Woolworths to hire 20,000 workers to help cope with demand surge

Woolworths is responding to a surge in demand by hiring 20,000 mostly casual staff, including 5000 stood-down Qantas workers.

A rush for food amid coronavirus restrictions has overwhelmed many supermarkets. Picture: AFP

Woolworths will provide a much-needed employment boost amid the devastation savaging the retail sector, announcing it will hire 20,000 workers to help fill and run its supermarkets.

In a week in which giant national retailers such as Premier Investments, Michael Hill, Mosaic Brands, Accent Group and ALH have stood down tens of thousands of workers, Woolworths said it will hire the new roles across its supermarkets, e-commerce, supply chain and drinks businesses in Australia over the next month.

It comes as supermarkets try to cope with demand for food as coronavirus restrictions shut down many other shops, restaurants and cafes. The supermarket giant is also trying to step up home deliveries.

Among the hires, Woolworths will offer 5000 short-term roles to Qantas staff, including more than 1500 in distribution centres. The airline last week announced it would stand down two thirds of its workforce, or 20,000 employees, as it slashes more than 90 per cent of its routes.

We're hiring up to 20,000 new roles across our businesses over the next month.
This will allow us to better meet the unprecedented demand for food and drinks across the country and also help scale up our online delivery to support the changing shopping needs of the community. pic.twitter.com/cGlCnnKmm7

— Woolworths (@woolworths) March 26, 2020

Woolworths says it’s also offering streamlined application processes to the likes of Village Entertainment, Michael Hill Jewellers, Cotton On, Accor and Super Retail Group, and expects to make thousands of short-term roles available to employees from these businesses.

Woolworths said the new hires will allow the retailer to better meet the unprecedented demand for food and drinks across Australia.

“It will also help scale up online operations to support the changing shopping needs of the community as the health crisis continues to unfold,” Woolwoths said.

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci said the supermarket giant had an important role to play keeping Australians employed.

‘What Brad and Woolworths are doing is a great example of companies working together in very hard times’

“Our top priority as we continue delivering an essential service to the community is upholding customer and team safety through clear social distancing rules and elevated hygiene standards.

“As we do this, we will have more hours for existing team members and additional roles to fill as we focus on meeting the needs of our customers and communities.”

He said the new roles would not only help Woolworths better serve the increase in demand, but allow it to scale up home deliveries.

“What Brad and Woolworths are doing is a great example of companies working together in very hard times. We have some great people and we’ll need them back once we’re flying again, but opportunities like this are a win-win in the meantime,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.

Woolworths will also help to find jobs for the 8000 workers stood down at pubs group ALH, which it partly owns.

“Our immediate hiring focus is the redeployment of our ALH team members impacted by this week’s mandatory hotel closures,” Mr Banducci said.

“We have already placed around 3000 of those impacted into new roles across BWS, Dan Murphy’s and Woolworths supermarkets and will continue to take expressions of interest.

Mr Banducci said Woolworths was “working with a number of customer-focused businesses impacted by recent government measures to stop the spread of COVID-19”.

“We’re hopeful these businesses will bounce back strongly once this crisis passes, and we want to do our bit to help them - and their people - get through the short-term challenge.”

Woolworths is also working through thousands of applications already made through its careers website and walk-up applications made in-store.

The vast majority of new roles will be casual in order to provide maximum workforce flexibility to respond to peaks in demand and cover for existing team members who may be unable to work.

For those on leave without pay arrangements with other employers, Woolworths will offer short-term contracts, it said.

Estimated roles by state:

• New South Wales: 5700
• Victoria: 5000
• Queensland: 4700
• Western Australia: 2100
• South Australia: 1350
• Tasmania: 600
• ACT: 300
• Northern Territory: 250