Delivery giant invests £100m to meet continued sector growth
Leeds-based consumer delivery specialist, Hermes UK, is looking to recruit more than 10,500 people to join its business.
It is investing £100m to expand its capacity to meet the huge demand created by people shopping at home during lockdown and the continuing growth in the sector.
The company intends to take on 1,500 full-time staff, including some roles at its head office in Yorkshire, and throughout its UK network for drivers, warehouse operatives, managers and supervisors.
There are also opportunities for another 9,000 self-employed couriers nationwide, who will have access to guaranteed holiday pay as part of a deal with the GMB Union.
Hermes says it has already invested more than £30m in its operation this year, including money spent on the opening of an additional 90 sub depots, new vehicles and brand new customer service technology.
The spending will be used to strengthen the company’s infrastructure to enable it to handle its predicted parcels volumes of 3.5million each day during the Black Friday and Christmas period – almost double last year.
Hermes adds that it has spent £8m on PPE and seen a reduction in productivity of around 20% since the start of the lockdown, due to necessary operational changes and social distancing.
However, it will not be accepting any money from the Government for furloughed staff.
Martijn de Lange, CEO at Hermes UK, said: “The pandemic has expedited the already phenomenal growth of online shopping and we see no sign of this changing.
“As a result, it is important that we have the right infrastructure and people in place to support this.
“This is good news for the many people who have sadly had their income affected and we are pleased to be able to support the UK economy with so many jobs at this time.
“In that first fortnight of lockdown we had thousands of applications from pub staff, chefs, children’s entertainers, dog walkers, pub singers, beauticians, hairdressers, pilots and many, many others.
“We look forward to welcoming our new recruits over the coming weeks.”
