Tesco creates 16,000 permanent jobs after online boom

Tesco has created 16,000 permanent roles after a successful online boom in sales.

The new jobs are in addition to the 4,000 permanent jobs which have already been created since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The positions will include 10,000 pickers to assemble customer orders and 3,000 drivers to deliver them, plus a variety of other roles in stores and distribution centres.

The positions will be offered first to the employees that volunteered to help with the online surge following the rise of the Coronavirus, however, any additional positions left over will be given to external candidates.

Tesco now serves almost 1.5m customers a week online, up from around 600,000 at the start of the pandemic.

Jason Tarry, Tesco UK & ROI CEO, said: “Since the start of the pandemic, our colleagues have helped us to more than double our online capacity, safely serving nearly 1.5 million customers every week and prioritising vulnerable customers to ensure they get the food they need.

“These new roles will help us continue to meet online demand for the long term, and will create permanent employment opportunities for 16,000 people across the UK.”

Before the pandemic, 9% of Tesco’s sales were online. The figure is now more than 16% of sales, with Tesco expecting online sales of over £5.5bn this year, up from £3.3bn last year.