Fife workers miss out on Amazon cash

Online retail titan Amazon is offering employees a £1,000 bonus for roles – but not at its warehouse in Dunfermline.

The group is advertising for “urgently needed” warehouse pickers and packers across the UK to help meet booming online shopping demand.

It comes amid a mounting hiring crisis.

Job ads on the Indeed website reveal it is offering to pay up to £1,000 as a starting bonus.

An Amazon spokesperson said: “We are currently offering a sign-on bonus at a number of locations to attract new permanent and seasonal associates.”

The four-figure bonus is on top of an hourly rate of as much as £11.10 an hour, rising to £22.20 an hour for overtime.

Amazon is one of the largest employers in Fife, with around 1,000 staff working from its Dunfermline fulfilment centre but no roles there qualify for the bonus.

The site is the firm’s second largest in the UK, stretching over an area equivalent to 17 football pitches.

It also has a base beside Dundee Airport.

Staff process thousands of parcels every day from the 250 million products the company sells.

The sign-up uses comes as firms across the UK are struggling to fill roles across a range of industries.

The shortages are due to Brexit, Covid-19 selfisolation rules and with millions still on the government’s furlough scheme.

The recruitment woes are causing crippling shortages of lorry drivers, while hospitality firms have also struggled to fill roles on reopening after lockdown.

Data published last month showed there were 953,000 vacancies in the three months to the end of June.

Vacancies then passed the one million mark for the first time ever in July.

Applicants who are taken on between now and September 18 are eligible for the bonus.

According to the job ads, Amazon is offering “immediate starts with no experience needed” for many of the warehouse roles.

Amazon is not the only firm offering joining bonuses to attract muchneeded workers.

Firms such as Tesco and Asda are offering lorry drivers £1,000 on sign-up.

NO BONUS: Parcel packing at Amazon’s massive Dunfermline fulfilment centre.