The challenge
We have worked with the client since 2011, delivering a robust, scalable recruitment solution to support its network-wide industrial and customer services requirements for temporary resources. As well as managing a large flexible workforce to support business-as-usual operations, key busy periods, where there is a significant ramp up in demand, include Christmas, Easter, Eid al-Fitr and the big shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
They required both single shift cover and long-term temporary assignments for the following roles:
Casual mail sorters & warehouse operatives – sorting and despatching mail
Postmen & postwomen – sorting mail for route, delivering mail and capturing customer signatures for deliveries - filling both driving and non-driving roles
Administration & customer service advisors – handling customer queries and complaints for their call centres, advising customers on the status of tracked mail, managing complaints and providing general advice and guidance
Manual data entry keyers – entering information and supporting the automated mailing systems
The solution
Our service is underpinned by robust recruitment infrastructure, powered by continuous investment in market leading technology, a dedicated website and marketing campaigns to attract and engage new candidates.
We source and manage a large talent pool of workers through a dedicated recruitment team, working with the client to agree weekly resource demand plans and deploying workers from this pool in to available shifts. Our talent pool typically stands at 11,000 but can grow to over 14,000 to respond to increased demand. During these peak periods, we scale up our delivery team enabling us to fulfil up to 26,000 shifts a week across the UK.
The results
We source and deploy candidates for 38 mail centres, 6 regional distribution offices and 70 delivery offices and maintain a talent pool of 11,000+ pre-screened and vetted candidates.
4m+ hours of flexible worker shifts
60-70,000 hours every week
Up to 26,000 individual shifts filled per week (peak)
99% fulfilment of forecasted orders
98% of non-forecasted orders
To ensure our service is always delivering best value, both to our client and our talent pool of workers, we have delivered innovations including:
An end-to-end online recruitment process incorporating a dedicated, temporary resource careers page and integrated vetting checks to ensure fast-track on-boarding
Chatbot enabled candidate engagement reducing the time it takes to process 1000’s of applications to a matter of hours
Scheduling software accessible by mobile/tablet allowing workers to self-book in to available shifts
Holistic social media strategy (including video content) focusing on brand and diversity resulting in a 50% increase in female workers
