10.5k jobs are being created as Hermes invests £100 million in parcel people and new tech. They aim to expand capacity to meet the huge demand created by people shopping at home during lockdown and the continuing growth in the parcel business, which whilst it might subside slightly now that the high street has reopened will doubtless be busier than ever when winter arrives.
There will be 1500 new full-time staff, including head office staff, drivers, warehouse operatives, managers and supervisors plus another 9,000 self employed couriers. The self employed drives can also opt to become ‘self-employed plus’, which provides a number of benefits such as holiday pay (pro-rata up to 28 days), and individually negotiated pay rates.
As well as staff, a wedge of the Hermes investment will go on tech and infrastructure with plans to spend £100 million on new vehicles, £60 million on 15 new regional depots and £40 million on technology. With a predicted volume of 3.5 million parcels a day during the peak Black Friday and Christmas season and a desire to increase next-day delivery capacity Hermes is continuing to invest heavily in the UK which will capitalise on their investment in their continued investments in regional hubs.
“The pandemic has expedited the already phenomenal growth of online shopping and we see no sign of this changing. As a result, it is important that we have the right infrastructure and people in place to support this.
This is good news for the many people who have sadly had their income affected and we are pleased to be able to support the UK economy with so many jobs at this time. In that first fortnight of lockdown we had thousands of applications from pub staff, chefs, children’s entertainers, dog walkers, pub singers, beauticians, hairdressers, pilots and many, many others. We look forward to welcoming our new recruits over the coming weeks.”
– Martijn de Lange, CEO, Hermes UK
6 Responses
Maybe they could divert some of that to training their staff as to where is a sensible place to leave items? Or maybe to actually let customers know when they can’t deliver a parcel for several days because they have no driver covering your area, rather than just marking it as receipitant asked for it to be returned to sender, when they haven’t.
There are so many areas they could spend it on!
Justa tip for M L, dropped over a fence into a hedge in the rain…. No. Left by door in plain sight of road. No. Randomly left by car at end of drive. No. Left at depot with daily update of we are processing it…. for several days. No.
I feel your pain Toby …
extra self employed couriers delivering your parcels using their own cars, quite often on the PCP deal cars and whatnot. economy of 21st century.
is a stinky old diesel good to crawl through any city? no.
is a van with disabled conversion at the back a good delivery van? no.
is the self-employed “courier” wearing a dirty tracksuit looking good? no.
is the filthy corner shop good for doing drop-offs? rather not.
such a professionalism.
Great to see a carrier able to challenge Amazon. I have always received great service from them
As someone who has done the job of a self employed Hermes courier throughout the recent Coronavirus pandemic, I can tell you the following:
– Hermes pay half minimum wage – this doesn’t account for your petrol / insurance / PPE costs. This is based on them paying £0.45 per parcel (they claim this is £0.70 – £1 per parcel in the hiring process), and taking an average load of 100-120 parcels out with you. They are able to get away with this as you are operating under the guise of being ‘self employed’, however they are responsible for allocating you your pallet each day, and so subsequently they determine how much you are able to earn.
– A Hermes self employed driver works 10 to 12 hour days, 6 days a week.
It is excruciatingly back-breaking work, and you will need to learn your route quickly and also be able familiarise yourself with a new one at the drop of a hat. Even in your local area this will be challenging: it’s not like everyone’s done ‘the knowledge’ and it will surprise you how difficult it is to know where everything is.
– The general public are rude, ungrateful and to delivery drivers, generally.
During the pandemic, I experienced a myriad of anti-social, unpleasant and unhelpful behaviours from all manner of home-bound, covid-fearing consumers.
The bulk of the community who ‘now, more then ever’ were supposed to be ‘all in it together’ turned out mostly to be unwilling to assist their neighbours in any way, only looking out for themselves, and all the while treating me like I was some kind of ‘rona-wielding mutant.
I remember one such occasion where a stout gentleman, who angrily claimed he was: “at risk!” refused to take his upstairs neighbours parcel into the hallway whilst puffing away on his 50th cigarette of the day. The parcel didn’t need a signature (none do at present…), or to be touched or handled in anyway, and for all he knew it could have contained the miracle cure we’ve all been searching for. But instead of taking it in to his hallway (there was only one bell for both flats), – like the considerate neighbour we all hope we have – he instead crumpled up the ‘sorry i missed you’ note and threw it at my head. He wouldn’t even let me hide in the front garden. Proper ‘blitz spirit’ if ever there was.
Beyond lugging crates of tinned dog food up 30 storey tower blocks, and bags of gravel to unappreciative yummy mummy’s who have taken up an interest in landscaping, there were a lot of positive experiences also: such as delivering PPE to Care Homes, Medicines to vulnerable communities, and supplies to clinics and health centres. Of course, there were some very genuine recipients, and getting the chance to chat with an elderly, isolated person – most likely the only one they may have had that day – is a really great experience, and will stay with you.
There’s some strange stigma instilled in the general populous who seem to think Hermes (who, like many have delivery companies have their faults [see points outlined above]), are a moronic workforce, clad in ‘dirty tracksuits’ that purposefully go out of their way to provide a shoddy service, allegedly hide parcels in bins (?), and leave boxes in the rain (also ?). In reality, the workforce consists of earnest people trying to make a living, from all walks of life and many rely on this as their sole source of income, meagre though it may be.
So to all the Toby’s, Crystals’, Jay’s and Wayne’s of this world, I say only this: take a care to appreciate your local Hermes courier, or any courier for that matter. He is likely being paid terrible money to lug your heavy crap to you because you are too lazy and scared to get it yourself.
Lord knows I say thank you and mean it now.