In a market environment redefined by COVID-19 pandemic, logistics companies are hiring employees and preparing for vaccine deliveries to cater to the holiday season’s demand. United Parcel Services (UPS), a key logistics player, is hiring more than 100,000 seasonal employees for the holiday season along with job postings for storage, transportation and distribution of healthcare products including COVID-19 vaccines. Hiring by UPS in the second-half of 2020 accounted for over 60% of the total jobs posted in 2020, finds GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Ajay Thalluri, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData says: “UPS is hiring and adding more jobs for healthcare logistics since June 2020. The healthcare logistics’ hiring saw an increase in the second half of 2020 and accounted for over 70% of the total healthcare jobs posted. The company will play a key role in handling and distribution of healthcare products, especially COVID-19 vaccines in addition to the other deliveries.”

What’s noteworthy is that UPS hiring goes beyond North America with job postings in Europe and the APAC regions. The company is strengthening its healthcare-dedicated warehouses and distribution networks by expanding and building new facilities in Hungary, the UK, and China. In the US, the company is building additional cooler and freezer spaces for its new Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility in Louisville.

Thalluri adds: “UPS already has about 5,500 healthcare logistics professionals and the company is hiring more. UPS Premier service enables the monitoring of products such as COVID-19 vaccines through technology-enabled priority handling, visibility, and distribution. The company uses specialized inventory management and temperature-controlled packaging and shipping facilities for critical healthcare products.”

UPS is supporting the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine as a part of Operation Warp Speed. The company created its Healthcare and Life Sciences (HCLS) unit in October 2019 for global supply chain solutions to pharmaceutical, biopharma and medical device companies. Some of the healthcare job postings include Healthcare Compliance System Validation Specialist; Product Senior Mgr – Healthcare Freight Forwarding; Strategic Platform Manager – Healthcare; Healthcare Compliance QA Supervisor; and UPS Healthcare Logistics Operations Director.

Thalluri concludes: “UPS hiring is expected to remain strong at least till the foreseeable future with more vaccine candidates getting approval for usage. The company is ramping up production of dry ice and collaborating with partners such as Stirling Ultracold for supply of portable freezers. Holiday demand and the scare of new virus strains are expected to drive demand for contactless deliveries apart from additional logistics positions such as delivery and warehouse associates.”