Ecomm rules in festive temporary job creation | Economic Times

KOLKATA: Ecommerce has taken a strong lead over other sectors in temporary job creation in the country this quarter, as companies go all out to push festive sales in an economy hit hard by the continuing pandemic.Staffing firms such as Manpower, TeamLease Services and CIEL HR Services said ecommerce is accounting for a bigger chunk of their overall mandates than before as more consumers make a shift to online shopping.This is even as other usually active sectors such as retail, consumer durables and BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) have reduced the mandates for temporary staff this season, said firms.Ecommerce makes up for about 80% of total mandates at Manpower this year against 60% last year, while at CIEL, it’s about 70% of the mix, up from 60% last year.“On an average, the overall temp staffing requirement during the festive season is about 500,000-600,000,” said Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of CIEL. “This year, total numbers may go down slightly, but for ecommerce it will be a sharp rise.”Top ecommerce platforms Amazon and Flipkart had said they will create 170,000 seasonal jobs this festive season. That’s a nearly 21% increase from the approximately 140,000 they had said last year.Snapdeal said its sellers and logistics partners would create 26,000 jobs, primarily engaged in packing, shipments, deliveries and back-office functions. It will also be adding to its customer service teams, which will be located in smaller cities.“The pandemic has accelerated the familiarity and acceptance of ecommerce amongst new users,” a Snapdeal spokesperson told ET. “We believe that there will be a redistribution of demand between offline and online channels, with online gaining share. We are also working with our third-party logistics partners to prepare for the surge in festive orders.”Fashion portal Myntra is hiring over 7,000 temp staff for its supply chain and warehouses during the festive sales period.An end-September report by RedSeer Consulting had said about 300,000 jobs are expected to be created by various ecommerce and logistics companies during this year’s festive season.According to data shared with ET by QuikrJobs, in metros, the platform has seen a 112% increase in demand for warehouse executives and a 11% increase in delivery executives from the corresponding period last year.“The average salary offered for warehouse executives increased by 42% in metros this time around,” said Amit Jain, head of QuikrJobs.Non-metros too have seen an increase in delivery executive roles, data showed.Meanwhile, there’s lesser demand for temp staffers from retailers and other companies with a major offline presence this festive season as footfalls in shopping malls and retail outlets have decreased with more consumers shopping online amid the pandemic, said Alok Kumar, senior director at Manpower.Big temp staff recruiters, including major consumer electronics and durables firms, and BFSI which would hire to push loans, and even automobile players have scaled down numbers, industry insiders said.“On an average, ecommerce will make up about 60% of the industry mandates,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of TeamLease.