Amazon has revealed a program to raise the pay of front-line employees and provide them with free Prime membership.
In a blog post, Udit Madan, vice president, Amazon Worldwide Operations, pointed out that as early as 2018, Amazon increased its starting wage to $15 an hour and has continued to adjust compensation. Now, hourly members of the company’s front-line teams will get at least an additional $1.50 an hour starting this month, which will bring their average base wage to more than $22 an hour and average total compensation to more than $29 an hour with the value of elected benefits such as health care from the first day on the job, according to Madan. The increase will total $3,000 a year on average for full-time employees who work a 40-hour week. As one of the largest private employers in the United States with more than 800,000 people in these roles across the U.S. the pay increase equals a total investment of more than $2.2 billion, Madan wrote.
In terms of benefits, Amazon is making free Prime part of the hourly worker benefits package. Among other adjustments it is making to benefits, employees now can enroll in the company’s popular language classes from day one rather than waiting 90 days before being able to sign up, Amazon stated.
Amazon’s announcement of new hourly worker incentives comes a day after Sam’s Club announced a new compensation policy for hourly workers.
