As hospitality and catering businesses across the UK close their doors to the public following the government’s press conference on Friday, Supermarkets are looking to widen theirs. For many people who were employed on Friday, the weekend’s developments surrounding COVID-19, could offer new employment openings, albeit temporarily.
Supermarkets across the UK have embarked on a recruitment drive to ensure the food supply chain to their customers remains intact and robust. Aldi, Asda, Lidl and Tesco have all activated massive recruitment campaigns to attract new people.
The UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco is now looking to take on 20,000 people, in what is said was an effort “to help feed the nation”.
Tesco announced yesterday that it will give all its workers a 10% bonus on their hourly rate until 1 May. backdated to 9th March across all stores, distribution centres and customer engagement centres.
Self-Employed
Like all business sectors hospitality and catering employs millions of people who are self-employed, a term that in 2020 covers a myriad of roles.
The chancellor’s latest announcement has eased some concerns for some people, but for the self-employed there has been no words of comfort to ease financial concerns.
Many self-employed people who work in hospitality and catering, especially those with customer facing skills and experience would seem to be an ideal fit for a variety of roles in supermarkets. It would not be a move that some would want to take, but it does seem an option, even if a temporary one.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a meeting with supermarket executives yesterday to discuss recruitment and wider issues facing supermarkets in reaction to the COVID-19 position.