John Lewis to recruit 7,000 Christmas jobs
John Lewis is recruiting more than 7,000 temporary roles across the UK in the run up to Christmas.
The retailer is looking to hire 2,000 more workers than last year to meet increased demand.
The hiring spree comes as retail bosses have expressed concern about the long-term impact of ongoing supply chain disruption including labour shortages.
Roles at Waitrose shops include supermarket assistants, night shift workers and customer delivery drivers for Waitrose.com, as well as sales and merchandising roles at John Lewis stores.
The high street giant is also recruiting more than 550 permanent full-time driver and warehouse roles across its distribution and customer delivery centres.
Nikki Humphrey, people director at the John Lewis Partnership, said: “We know that as the first Christmas after lockdown, customers will want to make it really special and we’re throwing everything we can into helping them celebrate – our festive team will have a crucial role to play.”
Workers will be offered free food and drinks from October 4 to December 31 as an incentive for new employees.
The retailer has already hiked the salaries of its lorry drivers by £5,000 a year in a bid to tackle the shortage of HGV drivers.
New drivers who join before November will also receive a £1,000 bonus, in addition to the rise of roughly £2 an hour.
The company has opened a new 300,000 square foot distribution centre at Bardon, Leicestershire to help with the heightened online demand ahead of Black Friday.