One in every 205 people in the U.S. is employed by Amazon. We looked into the benefits and perks the e-commerce giant offers to catch a glimpse of how it gets its workforce to stick around.
Amazon has been ranked first in the 50 best workplaces to grow your career in the U.S. by LinkedIn for two years in a row. The company is worth over $1.5 trillion, making it one of the world’s most valuable companies by market capitalization, and currently employs an estimated $1.6 million people in the U.S. alone. To put this into perspective, this means that one out of every 205 people in the U.S is employed by Amazon.
Despite this, Amazon has been plagued with controversy surrounding the treatment of its warehouse workers. According to the New York Times, Amazon has a history of shortchanging vulnerable employees, new parents and patients when they were on leave, and upward mobility for warehouse workers is also limited. The company later said that it was in the process of identifying affected workers and compensating them and that the number of workers affected in the past 18 months was less than 1%.
Other than the pledge made by Andy Jassy, Amazon’s current CEO who replaced Jeff Bezos in July 2021, promising that Amazon will become earth’s best employer, we’ve compiled a list of the top perks offered by the employer, to understand why, despite all the controversies, may employees still be motivated to work at the gigantic corporation.
*The following benefits apply to Class F (40 hours/week), Class R (30-39 hours/week) and Class H (20-29 hours/week) employees at Amazon.
Healthcare and insurance coverage
The U.S. healthcare system depends heavily on employers to provide healthcare coverage for their employees. Amazon employees are given a selection of Medical, Dental, and Vision plans that cover up to 90% of their coinsurance.
Disability insurance is also available to any employee who works over 30 hours a week with Amazon, covering up to 60% of income if a worker becomes disabled. Life insurance covers up to double the annual salary of an employee and free mental health counseling is available to all employees through the Resources for Living program, where employees are able to access free one-on-one counseling sessions fully funded by Amazon, three times a year on each topic.
Other finances and money matters
Amazon offers up to 4% of eligible pay for every $1 of its employee contributions to their retirement savings. Further, employees have the option to own the company through Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) that vest over time, meaning the higher the stock options, the more invested an employee becomes in the success of the company.
Workers also will receive codes that allow them to purchase goods through Amazon at a discounted rate and be entitled to the Amazon Extras Program, a marketplace where employees can browse a range of Amazon products and services for additional savings.
Workers who experience difficulty conceiving will also receive infertility benefits and treatment coverage, and families planning to adopt children under the age of 18 will receive up to $5,000 for a single child adoption and $10,000 for sibling or group adoption.
Taking time off
Although Amazon does not specifically specify the details of leave policies as most are discussed with an employees manager or the human resources department, all full-time employees at the company are eligible for annual accrual holidays. Pregnant workers are eligible for up to four weeks prepartum and 10 weeks postpartum paid leave, and fathers are eligible for up to six weeks of paid paternity leave.
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