Amazon unveils $ 500m Christmas bonus for its staff on the front line
AMAZON IS dedicating 500 million dollars to Christmas bonuses for its front- line staff after the company recorded a stellar year of sales during the pandemic.
In a blog post, senior vice president of Amazon Worldwide Operations, Dave Clark, said the money would go to full- time and part- time staff who are employed by the company between December 1 and December 31.
Full- time front- line employees in the UK and the US will receive £ 300 or 300 dollars, while parttime staff will be eligible for £ 150 or 150 dollars.
The e- commerce and technology giant recorded a net income of 6.3 billion dollars (£ 4.73bn) in the three months to September 30 – up from 2.1 billion dollars (£ 1.58bn) in the third quarter of last year.
By the end of the year, Amazon will have recruited 10,000 extra UK staff to cope with the uptick in sales stemming from the pandemic.
In his post, Mr Clark said he was “grateful” for the efforts of Amazon employees through what has been a “unique” year.
He said: “Combined with other holiday pay incentives, in this quarter alone we are investing over 750 million dollars in additional pay for our front- line hourly workforce.
“This brings our total spent on special bonuses and incentives for our teams globally to over 2.5 billion dollars in 2020, including a 500 million dollar thank you bonus earlier this year.
“Our teams are doing amazing work serving customers’ essential needs, while also helping to bring some muchneeded holiday cheer for sociallydistanced families around the world.
“I’ve never been more grateful for – or proud of – our teams.”
The company has rolled out a pilot programme offering Covid- 19 testing for its front- line workers in the UK.