Festive Hiring Trends: Focus on Retention
Bengaluru: The traditional festive bonus is changing for many workers in sectors like e-commerce, retail, and logistics. Instead of receiving one large payment at the end of busy months, workers are now seeing extra incentives throughout the season. These can include higher daily pay, attendance rewards, bonuses for certain productivity levels, and incentives for sticking around during the festive rush.
As companies gear up for one of the busiest shopping times of the year, the race to keep frontline workers has intensified. Businesses are placing increasing importance on incentive programs based on attendance and performance, rather than just the overall pay increases. TeamLease Services reported that spending on festive incentives increased by 15-20% from 2024 to 2025, with a focus on retaining workers for longer periods.
Balasubramanian A, a senior vice-president at TeamLease Services, commented on the trend, stating, “More money is going into retention-related incentives, like weekly or monthly attendance bonuses and bonuses for completing the festive season.” While daily surge pay remains, it is now often an additional benefit on top of rewards for meeting milestones.
This shift is a response to the challenges of high turnover rates during peak demand periods. Last year, the turnover rate for frontline positions during the festive season was reported to be as high as 35-40%. Balasubramanian emphasized that it is far less costly for companies to keep a productive worker during busy times than to replace them.
During the previous festive season, workers’ earnings in roles like warehousing and order fulfillment increased by 12-15% in major cities and by 18-22% in smaller towns, primarily due to variable pay rather than base wage increases.
The trend is not limited to warehouses; for instance, Timbuckdo, a platform that connects college students with part-time jobs, noted that retail jobs can offer hourly wages that rise from about Rs 110 to Rs 150 during busy sale periods. This translates into daily earnings that can jump from Rs 600 to Rs 900.
Myntra is also part of this festive hiring wave, creating over 26,000 seasonal jobs for its Big Fashion Festival. Their reward system includes daily spot awards, such as electronic gift vouchers for outstanding employees. Govindraj M K, CHRO at Myntra, explained that additional incentives, including cash rewards, are part of the payroll for workers who efficiently support peak event periods.
Flipkart has announced attractive offers for its delivery staff, including joining and retention bonuses, as well as referral incentives, in addition to healthcare benefits.
However, representatives for workers caution against assuming that advertised incentives guarantee earnings. Shaik Salauddin, founder-president of the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union, pointed out that the 2026 incentives often rely on specific targets, such as order counts and attendance during peak hours. For full-time delivery workers, monthly earnings can range between Rs 25,000 and Rs 35,000, while high performers might exceed Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000, but these figures typically require long hours and meeting strict targets.
Salauddin noted that to achieve the expected earnings, workers may need to work 9-12 hours a day for most of the month, with some days stretching to 14 hours. He emphasized that the true measure of a worker’s earnings lies in how much they take home after expenses rather than just the headline figures.
