Amazon Offers Full-Time Employment To 125,000 Workers Hired To Meet Increased Demand During Pandemic

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN is offering full-time employment to 125,000 workers it hired temporarily to meet the increased demand during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the company announced Thursday.

What Happened

The e-commerce giant has added 175,000 seasonal employees to its workforce since March, absorbing workers from travel, hospitality, and other sectors that suffered due to the lack of business during the pandemic.

A company spokesperson told Reuters that the other 50,000 workers it hired would stay on seasonal contracts up to 11 months.

The workers who have been offered permanent employment will still have an option to continue in seasonal or part-time roles, Amazon noted.

The full-time jobs come with a $15 an hour minimum wage, and access to a training program to upscale their career at Amazon or other companies, it said.

Why It Matters

Amazon restarted deliveries of non-essential items earlier this month as coronavirus-related restrictions started lifting across the United States. It is also working on bringing its one- and two-day prime deliveries back at usual capacity.

The Seattle-based company has faced criticism over alleged lack of safety measures to protect workers from the coronavirus, and firing of some of the activist employees who protested against the lack of warehouse and delivery worker safety and its environmental policy.

Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos at the Amazon annual general shareholders meeting held virtually on Thursday defended the company's actions.

Bezos said the company took the coronavirus crisis "seriously from the very beginning," and fired the employees for flouting internal policies, and not criticizing the company, CNBC reported.

Amazon Price Action

Amazon shares closed 0.4% lower at $2,401.10 on Thursday, and the shares traded further lower at $2,400 in the after-hours session.