Bengaluru: India’s largest online grocer BigBasket said it will hire 10,000 permanent on-ground staff to work at warehouses, distribution centres and as delivery personnel, over the next few days.
Its rival Grofers also plans to recruit 2,000 additional workers, as both the companies look to service a massive demand surge caused by the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.
BigBasket co-founder & CEO Hari Menon told ET that labour shortage has emerged as the biggest worry for the company. “We invested heavily on (infrastructure) last year and have enough capacity for the next 18 months at least but workforce is a problem right now,” said Menon said.
SoftBank-backed Grofers said it is hiring workers for its warehouses, while Flipkart and Amazon have offered to double payments to temporary staff.
E-commerce companies have been facing a major manpower shortage, as migrant workers have returned to their native places, amid the virus outbreak. “Many workers staying home or going back to their villages and towns, we now require people…This is why we are hiring delivery and warehouse personnel,” said Tanuja Tewari, Vice President-Human Resources at BigBasket.
To be sure, online retailers such as BigBasket, Grofers, Amazon and Flipkart have solved issues around on-ground staff movement in at least the top 30 cities. They are, however, struggling to find staff to pick and sort orders at their warehouses and hubs, as well as partners for last-mile deliveries.
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