It is that time of the year when India shops the most and the festive season also boosts job creation.
But with fears of a slowdown looming large, festive season hiring may not see high double-digit growth as witnessed earlier.
Festive season hiring in 2019 is likely to be see a slower growth compared to the last year as companies have gone cautiously optimistic on hiring.
Compared to almost 1,80,000 jobs that were created last year in the festive season, there could only be a 10-15 percent growth this year. The growth was 40 percent last year.
Among the new jobs that are likely to be created in the country during the September to December period, a majority of jobs will be in the e-commerce sector.
Why low?
While firms are still hiring, they are ensuring that they do not create too many jobs that do not complement sales.
Yeshab Giri, vice president at Randstad Technologies and Specialties said: "With the slowdown that is being seen, there will be a direct impact on the festive season hiring. Overall, while we expect a 10-15 percent growth, the food delivery segment will see a 30 percent increase."
During the festive months, incentives, including bonuses, gift coupons and spot rewards for meeting targets are also provided to delivery executives. This is also because the rate of attrition in this segment is much higher and touches 40-45 percent during busy months, primarily because companies actively poach from each other.
Among the segments, Ajay Shah, vice president, TeamLease Service said that logistics and delivery personnel will see the most demand.
Shah also added that of the 2,70,000 retail/FMCG sector jobs that will be created this year, 40 percent of those will be for the online segment.
How was it last year?
In 2018, there was an almost 40 percent growth in the employment creation during the festive season. A majority of the jobs were created in the area of food and product delivery as well as packing and logistics.
This was prompted by a jump in sales across entities, both pure online as well as offline players selling products online.
It is the beginning of that season when India shops the most. And it is good news for not just companies who garner 40 percent of their yearly revenue between October and January, but also for job-seekers in the e-commerce sector. At least 2 lakh new jobs will be created this season to meet the sales demand, according to staffing companies.
Human resource officials said among job roles, delivery boys account for 80 percent of the jobs. The rest of the roles are in the areas of warehousing, packaging and shop-floor product sorting.
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