Tesco online order

Source: Tesco

The majority of roles are expected to be filled by colleagues who joined on a temporary basis at the start of the pandemic

Tesco is creating 16,000 new permanent jobs to support the major expansion of its online business since the start of the pandemic.

The supermarket said the roles would include 10,000 pickers to assemble customer orders and 3,000 online grocery van drivers to deliver them, as well as other roles in stores and distribution centres.

The jobs are in addition to 4,000 permanent jobs already created since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.

It said it expected the majority to be filled by colleagues who joined on a temporary basis at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which at its height saw Tesco employing nearly 50,000 additional temporary staff.

Roles will first be offered to temporary colleagues first, with remaining vacancies then recruited externally.

The move comes off the back of a huge expansion in online for the major supermarkets.

In April, Tesco became the first retailer to fulfil one million online grocery orders in a week and is serving nearly 1.5 million customers a week online, up from around 600,000 at the start of the pandemic.

Last week Asda said it planned to increase online capacity to 740,000 slots per week by the end of the year – and had set its sights on increasing capacity further to up to one million slots in 2021.

“Since the start of the pandemic, our colleagues have helped us to more than double our online capacity, safely serving nearly 1.5 million customers every week and prioritising vulnerable customers to ensure they get the food they need,” said Tesco UK & ROI CEO Jason Tarry.

“These new roles will help us continue to meet online demand for the long term, and will create permanent employment opportunities for 16,000 people across the UK.”