16,000 More Permanent Tesco Jobs Planned as Online Sales Soar

Tesco delivery driver Paul Bradbury leaves work after he completes his delivery round, following the outbreak of the CCP virus in Stoke-on-Trent, Britain, on May 25, 2020. Reuters/Carl Recine

Tesco, Britain’s biggest supermarket chain, will create 16,000 new permanent jobs due to a huge increase in its online business during the CCP virus pandemic, the company announced on Monday.

The supermarket said in a statement that it expects most of the new permanent roles will be taken up by existing temporary staff who signed up during the crisis and now want to stay permanently with the company.

Continued Growth

Tesco’s online capacity grew to more than twice the size it was before the pandemic, as thousands of new online customers, including vulnerable customers, signed up for home deliveries during the lockdown, which began at the end of March to slow the spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

In April, Tesco became the first retailer to fulfill a million online grocery orders in a single week.

The new jobs will include 10,000 pickers to put together customer orders and 3,000 delivery drivers.

Tesco expects the new jobs to support growth into the future.

“Since the start of the pandemic, our colleagues have helped us to more than double our online capacity, safely serving nearly 1.5 million customers every week and prioritizing vulnerable customers to ensure they get the food they need,” Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and Republic of Ireland CEO, said.

“These new roles will help us continue to meet online demand for the long term and will create permanent employment opportunities for 16,000 people across the UK.”

Tesco says it is continuing its apprenticeship programs for graduates and school leavers as well as its routine job recruitment across the non-online parts of its business.

‘Kickstart’

The company said it also plans to offer 1,000 places to young people as part of the UK government’s Kickstart scheme expected to launch in the coming weeks.

Kickstart is part of a fiscal recovery plan that was announced by UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak in July.

Under Kickstart the government will contribute to businesses that provide 6-month placements for 16 to 24-year-olds who are receiving welfare payments and are at risk of long-term unemployment. The aim is to help them gain skills and confidence to improve their chances of finding permanent work.

Tesco’s 16,000 new jobs announcement comes as the company said it is expecting online sales of over 5.5 billion pounds ($7.2 billion) this year, up from 3.3 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) last year.

At the same time, many other major British retailers, including M&S, Boots, John Lewis, Dixons Carphone, and WH Smith, have announced thousands of job losses.