SEVERAL SUPERMARKETS IN Ireland have launched recruitment drives in a bid to cope with extra demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The country’s biggest grocery distributor Musgrave, which operates SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak stores, will hire hundreds of new staff on a temporary basis.

Other chains such as Lidl and Aldi also recently launched recruitment drives for hundreds of jobs nationwide.

Musgrave is primarily recruiting people with experience in retail, fresh food, hospitality, driving and warehousing.

It has asked representative groups of businesses who have been impacted by the coronavirus crisis such as the Restaurants Association of Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation to inform members about the jobs.

Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis.

Musgrave has asked any businesses that were forced to temporarily lay off staff with expertise in these areas to contact the company.

In addition to the jobs available directly with Musgrave, SuperValu, Centra and Daybreak stores are also hiring directly.

Musgrave CEO Noel Keeley said there has been “a huge increase in demand” in the last week and a half, a trend expected to continue “for an extended period”.

“To meet this level of demand, we need to increase our team numbers and ensure we have enough people to allow our current staff get time to rest,” he said.

Given the large number of job losses in certain sectors, Keeley said Musgrave is “working closely with different representative bodies to prioritise those in the restaurant, food and retail sectors who were amongst the first to lose their jobs because of Covid-19″.

Meanwhile, Tesco Ireland has announced it will be awarding staff a 10% bonus for “going above and beyond during the Covid-19 crisis”.