Amazon to Offer Permanent Roles to 125,000 New Hires

Amazon.com plans to offer permanent jobs to about 70 percent of the U.S. workforce it has hired temporarily to meet consumer demand during the coronavirus pandemic, the company told Reuters on Thursday. The world’s largest online retailer will begin telling 125,000 warehouse employees that they can keep their roles longer term. The remaining 50,000 workers it has hired will stay on seasonal contracts that last up to 11 months, a company spokeswoman said. Amazon started the hiring spree in March, appealing to workers laid off by restaurants and other shuttered businesses, promising employment “until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back.”

Total Retail's Take: This news is a reflection of the sustained growth of e-commerce during the coronavirus pandemic, and not just for Amazon. With consumers quarantined in their homes and non-essential retail stores temporarily shuttered, shoppers went online in numbers we've never seen before. Amazon is forecasting that that shift in consumer behavior will continue — at least for the foreseeable future as consumers are reluctant to shop in-store among crowds — and therefore needs its recently bolstered workforce to help with the fulfillment and delivery of its online orders.