Early festivals spark a boom in temp hiring

An early onset of festivals, unsold stocks from a short summer, and some extra cash in shoppers' pockets – A set of factors have conspired to trigger a robust hiring season of temporary workers, just before the year's bumper shopping season.

- Devina Sengupta & Sowmya Ramasubramanian

Consumer, e-commerce and logistics firms are putting together a platoon of temporary and last-mile delivery workforce, hoping to meet the surge in demand in the upcoming season of festivals.

A short summer that led to an inventory pile-up in the season-special white goods, an early onset of the festival season, wider access to online shopping, and the assumption that consumers will have a little more cash in hand due to tax savings are all leading to a 20% year-on-year rise in temporary workforce hiring.

"As we approach the festive season—typically commencing early September—we proactively scale up hiring across our supply chain network to meet the anticipated surge in demand," said Aakriti Chandra, vice-president (human resources) at e-commerce firm Flipkart. The senior executive said the firm will hire for "seasonal roles" in their fulfillment centres, sortation hubs, and delivery facilities, which will especially impact employment in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

Like last year, Flipkart will lock horns with rival Amazon this season too. Both had targeted hiring more than 100,000 workers during the festive season that typically marks their largest sale period.