Marks & Spencer has announced a major recruitment drive for the festive season, aiming to hire over 11,000 additional workers, a thousand more than last year. These new hires will mainly serve as customer service assistants, providing support in various roles across M&S stores in the UK, including serving customers on the shop floor, restocking shelves, and assisting with the food-to-order service.
The recruitment campaign covers positions in both the food and clothing & home divisions of the retail giant, with hiring set to commence on October 9 and new recruits expected to start from mid-November. Sacha Berendji, M&S Operations Director, highlighted the crucial role that store colleagues play in delivering a magical Christmas shopping experience to customers. He expressed the company’s commitment to bringing in more staff to better serve customers during the busy holiday season.
Emphasising the availability of a wide range of roles and flexible working patterns, Berendji encouraged interested individuals to visit the M&S careers website to explore and apply for these seasonal opportunities. Additionally, M&S mentioned that support centre employees would also be deployed to stores during the festive period to assist with the increased workload, with each support staff member expected to spend seven days working in-store each year, including four days leading up to Christmas.
In the previous Christmas season, support centre employees contributed a total of 103,000 hours towards supporting store operations. By expanding its workforce for the upcoming festive period, Marks & Spencer aims to enhance customer service and ensure a seamless shopping experience for all its patrons during the busy holiday period.