Samuel got fired – got a job during the pack rush of the times – E24

After the coronavirus ended almost all air traffic, Samuel Ærø was fired from the ground crew job at Gardermoen.

After months of job hunting and an uncertain day-to-day life, he learned that Norway Post was hiring new postmen at the Alnabru terminal.

– I heard through some friends that Norway Post needed people. After a quick phone call and an interview, I was offered a job as a courier. It was to avoid walking around doing nothing, and I prosper more than ever, says Ærø.

– Funny

Since August, he has driven around Oslo with parcels and has been assigned responsibility for a new digital delivery system.

– He was absolutely king. I like work assignments and I have very nice colleagues, it’s also fun working in a growing industry these days, he says.

So far this year, the growth in retail packages has been over 40 percent. The growth of the package spread to the number of employees.

600 new employees

Ærø is one of 600 new employees at Norway Post. Most of the new postal workers were laid off or laid off as a result of the virus situation.

– We’ve brought in additional staff along the way to handle the increasing volume, but we saw that by Black Friday and Christmas we were going to hit record parcel volumes and needed a lot more, says press manager Kenneth Tjønndal Pettersen in Posten.

– The ones we have brought have been important in handling the large number of packages. They have been dedicated and should be proud of the work that has been done to tackle the biggest package flood of all time, he says.

– Demand to have such a large growth

Competitor Postnord has also hired staff, employing between 400 and 500 employees in recent months. Previously, the postal group had around 1,500 employees in Norway.

– It is clear that it is demanding to have such a large growth in the number of employees. Finding so many qualified people is an interesting and demanding HR task, but overall it worked out well, says director of communications and marketing Ole A. Hagen at Postnord.

In the last days before Christmas, the volume of packages traditionally falls considerably.

– But this year, the Christmas fever has only continued. I was at the Alfaset terminal on Christmas Eve and there we received 120,000 packages in one day. Much remains to be done, says Hagen.

– Packages arrive

Postnord feared before the weekend that the infection situation at the company’s terminal in Alfaset would delay postal deliveries just before Christmas. On Friday, 14 employees were infected. By Christmas Eve, the number had risen to 20 infected. 650 employees have been tested.

– The packages arrive. We are completely updated. We’ve massively tested all employees at the Alfaset terminal and other nearby terminals, and the doctors say there is full control of the infection situation, Hagen says.

– With the boom in infections we’ve seen recently, we’ll have a new round of massive testing when employees return to work after Christmas, he says.

Work arranged for three friends

By the end of November, Norway Post’s parcel records had been broken and towards Christmas the growth of parcels continued. In week 48, Ærø’s department delivered 300% more packages than the same week last year.

– The volume of packages has been so great this fall and December that I had to help other departments sort letters and packages. There has been more than enough to do, he says.

It has dripped onto the group of friends.

– After starting at Norway Post, I told bosses about three friends who needed a job. They have also started now before Christmas, says Ærø.

He refused to have no permanent job

Most of the 600 new hires are employed in temporary positions.

– Now we are leaving behind completely extraordinary times. We are very excited about future development and what the new standard will be in 2021. If the new standard is set at a much higher level than we have planned, then we need to increase staff, says Tjønndal Pettersen.

Ærø has already been offered a permanent job.

– But I turned it down in the first place. I snowboard a lot in winter, so I have to have a slightly more flexible daily life. But I have realized that I want to continue working here, so I will continue as a substitute throughout the winter and as long as they want me, he says.

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