Delivery giant Hermes will create over 10,000 jobs – including some at its headquarters in Leeds – to meet the increased demand caused by the shift to online shopping.
The firm, which made £749million in revenue from its UK operations for the year to February 2019, is to take on 1,500 full-time staff, to include some head office workers as well as warehouse workers, managers and supervisors.
It is also creating a further 9,000 positions for self-employed couriers.
Hermes, which currently has 4,515 staff and 20,000 couriers, has experienced a spike in demand caused by the coronavirus lockdown.
“The pandemic has expedited the already phenomenal growth of online shopping and we see no sign of this changing,” said chief executive Martijn de Lange.
“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.”
The volume of parcels it handles is set to almost double to 3.5m a day during Black Friday and the run-up to Christmas, the company said.
Pictured: Hermes’ tech hub in Leeds
