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- Amazon burns through hourly employees, according to a major New York Times investigation.
- Employee churn is so high that some Amazon execs are reportedly worried about running out of people.
- The company has been on a hiring spree in order to keep up with increased pandemic shopping.
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Amazon has been hiring hundreds of thousands of workers for roles in its warehouses, which it calls "fulfillment centers," but those employees have been quitting almost as fast as they can be hired, according to a huge new report from The New York Times.
Of the over 350,000 new workers it hired between July and October 2020, the report said, many only stayed with the company "just days or weeks."
Hourly employees had a turnover rate of approximately 150% every year, data reviewed by the Times demonstrated, reportedly leading some Amazon executives to worry about running out of hirable employees in the US.
Amazon went on an extended hiring spree throughout 2020 as it attempted to keep up with a massive spike in demand during coronavirus lockdowns. As Americans increasingly turned to Amazon for everything from toiletries to groceries, the company repeatedly touted major hiring pushes.
By May 2021, Amazon was even offering $1,000 signing bonuses to new employees – partially a symptom of hiring issues employers are facing in a variety of industries, but potentially also a result of Amazon's remarkably high turnover rate.
One former Amazon manager who oversaw human resources efforts focused on warehouse workers compared the situation with worker churn at Amazon warehouses to the ongoing use of fossil fuels. "We keep using them, even though we know we're slowly cooking ourselves," he told the Times.
Amazon representatives didn't respond to a request for comment as of publishing.
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