Major chains adding to staff amid COVID-19 turmoil
Canada’s three major grocery chains have been taking steps to meet the needs of customers during the COVID-19 pandemic and safety appears to be at the top of the list.
Stellarton-based Empire Co. Ltd., parent of the Sobeys and Safeway chains, Loblaw Cos. Ltd. based in Brampton, Ont., owner of Atlantic Superstore, Shoppers Drug Mart and Nofrills brands, and Montreal-based Metro Inc., which doesn’t operate any stores in Atlantic Canada, are all adding staff and raising pay for the duration of the pandemic.
Mark Boudreau, who speaks on behalf of Loblaw in the Atlantic region, says his company is looking for new colleagues at all 28 Atlantic Superstore locations in Nova Scotia, as well as Shoppers Drug Mart and Nofrills.
“We’ve had a number of colleagues needing to stay home for a number of reasons, including child care with day cares closed, travel, and personal health situations,” he explained in an email earlier this week.
Another reason is the speed at which the supply chain is moving, and people’s shopping patterns have changed as A result of COVID-19.
“For example, people have been stocking up and more use our PC Express online option. That means there is additional staff required to do other jobs,” said Boudreau. “In addition to this, we want to ease the load of our current store colleagues, as they’ve been working very hard, with long hours to ensure we are providing quality servicee, while at the same time ensuring that our stores are a safe place to shop.”
That desire to add new staff extends to Loblawowned stores throughout the Atlantic region, including Dominion stores, which it operates in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Loblaw has opened a website to recruit temporary workers to help in stores and distribution centres, with a focus on store clerks, Shoppers Drug Mart merchandisers, assemblers, pharmacists and pharmacy assistants.
“Our supply chain is strong and we’re going to keep it that way. We know people are relying on our stores to be open, stocked and ready to serve. In order to keep things running smoothly, we need a full team in stores and distribution centres,” Mark Wilson, head of human resources for Loblaw and Shoppers Drug Mart, has said in a company news release.
“We also need to be able to give our current team a break. So we’re inviting people to apply and we’ll reach out if we need a hand restocking, supporting customers, or just pitching in,” Wilson was quoted saying in the news release.
He said Loblaw doesn’t know how much help it will need, or where, but if there are people looking to be employed there is an opportunity.
Empire’s Sobeys Inc. chain is also looking for additional staff. The Nova Scotia-based company is encouraging people to apply for recently opened employment opportunities “to keep pace with customer needs.”
Sobeys, like its competitors, is looking for more part-time staff to stock shelves and keep checkout lines moving. It is also looking for truck drivers to move product from warehouses to stores and warehouse workers to keep inventory flowing. And it is looking for “pharmacy team members,” too.
On Sunday Sobeys introduced its new Hero Pay Program. All employees will receive an additional $50 a week, regardless of the number of hours worked. Employees who work more than 20 hours a week will receive an additional $2 premium per hour for all hours over 20 hours, in addition to the $50 payment.
All of the new compensation arrangements are retroactive to March 8, 2020 and employees will receive their first payments in early April. The program will be reassessed at the end of April.
The incentives offered at Sobeys are similar to the funding improvements offered to staff at the other grocery chains.
A lot of the extra attention to detail, is to protect the public and workers from catching the COVID-19 virus. For example, for the duration of the pandemic most of the stores are limiting the number of customers allowed inside at any one time. And all have installed, or will soon install, plexiglass shields to protect cashiers from potential COVID-19 infection from customers, and vice versa.