Supermarket giant Sainsbury will take on a record 20, 000 temporary staff over Christmas, the Guardian reports.
It is the largest number of temporary staff the chain has ever taken on.
The recruitment drive is designed to ensure the retailer captures as many sales as possible.
The UK's third largest grocer expects 1, 000 workers to be retained in permanent positions.
Helen Webb, Sainsbury's director of retail HR, said: "Last year, nearly 23 million shoppers visited Sainsbury's stores in the week before Christmas and the huge numbers of customers means that our in-store colleagues always have something different to do."