SEATTLE: Amazon is offering full-time jobs to 125,000 of 175,000 temporary workers it hired since March to deal with the COVID-19 rush, if employees would like to stay at Amazon long term.
According to the company, the rest of 50,000 workers may choose to return to their previous job or stay at Amazon in seasonal or part-time roles. Amazon pays at least USD 15 an hour to its 600,000-strong workforce.
In March, the ecommerce giant announced the hiring of 175,000 roles across its operations network to help provide for the communities and keep as many people as possible working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Like other companies, we hired these individuals for seasonal roles to meet a surge in demand and, for many, there was the hope of returning back to their previous companies once states began to re-open," Amazon said in a statement on Thursday.
"As the long-term picture becomes more clear, we're providing the opportunity for 125,000 of those who came on with us seasonally to stay with Amazon and transition into a regular, full-time role beginning in June," the company added.
Some may choose to return to their previous job and others may choose to stay at Amazon in seasonal or part-time roles.
Regular, full-time roles at Amazon come with a comprehensive benefits package starting on day one, a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, and access to training programmes like Career Choice that make it easier to springboard into a different career at Amazon or other companies.
"We hope the option for so many people to stay on long-term at Amazon will help alleviate some of the ongoing burden of unemployment in communities across the US as we all work together to fight through this crisis," said the company.
Amazon earlier announced to invest nearly USD 4 billion to keep its workers safe.