JCB to hire 400 new staff at UK production facility in post-Covid recovery
Equipment major to also award permanent contracts to 300 more agency employees as production surges to pre-Covid levels
JCB has said that it will recruit 400 new personnel in its UK production facilities and award permanent contracts to existing agency staff as it gears up “for a surge in production”.
The British equipment giant said the decision was based on a “sharp rebound” in the construction equipment market since production was brought to a halt by the Covid-19 pandemic last year. Not only will the Staffordshire-based company recruit more than 400 extra agency staff, but it will also give permanent contracts to up to 300 existing agency staff in addition to the new recruitment.
According to JCB, 2021 has “started strongly” and the new jobs it is recruiting for are in a variety of shop-floor roles including assembly, welding and forklift truck drivers. The news follows heavy redundancies last year due to the pandemic.
Mark Turner, chief operating officer, JCB, had earlier said that orders “disappeared overnight” in March last year, when the pandemic struck. He was quoted in the UK media as saying that “regrettably many staff positions were impacted”.
“It took more than six months for the business to recover to production levels we last saw in March 2020. This year has started strongly, and our forecasts predict a continued solid recovery, with strong demand from mainland Europe and North America. After a tumultuous 12 months, this really is good news,” Turner was quoted as saying.
