E-retailers to hire flexi-temp to meet festive rush

An article in Finanical Express talks about how e-retailers will use an additional 50,000 temporary workers this festive season to be able to meet delivery schedules; along with inputs from Sudeep Sen.

E-retailers will use an additional 50,000 temporary workers this festive season to be able to meet delivery schedules, according to Rishi Das, co-founder & CEO, HirePro, a recruitment firm.

The festival season begins in September and goes up to December. While the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has not estimated the exact scale of transaction that will take place during this period, it expects it to be around 50% of the total sales during the festival season.

However, if one goes by the hiring pattern of temporary workers by the e-commerce companies it seems they expect the sales to be even higher.

Although e-commerce companies have already engage around 90,000 delivery boys between them, the demand for deliveries is expected to pick up 20%, with the festival of Ganpati on September 5, Dussehra on October 10 and Diwali on October 29 and Christmas in December, Das told FE.

Temping will increase during these four months. All e-commerce companies are working on this model of hiring flexi-temp. At least 30% more hiring will happen during this year. “The concept of flexi-temp is still a new concept as far as Indian e-commerce companies are concerned. They started exploring this model only in the last six months,” Das said.

Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Roadrunnr, a food delivery company, have sounded out recruitment firms for extra help. A lot of people who buy on e-commerce platforms prefer delivery during the evening hours or on weekends. “E-commerce players, who were employing delivery boys for full day are now rethinking on their delivery strategy by opting to engage temporary workers,” Das said.

They are hiring extra workers on a temporary basis only to meet the additional demand for delivery during the festival season. This will enable them not only to meet the extra delivery schedules but also help them cut costs, he said.

The e-commerce sector as a whole has employed around 20,000 people in technology cum corporate roles, while another 1,00,000 are engaged in the customer support. This excludes people engaged in the packaging and cataloging services. During the current year alone, the sector is set to recruit around 5,000 technical staff.

Online marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and hyper-local delivery start-up Roadrunnr are among other e-commerce players that have placed orders with staffing companies including HirePro for supply of flexi temps to meet the surge in orders for the upcoming festive season.

Besides HirePro, other staffing companies like TeamLease, Quess Corp are engaged in the supply of professionals to e-commerce sector.
Sudeep Sen, assistant vice president, TeamLease Services also believes that the temporary hiring by e-commerce companies is set to witness 20% jump this year.

“The jobs on offer are at fulfillment centres or warehouses for various jobs in the packing, sorting, pickers, packers, data entry and delivery executives. An estimated 12,000 additional people are being hired for these roles,” he said.

Another staffing firm Million Minds has specialised in supply of temporary workers who come with their own motorcycles to work as delivery boys. These workers could be either students, government employees or anyone who is willing to work during evening hours or weekends and earn extra income.
Flexi Temp workers are paid up to R1,000 per day depending on the number of deliveries they carry out.

This article was publisshed in Finanical Express