Mercado Libre welcomes Le Pain Quotidien restaurant’s staff onto its team

Contxto – Layoffs are the bread and butter of the coronavirus pandemic. But for restaurant chain Le Pain Quotidien, it doesn’t have to be that way.

It recently announced a deal with Mercado Libre wherein the latter will temporarily absorb the restaurant’s customer service staff from its 20+ locales in Argentina. And it’s not an act of charity either but rather a win-win for both parties. 

Certainly, Covid-19 is forcing companies to get creative in how they offer their staff a safety net when operations are suspended.

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Mercado Libre needs manpower in Argentina

It’s no secret that Mercado Libre has been experiencing growth within the last quarter. Heck, it’s had an overall positive 11 months. 

Business intelligence startup Apptopia reports that it’s the e-commerce platform with the most mobile app sessions in Latin America. From June 2019 up until May 2020 reportedly over 4 billion sessions have been carried out on Mercado Libre’s app.

And of course who can forget how its stock value nearly doubled not too long ago.

• Related article: Mercado Libre’s stock grew to nearly double its value thanks to Covid-19

Clearly it’s growing and it needs to add around 2,200 more people in Argentina to help its operations. And its deal with Le Pain is a way for it to help fill its ranks with the right personnel.

The restaurant chain and the e-commerce platform had previously collaborated. Consequently Mercado Libre was familiar with the type of staff Le Pain employed.

“Since we needed to cover positions quickly, we were able to resolve this problem in a shorter amount of time than if we’d gone searching through the job market,” observed Sebastián Fernández Silva, head honcho of HR at Mercado Libre.

“They [Le Pain staff] will be working in customer service and at our storage and distribution center.”

Deal details

As part of the deal, the Argentine company will absorb around 70 percent of the restaurant’s 300-person team for a four month period. Though this term may be extended further. Their salary will be the same as that which other Mercado Libre employees receive for those positions.

You know things are bad when… Workers’ unions give the Mercado Libre–Le Pain deal their nod of approval. But given the precarious situation in which the restaurant and food services industry finds itself in it’s not that big of a shocker.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Argentina!

-ML