Morrisons moves to help customers and staff during the coronavirus outbreak

Morrisons has introduced a range of measures to support its staff and customers during the coronavirus outbreak.

The supermarket will be expanding its home delivery service  by making more delivery slots available both through its own website and its store on Amazon Prime. In addition, it will use 100 further stores to pick customers’ shopping over the coming weeks and will launch a call centre to enable orders to be taken over the phone for customers who do not shop online.

The company will also introduce a new range of easy to order food parcels, including options for vegetarians, from 23 March.

To support the roll-out of the expanded delivery service, Morrisons will be recruiting around 2,500 people to work as pickers and drivers. In addition, it will be taking on 1,000 people to work in its distribution centres.

New measures to help employees include the introduction of a staff hardship fund and sick pay being extended to those workers who would not normally be eligible. It will also ask customers to pay by card or smartphone where possible to reduce cash handling.

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “We expect the days, weeks and months ahead to be very testing and we are determined to do our bit. These measures will support our very hard-working colleagues, enable us to provide more food to more people in their homes and create opportunities for people whose jobs are affected by the coronavirus.”

Last week Morrisons announced that it would be implementing immediate payments for its smaller suppliers to help them with their cashflow during the crisis.

Source: The Retail Bulletin