To cope with the rapid surge of online grocery orders, Instacart is planning to hire an additional 250,000 full-service shoppers over the next two months for grocery delivery and pickup operations in North America.
The massive hiring push is part of a number of measures Instacart has implemented to handle increased volume, including new in-app shopper wellness checks and the expansion of its extended pay policies and bonuses for shoppers and in-store teams.
“Overnight, we’ve become a necessity for millions of people and our teams are working tirelessly to launch new products that speed up our service and open up more delivery windows for customers,” said Instacart founder and CEO Apoorva Mehta. “We recognize these are extraordinary times and we take our responsibility to safely serve shoppers and customers very seriously.”
Just last month, Instacart announced it was hiring 300,000 new full-service shoppers and, in the weeks following that announcement, the company quickly met that goal, with its shopper team now exceeding 500,000 people.
For its next round of hiring, Instacart will focus on adding shoppers to key areas with the most consumer demand right now, including California; Massachusetts; New York; Pennsylvania; Washington, D.C.; and Toronto,Canada.
As part of the announcement, Instacart also listed additional steps it’s taking to support the health and safety of its employees:
- Instacart shoppers will have access to a daily, in-app wellness check designed to help check shoppers for COVID-19 related symptoms. If a shopper is confirmed to be healthy, they may resume shopping on the platform. If a shopper has symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, coughing, or difficulty breathing), they will be logged off the platform for the day and instructed to contact their physician.
- To support shoppers affected by COVID-19, Instacart is offering up to 14 days of pay for any full-service shopper or part-time employee—including in-store shopper, shift lead, site manager, or Instacart Care agent—who is diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed in individual mandatory isolation or quarantine, as directed by a local, state, or public health authority.
- In addition, Instacart has increased pay for employees with bonuses for all in-store shoppers, shift leads, and site managers. These bonuses are determined by the number of hours worked and range from $25 to $200.
- Instacart is continuing to provide all active shoppers with health and safety kits that include face masks and hand sanitizer. These health and safety kits were sourced and developed with several third-party manufacturers in consultation with medical and infectious disease experts.
