Amazon workforce to hit one million after pandemic hiring spree
Amazon is hiring another 100,000 permanent workers in the United States and Canada to meet soaring demand for online shopping, almost certainly taking its overall headcount over 1m.
The online shopping titan said it would open 100 new operations buildings this month as it prepares for a logistical double whammy from both the Christmas holidays and its delayed Prime Day sale, which will now take place this autumn.
New employees will get a starting wage of at least $15 (£11.65) per hour, as well as health and dental insurance, with sign-up bonuses of up to $1,000 in specific cities. The positions will be both part time and full time.
Amazon has gone on a hiring frenzy since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, hitting a total of 876,800 employees at the end of June. That does not include another 175,000 temporary crisis hires that have already been announced, of whom around 125,000 will become permanent.
The company recently said it would also hire 7,000 new workers in the UK, taking its total number of workers in the country to 40,000.
Amazon said the new positions are necessary for the company to "expand [its] footprint to better serve customers in communities where they live". A spokesman added that the hiring would take place over the next few months.
Employing 1m people would put Amazon's workforce among the largest of any organisation in the world. As of 2015, the British NHS employed 1.6m people and the Chinese People's Liberation Army 2.3m, while McDonald's and Walmart topped the charts for private companies with 1.9m and 2.1m respectively.
The move reflects Amazon's huge commercial success during the pandemic, which has driven its profits, its share price and the net worth of Jeff Bezos, its founder and chief executive, to new heights.
Yet the company's labour practices have also come under fire as warehouse workers protest or strike against what they describe as lax quarantine and safety procedures or a failure to disclose infections.
Last month the US grocery and commercial workers' union accused Amazon and other companies of using "gag rules" to hide Covid-19 cases at their facilities in a "ruthless attempt to silence whistleblowers".
