Amazon offers bonuses to attract 20,000 temporary staff

Retail giant Amazon says it will pay bonuses to attract temporary staff as it recruits 20,000 seasonal UK workers.

The company will offer the one-off payments in regions where there is high demand for labour, with extra pay for those willing to work nights.

Fears over worker shortages have already prompted other firms to warn of problems in the run up to Christmas.

Amazon began offering a £1,000 signing-on bonus to recruit permanent staff in some regions in August.

But for the first time the online retailer will offer a similar signing-on bonus for seasonal workers, although it hasn't specified in which areas bonuses may be paid.

Over the last few months the shortage of workers in a range of sectors have led to delivery delays and waste. The fashion chain Next and supermarket Iceland are among firms warning of potential pre-Christmas disruption.

Some overseas workers have left the UK during the pandemic and as a consequence of the UK's departure from the EU. The furlough scheme, which ends this month, has also kept some workers out of the jobs market.

Amazon's latest recruitment drive will involve hiring 20,000 temporary staff across its UK network of warehouses and delivery centres in the run up to Christmas.

Pay for the temporary roles starts at a minimum of £10 per hour, rising to £11.10 in some parts of the UK.

However in the past Amazon has faced accusations of poor working conditions both in the UK and the US, where it is the second largest employer.

In March, Unite, the union, launched a whistleblowing hotline for Amazon workers in the UK. It also called for Amazon to allow British workers to unionise and to have a greater share of the firm's profits.

In July, the union described working conditions at Amazon as "Charles Dickens meets 21st century Britain".

Some workers described having to run to the toilet to make it back to their workstation on time, and not being allowed to sit down for ten hours. Other workers described queues for toilets which meant they had to urinate in bottles.

In the US in Alabama earlier this year there was a failed attempt by some warehouse workers to form a union, prompting Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy to say the company needed a better "vision" for employees.

The company has been expanding rapidly including in the UK where it said it had already recruited 10,000 people this year.