Morrisons, with King's Lynn and Downham Market stores, is creating 3,500 jobs to support customers and colleagues during the coronavirus crisis

A supermarket chain has announced that it will be taking on an additional 3,500 jobs nationally to offer more home deliveries to customers during the coronavirus crisis.

Morrisons, which has a branches in King's Lynn and Downham Market, will be expanding its home delivery service to more households to provide support during the outbreak.

The firm will be recruiting 2,500 pickers and drivers along with 1,000 people to work in the company's distribution centres along with introducing a number of other measures for staff and suppliers.

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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.”

These measures follow on from Morrisons announcement last week that it would be implementing immediate payments for its smaller suppliers, supporting their cashflow during this very difficult time for the British economy.

Morrisons is introducing a colleague hardship fund to support staff who are experiencing a financial setback and are struggling.

Staff who are sick with the Coronavirus will receive sick pay whether or not they would normally be eligible.

Colleagues who are affected either because of self isolation, or by playing their part in looking after close family members or the vulnerable in their local community, will also be eligible for sick pay, alternative shifts or holiday.

Morrisons has also introducing a number of measures to protect staff by: asking customers at the checkout to pay, if possible, by card or smartphone to reduce cash handling; issuing hand sanitiser to checkouts at all stores and significantly increasing cleaning on places that colleagues and customers touch; redeploying colleagues who are vulnerable to the virus, where possible.

The chain is to introduce new ways of delivering groceries and more slots for customers, which will also help vulnerable people and those affected by the virus.

New measures include:

• Launching a new range of simple-to-order food parcels, including options for vegetarians, from March 23rd.

• Making more delivery slots available to customers both through Morrisons.com and the Morrisons Store on Amazon Prime Now. Morrisons will use 100 further stores to pick customers’ shopping over the coming weeks.

• Launching a customer call centre for orders to be taken over the phone so that people who do not shop online can still order food.

• To support the roll-out of these expanded home delivery methods, Morrisons will be recruiting around 2,500 pickers and drivers.