NEW hope could be found for Fermanagh workers as reports reveal that Tesco could add hundreds of jobs across the North under plans to recruit 16,000 permanent new roles to support the “exceptional growth” of its online business.
It has been reported that Tesco has more than doubled its deliveries to online customers since the start of the Covid-19 lockdown back in March.
The recruitment drive will include 10,000 roles for pickers, who select items for customer orders and 3,000 delivery drivers.
The grocery giant remains the North’s largest direct private sector and if these new jobs are sourced on a proportional basis across its UK and Ireland operation it could mean as many as 500 jobs for the North including new roles in its Enniskillen store.
It has been suspected that the retailer will also hire staff for a variety of other roles across its stores and distribution centres in the coming months.
The 16,000 jobs are in addition to around 4,000 permanent jobs already created since the start of the pandemic with reports that the majority of new roles will be filled by staff who have joined the company on a temporary basis in recent months.
Around 47,000 temporary staff joined Tesco at its peak during the pandemic, although it is understood that most of these roles have since ended.
Tesco’s 2020 annual report confirmed that the average number of employees across its UK and Ireland operation was cut by almost 25,000 from 344,117 in 2019 to 319,303 for the year ending February 2020.
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