Looking for a new job? Parcel firm DPD is hiring 6,000 staff and opening new depots in a bid to meet surging demand from online shoppers
- 3,500 of the newly available posts are for delivery drivers, company says
- Boss of DPD says demand for online deliveries will continue to grow
- B&Q owner Kingfisher also hiring up to 4,000 temporary staff this year
Delivery group DPD is hiring 6,000 new staff as it battles to keep up with soaring demand from online shoppers since lockdown.
The new roles span DPD’s entire operations, with 3,500 new delivery driver jobs available, and other posts including HGV drivers, warehouse staff, management, supervisors and mechanics.
All the new roles need to be filled in time for the Black Friday sales and Christmas later this year, with both full-time and part-time positions available.
Speaking to This is Money, a spokesman for DPD said the company had seen a 35 per cent rise in parcels moving through its systems since mid-March, but at peak times, demand has been even higher.
Keeping up: Delivery group DPD is hiring 6,000 new staff as it battles to keep up with soaring demand
The company said that even before lockdown started in March, it had seen a ‘significant’ rise in the number of people using its services to get online shopping delivered.
Plus, with shoppers using bricks-and-mortar based stores now often having to queue outside and practice social distancing inside, DPD thinks the trend for online shopping will continue to grow as people tire of the high-street experience.
DPD said: ‘The trend has continued, with existing retail customers experiencing an online sales boom and new customers developing online propositions to maintain sales during lockdown.’
DPD boss Dwain McDonald described the lockdown period as the ‘biggest boom in online retailing’ the UK had ever seen.
In demand: DPD needs to hire 3,500 new delivery drivers across the country
He said: ‘Since this began, we have been handling parcel volumes more akin to the festive seasonal peak than this time of year.’
DPD said it expects strong growth to continue this year, even as shops start to reopen. It is also ploughing £200million into extra vehicles, regional depots and handheld devices for drivers to record deliveries.
‘I do think the High Street will bounce back from where things are now, but we have to base our modelling on our conversations with retailers and their projections,’ DPD boss McDonald said.
He added: ‘It looks like there will remain a much greater reliance on e-commerce in the future – that’s going to be our ‘new normal’.’
DPD operates more than 8,000 vehicles from 68 locations and delivers over 250million parcels a year.
While deliveries from online shopping have boomed in the last few months, the customer experience of some deliveries has been less than satisfactory, with many complaining of delays, damaged goods or no-shows.
Millions of people’s jobs have been thrown into jeopardy or already lost during lockdown, with key sectors like airlines, restaurants, retail and even banks shedding huge numbers of staff, forcing many to look for an alternative career path, at least on a temporary basis.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that ‘many job losses’ would emerge as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘That is just inevitable because of the effect of the virus on the economy and the shut down that has taken place’, the Prime Minister said.
He added: ‘We will be as activist and interventionist as we have been throughout the lockdown.’