The run up to Christmas is always a busy time for the majority of businesses in the UK. Organising Christmas bonuses, stocking up on goods and preparing for office parties keep the service, retail and hospitality industries run off their feet for several weeks on end. However, it is arguably the postal industry that has the most to take on in the festive season, collecting and delivering Christmas cards and presents on a daily basis as the volume of post sent by British people skyrockets.
It is hardly surprising, then, that the Royal Mail employs thousands of seasonal staff on a short term basis at this time of year. However, this year they are giving a little festive cheer to the thousands of British unemployed that are struggling to find long term work by announcing a four year plan to boost the efficiency of the parcel arm of business.
1000 new jobs are expected to be created at Parcelforce over the next four years as part of a £75 million expansion plan. Currently, the branch of postal giant Royal Mail employs almost 5,300 workers in the UK, who work from 52 different depots located all over the country. International post is processed at a hub in Coventry – at the moment, this is the only international hub in the country, which indicates that Christmas will be a particularly difficult time of year there!
Under the expansion programme, a new processing centre will be opened in Chorley, Lancashire at around this time next year, while further plants will be unveiled in Cornwall and Hampshire in 2014. Nine depots which are currently operated by Parcelforce will also be expanded or transferred to larger sites over the four year timeframe in order to cope with ever increasing consumer demand.
In the 12 months to April, Parcelforce delivered 66 million items, which is an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year and contributed greatly to the annual revenue of £400 million. While Parcelforce’s profits are not released by the Royal Mail, group profits amounted to £23 million – and as the letters side of the business has gradually become less profitable due to the popularity of email, it can be assumed that much of the profit made by Royal Mail can be attributed to the parcels division.
Moya Greene, chief executive of Royal Mail, said; “Our strategy is to convert the rise in parcel volumes into profitable growth.”
However, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) deputy general secretary, Dave Ward, points out that the mass hiring of workers for Parcelforce will not make up for the number of jobs lost at Royal Mail in the past two years – which, according to the CWU, currently stands at 9,100.
He says; “The announcement is good news, but it won’t lead to an increase in Royal Mail Group’s workforce.
“In truth, this project has already been several months in the making and CWU is involved in talks about how and where these jobs will be created, including the possibility of people transferring from other parts of the group where jobs are being lost.
“These jobs will go some way to easing the impact of jobs lost elsewhere.”
According to the Royal Mail, the “vast majority” of positions will be full time, and will increase the employee base of Parcelforce by around 20 per cent once the full total of roles have been filled.
As well as the Parcelforce hiring spree, the Royal Mail have announced that it will be looking for a further 18,000 part term workers to cover the busy Christmas period – the same number as last year, when there were over 110, 000 applicants for the temporary positions. While unemployment is not as great a problem as it was during the recession, a high number of responses to the nationwide appeal is still expected, with competition for jobs high.
A spokesman for the Royal Mail said; “The recruitment programme began in September and there has already been strong interest.
“The 18, 000 temporary positions will be helping to sort the festive mailbag at the busiest time of year for the Royal Mail and its customers.”
Of course, with internet shopping becoming ever more popular, Parcelforce will be expecting the workload to increase even more. The question is whether a company already forced to make many redundancies will have the staff numbers to cope with the Christmas rush this year.
Do you use online shopping to purchase Christmas presents, or do you prefer to buy in store in case anything goes missing in the high volume of parcels sent at this time of the year? Will you be sending Christmas cards this year, or do you email yours instead?
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