London
Supermarkets have gone on a hiring spree as demand surges as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Tesco, Asda, Aldi, and Lidl said they would hire thousands of staff after hugely increased demand saw shoppers clearing shelves. That move came before the government said it would pay the wages of workers at firms affected by the pandemic.
And Sainsbury’s has asked shoppers to stay 1m away from shop staff if possible, to help keep them safe. Supermarkets have been overwhelmed by a wave of panic-buying as shoppers rush to stock up amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Coronavirus: What are shops doing about stockpiling? : Online shopping website Ocado suspends service Along with other measures to cope with the increased demand, some of the chains have embarked on big recruitment drives for a total of more than 30,000 jobs. Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, wants to take on 20,000 temporary workers “to help feed the nation”, it said. “The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented increase in demand for food and household products,” the chain said. “At Tesco, we’re working around the clock to help ensure families have access to the shopping items they need.
“We launched our recruitment drive online on Wednesday and since then we have already been overwhelmed by support from the public and thank everyone who has applied to work with us in stores.” It added that “over the coming days thousands of new colleagues will join us”.
The chain also announced on Saturday it will give all its workers across stores, distribution centres and customer engagement centres a 10% bonus on their hourly rate until 1 May – backdated to 9 March. Frontline salaried managers will receive a 10% bonus on actual hours worked, it added.Asda said it wanted to recruit more than 5,000 temporary staff from among people whose jobs have been impacted by the virus.—AFP
