Sales boost work options

Australian retailers are preparing for a bumper mid-year sales season and it won’t just be Aussies looking for a bargain who will benefit.

Major retailers are hiring extra casual workers to help meet the demand during what Australian Retailers Association chief executive officer Paul Zahra tipped would be a busy period.

“There’s no doubt at the moment, there’s a cost-of-living crisis, so people are very conscious and price sensitive, and they’re looking for deals,” he said. “Retailers are expecting that mid-year sales will be large, and as a result, they’re staffing up accordingly.”

One retailer alone – Amazon Australia – is looking to hire more than 1000 workers in a bid to boost its workforce ahead of the mid-year sales season.

Mr Zahra said some sales had already started, with the official mid-year and end-of-financial-year sales due to run throughout June.

“There’ll be quite a lot of casual work available in the retail industry across the board as retailers will be scaling up to deal with the volume of sales during this period,” he said.

The seasonal roles at Amazon Australia are offered at its fulfilment and logistics sites across the country and could result in an income of more than $1000 a week, depending on the position and hours worked.

The pay starts from $28.80 an hour, ranging from a couple of shifts a week to almost fulltime hours. The majority of Amazon’s sites operate seven days a week, including night shifts at some centres.

Alternatively, job seekers might opt to sign up for Amazon Flex, which is a parcel delivery service similar to Uber, where drivers can earn a minimum of $114 for a four-hour window.

The seasonal roles, which could be for up to three months’ employment, have the potential to turn into more permanent positions.

Amazon Australia director of operations Mindy EspidioGarcia said: “We provide onthe-job training, so no previous experience is required.”