Amazon to offer permanent roles to new hires

If there is one company that has emerged actually better for the wear despite the economic fallout from coronavirus, it's Amazon. As consumers have been quarantined at home and are reluctant to set foot in physical stores, Amazon orders have surged during this crisis. Essential products like hand sanitizer, lysol wipes, and masks have seen a staggering number of orders keeping warehouses busy.

As a result, the company has had to beef up its workforce, and has hired around 175,000 employees over the past several months. Now, the company says that they will be making full-time offers to 70 percent of these employees. In June, workers who will be kept on long-term will be notified that they may stay on with the company. The remaining seasonal workers may stay on with the company under contract for the next 11 months.

Amazon began hiring in May, with targeted job postings for workers who may have been laid off during coronavirus. Amazon has not disclosed the cost associated with hiring all of these workers.

The workers who will become full-time will also be offered benefits, like health insurance. While Amazon is taking a step to help guarantee economic stability to new employees, many of whom had lost their jobs if they had service industry professionals in restaurants or retail stores that were shuttered.

Despite what is seen as a very pro-worker move, Amazon has also been criticized for not ensuring employee safety in warehouses by not providing protective equipment. It has been reported that 800 warehouse workers have contracted coronavirus, although Amazon hasn't confirmed these claims.

via press.aboutamazon.com