Talk about employee satisfaction!
When it comes to a competitive job market, Amazon knows how to stay one step ahead by offering education perks and more salaries. On Thursday, Amazon announced that it is offering to pay 100% of college tuition for its 750,000 hourly employees based in the US. The policy will be in effect from January next year and it will cover the cost of college tuition, fees and textbooks for hourly employees in its operations network who have been working for the e-commerce giant for more than 90 days.
Amazon also has plans to cover high school diploma programs, GEDs and English certifications for employees whose second language is English. These benefits would be applicable in hundreds of different institutions across the state. Previously, Amazon had offered to pay 95% of tuition, fees and textbooks through its career choice program.
Recently, other retail rival companies like Walmart and Target have also upped their education perks for their employees. In July, Walmart announced that it would pay 100% of college tuition and books cost for associates of Walmart and Sam’s Club. Similarly in August, Target rolled out a program that covers the cost of associate and undergraduate degrees at selected school.
While the pandemic saw most companies laying off their workers, Amazon on the other hand hired about 500,000 new employees in 2020 and has been offering them bonuses one way or another to keep them on board. The jobs offer a starting wage of $17 per hour after the recent wage increment and has seen an increase of up to $3 an hour for more than half a million of its US employees. Brian Olsavsky, Amazon CFO told analysts that the competitive labour market is leading to higher costs, “We’re spending a lot of money on signing and incentives, and while we have very good staffing levels, it’s not without a cost. It’s a very competitive labor market out there.”
