More than 500,000 workers are set to receive the “one-time bonus” in the coming months, costing the group around €200 million.

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“We have navigated our company through this crisis very well so far. We owe this to our committed colleagues worldwide,” CEO Frank Appel said in a statement, praising “the tireless efforts of our teams”.

It mirrors a move by Britain's Royal Mail which has offered staff a 200-pound (€223) payment for working through the pandemic.

Postal workers were among the essential workers keeping countries ticking over at the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year, when schools were closed and millions of people were told to work from home.

Deutsche Post added that both its German and international parcel delivery business had benefitted from the rise in online shopping while people were cooped up at home.

The boost helped lift the group's pre-tax operating profit to €890 million in the second quarter of 2020, up 16 percent on the year before, according to preliminary results on Tuesday.

Deutsche Post will unveil its full results on August 5th.

According to its own figures, Deutsche Post delivers about 57 million letters in Germany every working day.

The postal service in Germany received an increase in complaints in the first half of 2020, many of them related to delivery issues.