Amazon to give $500M in special holiday bonuses to front-line employees
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ORLANDO, Fla. - Amazon is recognizing the continued hard work of its employees during the coronavirus pandemic with a special bonus ahead of the holiday season.
Full-time U.S. operations employees who work for the e-commerce giant between Dec. 1 and Dec. 31 will qualify for a $300 bonus, while part-time employees will receive a $150 bonus, Amazon wrote in a blog post Thursday.
"I'm grateful to our teams who continue to play a vital role serving their communities, Amazon Worldwide Operations senior vice president Dave Clark said in a statement, "As we head into the peak of the holiday season, we want to share our appreciation through another special recognition bonus, totaling more than $500 million for our front-line employees."
The executive applauded the "amazing work serving customers' essential needs, while also helping to bring some much-needed holiday cheer for socially-distanced families around the world."
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Clark added. "I've never been more grateful for—or proud of—our teams."
The latest one-time bonus comes in addition to a separate round of $500 million in payments to front-line employees in June. The company also has a $15 per hour minimum wage for U.S. employees. The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour.
Amazon estimates that, combined with other holiday incentives, it will invest over $750 million in additional pay for its front-line hourly workforce in the current quarter alone, bringing the total spent on special bonuses and incentives across its global workforce to over $2.5 billion in 2020.