Retail and tech giant Amazon has revealed its plan to recruit 55,000 workers to join its technology and corporate divisions across the world in a few months. Andy Jassy, Amazon’s Chief Executive, announced the new recruitment drive during an interview with Reuters. The drive is the retail organization’s first move to hire so many workers under Andy Jassy.
Amazon had already grown its staff in 2020, when its workforce exceeded 1.3 million. The company now needs even more workers to support its recent expansion drive. This new recruitment push is the way forward for the company. The new workers will disperse across the research, engineering, and robotics divisions of Amazon.
In the same vein, 40,000 of the new jobs will be in the United States. The UK gets 2,500 jobs, and the rest will be spread throughout Japan, India, and Germany. The hiring drive precedes Amazon’s annual Career Day, which will be held on September 15.
CEO Andy Jassy told reporters that the new hires would help Amazon keep up with the surging expansion of its advertising, cloud computing, and retail divisions. He said there would need to be additional support as his company continues to grow and expand its operations across different divisions.
Amazon also has a satellite program called Project Kuiper with which it intends to expand access to broadband services. Project Kuiper will be a destination for recruits as well. Through the project, the retail giant plans to release more information on the upcoming recruitment before its Career Day jobs fair.
Upon completion of its new recruitment push, Amazon intends to expand its already sizable 275,000 global workforce by 20%. The new 55,000 hires exceed the total workforce at Facebook, and would be equivalent to more than a third of the number of workers at Google. The plan to hire 55,000 workers is a continuation of their recent recruitment efforts following the pandemic.
The company has been scrutinized recently for its labor policies and stance on the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Amazon was in the limelight some months ago because of a situation at its Alabama warehouse that revealed its uncompromising position against labor unions. At the end of the storm, former CEO Jeff Bezos admitted his company needed better plans for its workforce.
New CEO Andy Jassy has the responsibility of developing a better vision for the workforce. He has approached this challenge by emphasizing invention and a customer-centric approach. Workers now have the freedom to brainstorm ideas for improving processes, and are even expected to do so.
Amazon says the positions that new hires will be recruited into are mostly newly created ones and not those left vacant by workers who have decided to quit. According to a survey by PWC,65% of American workers prefer new jobs post-pandemic. In the current economy, organizations have struggled to recruit workers and keep up with expanding business activities following the reopening of the economy.