With the festive season approaching, companies in logistics, food delivery, manufacturing, e-commerce and automobiles are bullish about an uptick in demand and are expected to increase hiring of gig and temporary workers by 30 to 35 percent.
Almost 300,000 temporary and gig jobs are expected to be generated during the festive season this year, according to Farhan Azmi, Vice President, Indian Staffing Federation. Azmi noted that IT-enabled services, logistics and e-commerce companies are expected to hire the most temps ahead of the Diwali-to-Christmas season, the busiest shopping period in the country.
According to Yeshab Giri, director of staffing at Randstad India, seasonal hiring of workers had grown 20-25 per cent across tier-2 and tier-3 cities in 2020 from previous years as e-commerce companies ramped up their supply chains and logistics in smaller towns.
“However, this year, demand for new temp staff is likely to be about 30-35 per cent higher as most offline retailers have gone digital and are strategically planning their workforce to meet seasonal demand,” Giri said. “We anticipate the hiring momentum in the July-September quarter to rise to an all-time high, with 65,000 to 80,000 new temp staff being recruited, especially in food delivery, logistics, manufacturing and MSMEs.”
Last-mile delivery, warehouse logistics and customer service are the top roles in demand, he said. This demand comes largely from logistics companies with some of them planning to hire 12,000-15,000 new temp workers to meet the seasonal demand, Giri said.
He observed that many e-commerce companies and new startups are expected to ramp up their gig-hiring to meet increased demand as the second wave of Covid-19 infections abates.
"Most of the companies in sectors like E-Commerce, Automobile, Manufacturing & allied sectors are gearing for the upcoming festive season in anticipation of increased sales during this upcoming season. We have seen a rise in demand for senior to CXO level professionals (on a temporary basis) to handle the expected business growth in the coming months," Giri observed.
“The festive season will lead to a hiring boom as customers across all age groups are expected to spend more than last year. Much of this intent comes from reduced restrictions, vaccinations and availability of great festive offers and discounts and a surge in online shopping,” he said.
Ajoy Thomas, business head (retail, e-commerce, logistics & transportation), at TeamLease Services, said that during the festive season, additional hiring of 200,000-300,000 is expected across profiles including delivery staff, pickers/packers, data entry operators, tele-callers, inwarding executives and business developers.
“This year, hiring would be 30 per cent more than the previous year. There are key sectors in the space like food tech, e-commerce, warehouse and transportation that are experiencing significant growth due to changing consumer behaviour,” said Thomas.
“We are seeing an increase in open mandates across e-commerce, logistics and delivery companies. Since July, the mandates have been increasing week after week. We believe that the festive season (August-December) would add up to 125K+ requirements across e-commerce, logistics and third-party logistics companies. Some of these mandates are specifically for the season, while others are due to newer pin codes and cities being launched by e-commerce companies,” said Lohit Bhatia, president – workforce management, at Quess Corp.
Food delivery and grocery segments typically hire gig workers on a per-day or per-delivery model and almost 300,000 additional on-demand such jobs are expected in this period, Bhatia added.
According to Bhatia, e-commerce, logistics, and delivery segments are expected to hire more temporary staff ahead of the festive season.
BFSI, automobile dealerships, field and in-shop sales are some of sectors that will increase hiring activities during this period, he noted.
"With soaring vaccination efforts and returning consumer confidence, we feel that the festive season this year will most likely be the best we have seen in a long time," Bhatia remarked.
Meanwhile, Alok Kumar, Senior Director, Manpower also noted that more than 300,000 jobs are expected to be on the shelf by various e-commerce, logistics, consumer durables and lifestyle product companies during this year's festive season.
"Despite the economic slowdown, the demand for seasonal hiring is likely to be buoyant this year following a surge in online buying and pick up in offline retail. And moreover, this is well ahead of the actual festival season. We expect an increase of 20-25 per cent in seasonal hiring this year over the previous year," he noted.
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