Ecommerce firms to add over 70,000 temp workers this festive season

With the festive season fast approaching, ecommerce companies are gearing up to ramp up the hiring of temp and gig workers for last-mile delivery.

According to estimates, these firms are likely to hire around 70,000 new temps or Flexi-staff for the upcoming festive season, a growth of 25-30 per cent over the last year. The online festive sales season will begin with the Amazon Prime Day Sale from July 26 to 27 & Big Saving Days by Flipkart (July 25-29) and culminate with Christmas and the new year.

Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) research shows that the ecommerce sector will be employing over 3 lakh Flexi-staff and gig workers this year, which includes an addition of 60,000 to 70,000 workers during the festive season in the current year.

"The ecommerce sector has been consistently hiring temp and gig workers. This year too there will be a 25-30 per cent increase in demand for such workers from the sector. The jobs will be across food delivery, grocery delivery, ecommerce and tech startups," Lohit Bhatia, President, Indian Staffing Federation, told DH.

The majority of the temp workers have studied only up to the 12th Grade and undergraduates. Entry-level salaries paid in the ecommerce sector start at Rs 16,000 per month and go up to Rs 24,000 per month. The workers also paid fuel allowances and extra pay during the peak season, Bhatia, who is also President - Workforce Management, Quess Corp, said.

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According to ISF research, the ecommerce sector employed about 150,000 Flexi-workers in 2018. It has been growing over 35 per cent year on year since then.

"With a shift in consumer behaviour towards buying more and more online due to the Covid-19 pandemic restricting offline activity, there has been a surge in online purchases. As a result, ecommerce and logistics firms have been witnessing a spike in the creation of jobs,” Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder & executive vice president, TeamLease Services, said.

To maintain the consumer interest in brands, major offline retailers have also gone digital, opted for online product demonstration and O2O sales model, spiking the need for hiring temp workers.

With the unlocking happening across the states, retail-led organisations have indicated that they will considerably add workforce in Q2 and Q3 to capitalise on the unlocking.

“The extent and scale of this will depend on any third wave and its impact. As we migrate from Q2 to Q3 in September / October, and no noticeable increase in Covid cases is not evident, we may have a massive increase in Retail spending and hiring," Bhatia added.