Waitrose to hire nearly 1,850 more drivers and pickers for Christmas. Credit: Waitrose & Partners.

UK supermarket chain Waitrose decided to strengthen its online workforce with additional hiring ahead of the Christmas season.

The company will employ nearly 1,850 people for a mix of temporary and permanent roles as drivers and pickers for its online delivery service.

Employees will help the company fulfil the increasing customer demand for its service. They will pick and deliver online orders in Waitrose shops.

They will also be working within its two online fulfilment centres in Enfield and Coulsdon covering both the home delivery and grocery click & collect services offered.

Waitrose online director Laura Burbedge said: “This year our online shopping operation has more than trebled, and we know that the demand for our Waitrose.com service will continue throughout the festive season.

“Our customers are planning ahead and adding Christmas items to their online baskets, with seasonal products on Waitrose.com up 250% so far in comparison to last year and turkey orders up by 280%.

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“These additional Waitrose.com drivers and pickers will allow us to better support our customers over the Christmas period with their online grocery orders.”

Recently, Waitrose announced plans to expand its trial with Deliveroo to 25 more shops, reaching 3.1 million households across the UK.

Last week, Waitrose announced that it cut down the prices of more than 200 of its own-label essential items.