£50 bonus to Amazon staff for punctuality

With the festive season round the corner, employees of Amazon in Britain are being offered a bonus of £50 a week, provided they show up for work on time — for all their shifts — and also maintain 100 per cent attendance. Sick leave due to COVID-19 or any time off owing in association with some disability, in compliance with the Equality Act, are excluded.

This incentive is being offered to permanent employees at a number of locations across the country, including Gateshead and Durham,

The incentive is expected to help some of Amazon’s warehouses meet the surge in demand that is bound to emerge during the Christmas season. Recently, Amazon announced a joining bonus or sign-on fee of £1,000 to new hires who joined its warehouses before September 18. The Company is paying its workers hourly wage of £11.10 and overtime pay has been hiked to about £22.20 an hour. It is not being finicky about the level of experience of the candidates either.

The labour shortage in Britain has been attributed to the pandemic and the resulting furlough scheme, as well as Brexit. August witnessed the highest number of vacancies in Britain. In July itself, the number of vacancies had touched over 9.5 lakhs. Current and former prisoners are also being considered for various roles in meat processing units and abattoirs.

Some parts of Britain are reportedly facing an acute shortage of heavy goods vehicle or HGV drivers. The demand for lorry drivers is so high that Tesco — the British multinational groceries and general merchandise retail chain — is offering drivers £1,000 as joining bonus. Veolia, the water and waste management company has also announced a £1,500 bonus to HGV drivers to ensure that its municipal collections operations continue without hindrance across Britain.