Amazon adds 25,000 workers amid e-commerce boom
Amazon added 25,000 British workers to its payroll last year as booming demand for e-commerce led to a surge in recruitment at fulfilment and sorting centres.
The group had planned to create 10,000 roles in the UK in 2021, but demand for online retail brought on by covid restrictions saw it recruit the additional 15,000 workers for roles at its fulfilment centres, sort centres and delivery stations across the UK, as well roles in corporate and research and development.
Many of the roles were created to offer permanent contracts to workers who had been taken on on temporary contracts since the start of the pandemic as the firm scrambled to meet surging demand.
The expansion last year also included its first 17 physical stores in the UK – 15 Amazon Fresh food stores in London, and two Amazon 4-star retail stores in London and Kent, which sell products from Amazon and UK small businesses.
The American online giant said it also plans to create 1,500 new apprenticeships in the United Kingdom this year as it rolls out a range of new apprenticeship programmes.
The 40 entry to degree-level apprenticeship schemes will include new schemes in the areas of publishing, retailing, marketing, and a programme focused on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).
Amazon now employees 70,000 people in the UK and says it has invested 32 billion pounds ($43.3 billion) in the UK since 2010, although the firm does not provide a break down of that investment.