Online retail giant Amazon is creating 13,000 new part-time jobs to cope with the festive rush as millions of customers log-on to buy Christmas gifts.
Confirmation of plans to recruit an army of seasonal staff comes just days after it announced it was adding 1,000 permanent roles across its UK-wide operations.
The firm operates eight fulfilment centres nationwide in support of its vast e-commerce empire and has a major customer support centre in Edinburgh.
The company’s largest single site covering the equivalent of more than 14 football pitches is at Dunfermline, and staff numbers at the facility will grow significantly over the festive period as hundreds of temporary staff are added.
In each of the past two years, a large number of seasonal staff at the Fife site have been given permanent jobs once their festive contracts have been completed and reviewed.
The firm yesterday said more than 1,000 extra staff were being recruited in Scotland, and confirmed that “hundreds” of those posts would be at its Dunfermline site.
The scale of the task they will face is formidable given the tens of millions of presents expected to be sold by Amazon in the run-up to Christmas.
“Last year, on the busiest day in the run-up to Christmas, our customers ordered 4.1 million items that’s about 47 items ordered per second,” UK director of operations John Tagawa said.
“The thousands of seasonal associates who join us at this time of year play an integral role in helping us deliver an exceptional experience for our customers during this incredibly busy time.
“We’re excited to be creating 13,000 seasonal jobs, hundreds of which will lead to permanent, full-time positions.
“We have created more than 2,000 new permanent roles at our fulfilment centres in the last two years, taking our total permanent fulfilment and customer service centre workforce to over 6,000 employees.”
Meanwhile, independent parcel firm Yodel said it was also adding 5,000 new part-time and full-time personnel across the UK ahead of the festive season.
The company said it was adding 750 warehouse staff, 760 drivers and 470 self-employed van drivers with their own vehicles to deliver to and collect parcels from customers.
A further 2,830 vacancies for self-employed couriers to work flexible hours in their own neighbourhood are also being created.
The main focus of the recruitment will be in London and south-east England, but the firm is also adding staff across Scotland.
Dick Stead, executive chairman of Yodel, said: “This is a key time for our retail clients and their shoppers alike. We began our recruitment in September to ensure that our workforce is fully trained and prepared to deliver the perfect Christmas.”