AMAZON has hired thousands of employees every day since the start of 2020 as the company continues to rake in billions in sales from pandemic-fueled shopping.
The world's largest online retailer has brought on an average of 1,400 new employees per day since the beginning of the year, according to a New York Times report published on Friday.
Amazon added 427,300 employees between January and October, bringing its total workforce to 1.2million employees worldwide.
That's more than a 50 percent increase from a year ago, with its number of workers now equivalent to the population of Dallas, Texas.
The company has hired nearly 2,800 employees a day since July, according to the Times.
These figures exclude the 100,000 temporary holiday workers and Amazon's 500,000 contract delivery drivers.
Covid-crazy shoppers have helped boost Amazon's revenue by 37 percent from last year – despite an estimated $2.5 billion in coronavirus-related costs, the company has raked in $6.3 billion in profits.
The company said the costs cover onboarding new hires, safety measures like social distancing, extended breaks, cleaning, supplies, and Covid testing.
Amazon is also spending millions to recognize the hard work of its frontline employees as they keep up with grueling demand caused by a deluge of online orders.
The retailer said on Thursday that it will spend $500million to give one-time bonuses to US frontline employees who are working this holiday season.
Full-time operations staff around the country who are employed Amazon from December 1 to 31 will receive a $300 bonus.
Part-timers will get an extra $150, the online retailer said in a Thanksgiving Day blog post written by Dave Clark, Amazon's Senior vice president of worldwide operations.
"I'm grateful to our teams who continue to play a vital role serving their communities," he wrote.
"As we head into the peak of the holiday season, we want to share our appreciation through another special recognition bonus, totaling more than $500million for our front-line employees."
In this quarter alone, Amazon is investing $750million in extra wages for their hourly frontline workers, according to the post.
The company has spent more than $2.5billion on special bonuses and incentives for its employees globally in 2020, Clark said.
This includes the $500million doled out in June to one-time payments for frontline workers and their partners.
"Our teams are doing amazing work serving customers' essential needs, while also helping to bring some much-needed holiday cheer for socially-distanced families around the world. I've never been more grateful for—or proud of—our teams," he wrote.
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