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A massive recruitment campaign has been launched to recruit Royal Mail seasonal workers – with some shifts landing as much as £17 an hour. Anyone wanting to get work can go through to the postal service portal here.
Royal Mail is hiring 16,000 temporary workers as part of its plans to cover the busy Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas periods. The jobs include 8,000 mail centre sorting roles in England, 1,200 in Scotland, 500 roles Wales and 500 in Northern Ireland.
Five new temporary parcel sorting centres and 6,800 extra trucks and vans will be added to the company’s fleet over the festive period. The temporary workers will help Royal Mail’s 110,000 posties sort the mail, as well as the increasing number of online shopping parcels the company expects to process over the festive period.
The temporary positions will be located in 37 mail centres across the country, with a variety of shifts available. Most shifts Royal Mail are looking for are during evenings and overnights, in London offering £15.92 for late shifts between 2pm and 10pm, and £17.10 for overnight shifts between 10am and 6am. Outside of London the shifts are from £12.29 to £14.81 per hour. The job advert asks for people who like working in fast-paced environments with tight deadlines, as well as being able to demonstrate flexibility and are happy to switch tasks during shifts.
You also need to be quite strong for this role. Royal Mail says you need to be able to push trolleys of up to 250kg, and lift and move mailbags weighing up to 11kg. You also have to be able to stand for long periods of time.
Contracts will run from late October to early January 2024. The Royal Mail told workers: “Every Christmas at Royal Mail, we deliver festive cheer to the communities we serve. In order to do that, we need a bit of help from people like you!
“Our seasonal workers are critical members of our team and we’re always looking for more talented people to join us. Whether you’re looking for flexible hours all year or to earn some extra money for Christmas, we have plenty of great opportunities.
“Our application process is simpler than ever before, and we’re committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for everyone who walks through our doors.”
Parcelforce Worldwide is also recruiting additional drivers and indoor workers. The roles offer competitive pay rates and the opportunity for longer-term work.
Christmas is Royal Mail’s busiest period, with around double the normal number of parcels and stamped letters processed. A total 176,500sq m of extra temporary space has been created across five seasonal parcel sort centres located in Atherstone, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Daventry, and Greenford in London.
Grant McPherson, chief operating officer at Royal Mail, said: “We are pulling out all the stops to deliver Christmas for our customers. It’s our busiest time of the year and we know how important it is for people that we deliver letters and parcels on time.
“By planning ahead and hiring more people, vans and trucks, we are well prepared to handle the expected increased festive mail and parcels and deliver the high standards of service our customers expect from Royal Mail.”
