Amazon to hire 15,000 seasonal staff this Christmas
Online retail giant Amazon has announced that it will hire more than 15,000 people across the UK for seasonal positions in its fulfilment and customer service centres over the busy Christmas trading period.
The company said there will be a variety of roles across its eight UK fulfilment centres and its Edinburgh customer service centre.
“On our busiest shopping day last Christmas, customers ordered a total of 3.5 million items during one 24-hour period at a rate of 44 items a second,” said Catherine McDermott, director of operations at Amazon.co.uk. “During the Christmas season, seasonal associates play a critical role in making sure we meet increased demand from customers. As we continue to expand our UK operations, we expect many hundreds of these temporary associates to move into permanent positions as has been the case in previous years.”
Last year, Amazon hired over 10,000 seasonal workers in the run up to Christmas of which 1,000 were offered permanent positions by the end of January 2013. The retailer said an additional 500 temporary staff will have moved into permanent jobs by the end of the year.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Seasonal jobs will be available in Amazon’s Doncaster, Dunfermline, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley and Swansea Bay fulfilment centres. Amazon has opened five new UK fulfilment centres in the last five years, creating more than 2,500 permanent jobs.
With 6,000 permanent employees in its UK offices, fulfilment centres and customer service centres, Amazon recently secured a 210,000 sq ft office in Central London to provide additional capacity for future growth.
