Amazon: UK recruitment drive underway
Amazon has announced that 10,000 new permanent roles are being created across the UK in 2020, taking the company’s total permanent UK workforce to more than 40,000.
Amazon has already added 3,000 new permanent roles to its workforce across its UK network of fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations – including at a new hi-tech fulfilment centre in the North East of England which opened in May.
The company will add a further 7,000 new permanent roles by the end of 2020 across more than 50 sites, including Corporate offices and two new fulfilment centres launching in the autumn in the North East and in the Midlands.
The new roles, including engineers, graduates, HR and IT professionals, health and safety and finance specialists, as well as the teams who will pick, pack and ship customer orders, will help Amazon meet growing customer demand and enable small and medium sized enterprises selling on Amazon to scale their businesses.
Amazon has already offered temporary roles to thousands of people whose job was impacted at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of whom will now be able to transition into a permanent role with the potential for a career within Amazon.
In addition, Amazon is creating more than 20,000 seasonal positions across the UK ahead of the festive period at its sites across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and at three pop-up fulfilment centres.
At the centre of the job creation programme are three new, state-of-the-art fulfilment centres in Darlington, Durham and Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire, each fitted out with advanced Amazon Robotics technology and each creating more than 1,000 new permanent roles. Construction of these new fulfilment centres began last year. Darlington started operations in May and the sites in Durham and Sutton-in-Ashfield will launch later this autumn.
In addition, Amazon has recruited more than 700 apprentices during 2020, helping young people begin their careers in fields ranging from automation engineering and IT to digital marketing and fashion buyers, with pay of up to £30,000 a year for degree-level apprenticeships. A typical apprenticeship combines theoretical learning with hands-on training, enabling participants to obtain qualifications and degrees and earn money in the process.
Amazon provides some of the most advanced workplaces of their kind in the world, with industry-leading pay, processes and systems to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all employees.
Pay starts at a minimum of £10.50 p/h in the London area and £9.50 p/h in other parts of the UK for all full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal roles in Amazon’s fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations. Employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidised meals and an employee discount – which combined are worth more than £700 annually – as well as a company pension plan.
Amazon also offers employees an innovative programme called Career Choice that provides funding for skills development through nationally recognised courses of up to £8,000 over four years.
Business Secretary, Alok Sharma said: “While this has been a challenging time for many businesses, it is hugely encouraging to see Amazon creating 10,000 jobs in the UK this year.
“This is not only great news for those looking for a new job, but also a clear vote of confidence in the UK economy as we build back better from the pandemic. The government remains deeply committed to supporting retailers of all sizes and we continue to work closely with the industry as we embark on the road to economic recovery.”
Stefano Perego, Amazon’s Vice President of European Customer Fulfilment, said: “We’re proud to be creating 10,000 new permanent roles across our UK network of fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations offering competitive wages and comprehensive benefits starting on day one. Our people have played a critical role in serving customers in these unprecedented times and the new roles will help us continue to meet customer demand and support small and medium sized businesses selling on Amazon.
“The new state-of-the-art robotics fulfilment centres in the North East and the Midlands, as well as the thousands of additional roles at sites across the country, underline our commitment to the people and communities in which we operate. We are employing thousands of talented individuals in a diverse range of good jobs from operations managers and tech professionals through to people to handle customer orders.”
He added: “We prepare year-round for the festive season and we’re also excited to have over 20,000 seasonal positions available this year to help delight our customers. We look forward to welcoming back seasonal workers who return year-after-year to work at Amazon and welcome new faces to the seasonal team.”
Amazon’s workforce will increase from more than 30,000 people in the UK at the beginning of the year to more than 40,000 people by the end of 2020. Amazon has invested over £18 billion in its UK operations since 2010 to provide convenience, selection and value to UK consumers, while helping to digitally empower more than 373,000 small businesses and content creators.
