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Recruitment Solution Drives 7 Million More Christmas Deliveries for Postal Service

Our client is a UK-based postal and courier service provider with a legacy of over 500 years. Responsible for the delivery of letters and parcels, the company delivers to over 30 million addresses within the UK alone, supported by a fleet of over 48,000 vehicles, circa 141,500 employees and 11,200 local collection networks. 

 

Recruitment Solution Drives 7 Million More Christmas Deliveries for Postal Service

Client

Postal and courier services provider

Contact

Senior Recruitment Manager

Sector

Transport and Logistics

Staffing Type

Temporary Drivers
98.9%
Fulfilment rate
911%
Increase in timesheet hours
47%
Increase in Christmas deliveries

Recruitment Challenge

Our client needed help with filling additional driver roles during their peak period, from November to early January. Not only did the usual Black Friday and Cyber Monday demand require more staffing, but the increase in online orders across the nation added to the strain on their current workforce. Tight deadlines around weekend deliveries, including testing kits and other high-priority deliverables, as well as the increasing likelihood of sickness and isolation from drivers, meant that our client needed a surplus of drivers to ensure delivery demand was met. 

Originally, our client tasked us with recruiting 200 additional drivers for their Christmas period. However, as demand and restrictions grew, Blue Arrow increased the planned supply of temporary drivers to 450, with an additional 250 needing to be sourced in another planned volume increase. At its peak, Blue Arrow were tasked with hiring 700 drivers in total. 

Recruitment Challenge

Recruitment Solution

With 6 regional offices in Scotland alone, providing comprehensive coverage across the region from Bellshill, Glasgow, Livingston and Edinburgh to Inverness and Aberdeen, we secured the status of sole/ preferred supplier.

We utilised our Fulfilment+ system to assess potential candidates based on their experience of working with the client, their skills and experience including legal compliance, their proximity to the work location and their availability to cover the required hours in determining the best match for specific assignments. This included finding candidates qualified to drive ‘last mile’ Category B vans and express courier vehicles.

Recruitment Solution

Recruitment Journey

As part of our approach, we targeted new candidates, with the right qualifications, who were looking to work. This included people displaced from hospitality and other professions which demonstrated the required capabilities and transferable skills including taxi drivers, medics, and offshore workers.
 
Using advanced technology, we were able to fulfil the client’s requirements by auto-matching available talent with work opportunities using a five-point grading system. By putting this dedication into finding the right candidates, we were able to quickly interview and onboard our temporary drivers, to minimise disruption to our client’s processes. 

Recruitment Journey

The Results

Through our time supporting this client, we adopted a flexible approach to meet their needs and ensure the health and safety of all our workers.  
This resulted in:

  • 98.9% fulfilment rate for all temporary staffing vacancies.
  • 911% increase in timesheet hours compared to the previous year
  • Up to 700 temporary staff working at peak demand

This meant our client benefitted from:

  • 60% increase in tracked parcels – equated to 2 million items.
  • 46.7% increase in letter and parcel delivery – equating to 4.5 million items
  • 14.8% increase in priority delivery items – equating to 16,000 items

This resulted, overall, in almost 7 million additional Christmas deliveries during the period. 

The Results
With one of the strongest agency driver networks in the country, we were confident in our ability to support our client with their unprecedented demand. However, our performance surpassed even our bold expectations, delivering near-perfect fulfilment rates.
Jason Richards, Senior National Account Director
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