Royal Mail has announced it will recruit 16,000 temporary workers to handle the festive season's increased demand. The positions will be spread across two parcel hubs, five seasonal parcel sort centres and 37 mail centres nationwide, with a variety of shifts available.
The two parcel hubs, in Daventry and Warrington, will each hire over 2,000 additional staff, as they expect to process 1.7 million parcels daily. Extra temporary space equivalent to 20 football pitches has been created at the five seasonal parcel sort centres located in Atherstone, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Daventry and Greenford in London.
Delivery and collection jobs will also be available at local delivery offices across the country. The temporary recruits will help sort the growing number of online shopping orders before they are taken to Royal Mail's 1,200 delivery offices. Contracts will run from late October to early January 2025, covering Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Parcelforce Worldwide is also recruiting additional drivers and indoor workers. Almost 4,000 new vans, trucks and trailers are being added to Royal Mail's fleet in time for Christmas.
Alistair Cochrane, Royal Mail's chief operating officer, said: 'Every year we pull out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers. It's our busiest time of year and we plan all year round to help ensure we deliver the best possible service for UK consumers and businesses. We are continuing to make a substantial commitment in additional resources including the recruitment of thousands of temporary workers to handle the festive mailbag and the growing market of online Christmas shopping.'
