NZ Post hires hundreds of extra staff to prepare for Omicron outbreak

NZ Post has had to hire hundreds of extra staff to meet demand. Photo / Supplied

NZ Post has employed hundreds more staff to keep up with demand as it prepares for a sustained Omicron outbreak.

The pandemic has had a massive impact on online shopping over the last two years, and NZ Post has continued to increase capacity to meet the demand for parcel delivery.

NZ Post chief operating officer Brendon Main said: "We brought on 800 extra people at the end of last year to deliver over 50 million parcels in the last six months of the year. It was the biggest Christmas in history for NZ Post and we worked really hard to scale up and deliver for Kiwis."

Main said a sustained Omicron outbreak will mean different challenges for NZ Post.

"We're preparing for both an increase in demand for parcel delivery, as well as a decrease in resource, as it's likely that at any given time some of our workforces will be unwell or self-isolating," he said.

"In preparation for this, we're getting ahead of things and increasing our capacity to deliver by about 10 per cent, including bringing on more people in advance - and our focus will be to continue scaling up as quickly and safely as we can as the situation develops.

"We know how critical the role is that we play in connecting Kiwis, especially when many of us might be at home isolating, so we have plans in place to mitigate the impact on our workforce through careful case management and contact tracing.

"Right now the NZ Post network is operating very close to normal so Kiwis don't need to do anything differently other than continue to be patient and kind as our people work hard to deliver. If the situation changes we'll continue to update customers with advice on ordering online and any potential delays. The best place to check in the first instance is our website www.nzpost.co.nz," Main said.