LATEST: Pick n Pay created 14,000 new jobs. . . R11K PER MONTH. APPLY TODAY
A customer heads for a Pick n Pay shop in Cape Town. Picture: REUTERS/MIKE HUTCHINGS
A customer heads for a Pick n Pay shop in Cape Town. Picture: REUTERS/MIKE HUTCHINGS
Despite its recent voluntary severance programme, Pick n Pay created almost 14,000 net new jobs over the past three years and intends creating 15,000 more in the next three years, chairman Gareth Ackerman said at the grocery chain’s annual general meeting on Monday morning.
Pick n Pay has invested R5.3bn in opening and refurbishing stores and building its supply chain in the past three years.
“By doing so Pick n Pay has been able to create almost 14,000 net new jobs,” Ackerman said in his address at the AGM.
After Pick n Pay announced its voluntary severance programme in 2019, competitor Shoprite started marketing itself as SA’s largest private-sector employer, making a point of highlighting how many new jobs it had created in its financial statements.
Shoprite said it added 6,027 new positions during its 2018 financial year, and a further 4,254 during the six months to end-December, bringing its total to more than 148,000.
Pick n Pay’s recent results, in contrast, have not made it clear how its voluntary severance programme has changed its headcount.
Ackerman said at Monday’s AGM that Pick n Pay worked with about 10,000 suppliers, and last year spent nearly R68bn with them, helping provide employment to more than 400,000 people.
“In total, we believe at least 1-million people are directly affected by Pick n Pay by way of employment.”
Ackerman said 21,000 people were employed by Pick n Pay franchise owners.
Nearly a third of Pick n Pay franchisees are black, which under the current rules do not contribute to the grocery chain’s BEE score.
Ackerman said Pick n Pay was working with the Consumer Goods Council of SA and the Department of Trade and Industry “to talk about better recognition for these small businesses and franchisees on the BEE scorecard.”
