Post plans to hire thousands of new employees this fall

Berlin – Although the DHL Group has announced that it will reduce its workforce in Germany, it is still looking for many new employees for the Christmas season. They will be bringing thousands of additional colleagues on board this year to ensure that all Christmas packages and letters are delivered on time, Thomas Ogilvie, the group's Chief Human Resources Officer, told the "Rheinische Post." He added: "On average, however, we will have a lower number of employees than in 2024 because we have to adjust our workforce to the structurally declining mail volumes." The goal is to "increase and reduce our workforce as needed through natural seasonal fluctuation." Ogilvie said that since the large wave of refugees in the summer of 2015, the company has temporarily hired around 30,000 refugees, "more than any other company in the country." Now, "around 10,000 people with a refugee background" are still employed by DHL in Germany, "often in delivery, but also as team or site managers." Around 350 refugees have completed training. Ogilvie: "For me, these are success stories of professional and social integration." DHL has a higher sickness rate in Germany than "in many other countries," the HR director continued. However, he rejects the idea of ​​abolishing the option to request sick leave by phone: "When I look at the waiting times in doctor's offices today, I'm not sure whether that would lead to more or fewer absences. Therefore, prevention is an important lever."