Amazon resorts to labor sharing to meet the increased demand in online grocery services

An Amazon’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) internal document revealed on Sunday that the U.S e-commerce giant is offering increased wages to its warehouse workers to reallocate them to the grocery unit amidst the Coronavirus pandemic that fueled worker shortage and increased demand.

With
the rising restrictions from the U.S government that curb movement and
confine the public to their homes, the demand of Amazon’s online grocery unit has
skyrocketed, pushing the company into labor sharing via reallocating a huge
chunk of its workers from other segments to handling the online orders.

Amazon
is currently offering online grocery services via Amazon Fresh and Amazon Prime
Now.

Amazon
Increases Minimum Wage To £15.25 Per Hour For Reallocated Workers

The
reallocated employees, Amazon added, will receive a minimum wage of £15.25 per
hour that marks a £1.60 increment to the previous raise that the company
announced at the start of March.

Workers
allocated to Amazon Fresh will be required to work in a freezer environment while
the ones in Prime Now will be taking over the job of picking and packing at
Amazon’s Whole Foods store as per the online orders and will be working under a
strict deadline.

Amazon
acquired Whole Foods for £11 billion in 2017. Ever since, the U.S tech giant
has been committed to enhancing its investments in the grocery industry to create
its dominance. Amazon’s online grocery services are now available in more than
2,000 cities with Amazon Prime Now and Amazon Fresh delivering at the doorsteps
within a matter of hours. There are no additional charges on delivery for Prime
subscribers.

Owing
to the rising demand for online grocery shopping amidst the ongoing health
crisis, Amazon had recently announced its plans
of hiring 100,000 new workers (both part-time and full-time) across the
country to ensure timely deliveries and preventing essential items from running
out of stock.

Amazon
Has So Far Reported Coronavirus Cases In 17 Warehouses

Amazon
has so far reported confirmed cases of the flu-like virus in 17 of its U.S
warehouses. The online retail giant has recently been under criticism with lawmakers
and workers alike questioning if Amazon’s safety precautions are sufficient to
protect the employees against the health hazard.

The
pandemic has weighed heavily on Amazon’s financial performance. The company has
lost its place in the privileged trillion-dollar club with a market cap of £760
billion ($946 billion). At £1,525 per share, Amazon has lost a little under 10%
as compared to its record high in February.