The post is looking for staff for Christmas sales

The pre-Christmas period means the peak season for Swiss Post. That is why they are urgently looking for employees – in all areas, from logistics to branches to delivery, Post press spokesperson Michael Homola said in an interview with noe.ORF.at.

The numbers speak for themselves: while an average of 200,000 parcels are sorted per day at the Lower Austria logistics center in Hagenbrunn (Korneuburg district), in December the figure was almost 50 percent more at 275,000 parcels per day. The situation with parcel delivery is similar. The number there rose from 110,000 to 170,000 births in December.

Postage: 184 million parcels nationwide

Due to the high prices, a certain reluctance is noted among customers, but the number of parcels is expected to be the same as in the previous year – about 184 million shipments across Austria. In order to be able to handle this amount of parcels, Swiss Post has invested heavily in sorting capabilities, among other things. According to Homola, sorting performance has increased by 25 percent compared to the previous year.

In addition, more processing areas will be set up in logistics centers, “and we have additional equipment such as roll containers or switch body bridges and we have access to additional transportation capabilities.” In high season, an additional 100 employees will be employed in delivery and another 150 in the logistics center in Hagenbrunn.

Despite all the preparations, there may be delays in delivery, they said. Business days such as Black Friday or Cyber ​​Monday will only play a secondary role. You can see “certain increases, but the two days aren’t some of the strongest in years,” Homola asserts.

Christmas and Pandemic guarantee standard sizes

On the other hand, there are record amounts of parcels in the first or second week of December. “Strictly speaking, parcel volumes rose sharply during the pandemic. So here we had two years in which parcel volume in Austria increased by 45 percent. We expect similar amounts for this year.

To ensure that there are as many packages as possible under the Christmas tree at the appointed time, efforts are being made to fill vacancies at the post office as quickly as possible. In addition, it has been common practice for Swiss Post to work with partners for years. “Of course we would like to have more of our staff and we want to fill these 100 positions internally for the long term,” says Aumondem.

Four days a week as an incentive for new employees

In order to address new employees, the four-day week is tested in Lower Austria – 40 hours divided into four days. “It certainly looks like an interesting alternative for employees that we could also bring into the company,” Aumondem says. The evaluation should be done after the Christmas season.

In other areas of the company, a four-day week was possible for a long time, for example in transport logistics. In Hagenbrunn, the form is now being used for parcel deliveries for the first time, and feedback from employees is also very good, according to Umundum. In addition, existing employees receive a bonus when hiring new colleagues.