Amazon mainly operates a marketplace for sellers, content creators, and consumers. It also offers content and merchandise resale from vendors and third parties. Amazon was founded back in 1994 by Jeff Bezos and now its growth is evident from the $221million it made in sales in 2021 so far. Let’s know about How many Employees does Amazon have?
Amazon employs about 1.3 million people with the addition of more than 170000 workers from the holiday quarter alone. The headcount has increased by 63% since a year. The total headcount does not include the seasonal and contract workers that range in hundreds of thousands.
Number of Employees
Amazon has recruited about five hundred thousand workers in 2020 for meeting the increasing demand for cloud computing services and online shopping due to the recent pandemic. It is after all the second largest employer employing 1.3 million people in the US and only second to Walmart.
The Bureau of Statistics in the US declared on June 2021 that the workforce of the national private sector is around 161 million people. According to this 1 out of every 169 people from the country’s workforce works for Amazon. Despite having such a large workforce, Brian Olsavsky, the CFO of Amazon, has claimed that the company’s demand regarding the employment of more employees remains high.
This graph shows the increase in the number of employees in Amazon from 2007 to 2020
Year Number of Employees
| 2007 | 17000 |
| 2008 | 20700 |
| 2009 | 24300 |
| 2010 | 33700 |
| 2011 | 56200 |
| 2012 | 88400 |
| 2013 | 117300 |
| 2014 | 154100 |
| 2015 | 230800 |
| 2016 | 341400 |
| 2017 | 566000 |
| 2018 | 647500 |
| 2019 | 798000 |
| 2020 | 1298000 |
Battling the COVID-19
Ever since the outset of the COVID-19, Amazon increased its hourly pay for the workers facing a crisis from the pandemic by two US dollars every hour and doubled the overtime pay. It extended this pay increase two times during April and May, finally ending in June.
It was declared in June that the frontline workers and delivery partners would be paid bonuses of five hundred dollars. In December the frontline workers received a holiday bonus of three hundred dollars.
Amazon implemented safety measures in the fulfillment centers and warehouses for managing the COVID-19 cases. Thousands of tests are had also been conducted by them every day. The total cost for 2020 was more than $11.5 billion. It included the additional pay for the workers and delivery capacity as well as the expenditures for maintaining the safety of the workers.
Back in 2018, Amazon raised the minimum wage of US workers by fifteen US dollars per hour. This was due to the pressure for boosting the compensation in the fulfillment centers and various other facilities. They had even offered help by sending a letter to the new President, Joe Biden, for the vaccination efforts throughout the country. Almost all of their frontline workers are vaccinated.
Employee Benefits
Amazon provides a wide range of benefits to its employees. They might vary in case of length of the employment period, geographical location, job status, and the number of scheduled work hours. The benefits that were implemented from April 2021 to December 2021 are as follows:
- Medical Benefits
- Shared Deductible Plan
- Health Savings Plan
- Standard Plan
- In-Network Plan
- Kaiser Permanente HMO
- Dental Benefits
- Basic Dental Plan
- Enhanced Dental Plan
- Vision Service Plan
- Basic Vision Plan
- Enhanced Vision Plan
- Infertility Benefits
- Amazon 401(k) Plan
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Legal Services
- Home, Auto, Renters, and Pet Insurance
- Life, Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
- Disability Insurance
- Critical Illness and Personal Accident Insurance
- Child, Elder, and Pet Care Referral Services
- Mental Health Care and Daily Living Assistance
- Adoption Assistance
- Leave of Absence
- Pregnancy and Parental Leave
- Parental Leave
- Pregnancy Leave
- Leave Share Program
- Ramp Back Program
- Paycheck Contributions
- Paid Time Off
- Other Benefits
Leadership Principles
Amazon has a set of 14 leadership principles that they utilize while hiring, solving problems, making decisions, and brainstorming. Amazon’s employees have to abide by the following principles daily:
- Customer Obsession
- Learn and Be Curious
- Ownership
- Hire and Develop the Best
- Invent and Simplify
- Think Big
- Are right, a Lot
- Insist of Highest Standards
- Frugality
- Dive deep
- Bias for Action
- Earn Trust
- Have Backbone (Disagree and Commit)
- Deliver Results
Salaries
The highest-paying positions in Amazon offering salaries from $150000 or more are as follows:
- Product Manager or Senior Manager – average base salary per year is $151,550
- Senior Software Engineer – average base salary per year is $152,400
- Senior Solutions Architect – average base salary per year is $153,500
- Corporal Counsel – average base salary per year is $153,900
- Principal Technical Program Manager – average base salary per year is $154,343
- Principal Product Manager – average base salary per year is $154,841
- Software Development Senior Manager – average base salary per year is $159,788
- Principal Software Engineer – average base salary per year is $160,000
- Senior Engineer Manager – average base salary per year is $160,000
- Principal Software Development Engineer – average base salary per year is $160,000
- Senior Software Development Manager – average base salary per year is $160,000
Conclusion
The demand for Amazon jobs is pretty high all over the world. Since it is a large company that makes the job market competitive as well. It is difficult to land a job in Amazon because the applicant would have to go through their unique hiring process before being employed. The high demand is due to its ability to attract, developing, and retaining talents. They help professionals identify their talents and the best places for their career growth.
Frequently Asked Question
- Is Amazon the largest employer in the US?
Amazon is the second-highest recruiter in the US and only comes after Walmart.
- Is it safe to get stuff delivered from Amazon?
Amazon is implementing all the safety measures such as safe packaging and vaccinations of their employees. Online delivery has been a blessing during the pandemic.
- Where is the headquarters of Amazon?
Amazon headquarters is located in Seattle, Washington in the United States.
- How many leadership principles does Amazon have?
Amazon has a total of 14 leadership principles that every employee abides by.