire 16,000 temps before Christmas 2023.
The huge recruitment drive is to help them through their busiest delivery periods such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas itself.
The temporary contracts will run from the end of this month and will end during the first weeks of the new year in January.
Around half of the jobs will be based at sorting offices in England. Scotland will have 1,200 vacancies while Wales and Northern Ireland will have around 500 each.
Parcelforce Worldwide, which falls under the Royal Mail banner, will also be recruiting for thousands of roles over the same period.
During its busiest periods, Royal Mail employees can be tasked with sorting over double the average number of letters and parcels of a typical week.
Over 30 sorting centres will be recruiting, with an additional 5 new ones to be set up on a temporary basis in Atherstone, Daventry, Greenford, Milton Keynes and Northampton.
There will be some opportunities for some of the temporary recruits to convert their contracts into a longer term basis and Royal Mail say that a variety of shifts will be available.
Commenting on why they are hiring so many extra people so early this year, Royal Mail’s chief operating officer, Grant McPherson, said: “We are pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers. It’s our busiest time of the year and we know how important it is for people that we deliver letters and parcels on time.”
“By planning ahead and hiring more people, vans and trucks, we are well prepared to handle the expected increased festive mail and parcels and deliver the high standards of service our customers expect from Royal Mail,” added Mr McPherson.
Sainsbury’s and Argos are recruiting 17,500 seasonal workers across the UK ahead of Christmas, giving students and other young people the chance to earn money during the festive period.
Currys is recruiting around 1,000 seasonal retail colleagues across the UK and Ireland ahead of Christmas, with last year's figures showing that a festive job could turn into something more permanent.
