Yodel hiring 7,000 for Christmas peak
Yodel has announced that it is recruiting 7,000 part-time and full-time staff across the UK in preparation for this year’s peak Christmas period. The company will be taking on over 800 directly employed drivers who will be provided with Yodel branded uniforms and a liveried van.
Yodel is also looking for around 3,000 owner drivers, who will be required to provide their own vans.
Both the directly employed and owner drivers will be based at their local service centres and provided with hand held computers to help plan their routes and scan parcels as they go on their delivery and collection rounds.
A further 3,000 self-employed couriers, will also be taken on. They will be based from home, work flexible hours, and use their own cars to deliver and collect smaller parcels from customers in their own neighbourhood.
In a statement issued today (13 October), the company added: “While these are seasonal positions for the peak period, many of the roles are expected to become permanent thanks to the increase in Yodel’s client base and growth in parcel volumes. Yodel’s training programme will ensure workers are fully prepared for the peak period and beyond.”
Yodel said that its training programme “will ensure that all couriers and drivers are fully prepared for the peak period and includes tuition on Yodel’s policies and processes as well as basic health and safety”. For the courier and owner driver roles, Yodel also offers support in the form of insurance and vehicle lease packages, as well as guidance on the paperwork associated with being self-employed.
Dick Stead, executive chairman of Yodel, commented: “Our recent research has shown that the 2015 Christmas period is set to break the mould once again, with nearly four times as many people planning to take advantage of the Black Friday online promotions. Our recruitment and training will support this increased demand and ensure that both our retail clients and shoppers have an enjoyable Christmas.
“Many of the vacancies are flexible and perfect for those who want to fit work around families, or who have retired but want to remain active and earn some extra cash. Others are full-time and we expect many people to stay on beyond peak season.”
As previously reported, Yodel has also recently opened new strategically placed ‘super’ service centres, which it says will help to manage demand peaks better.
