In a blog post on Thanksgiving Day, Amazon (AMZN -1.64%) announced that it would pay more than $500 million to employees in holiday bonuses. U.S. workers employed by the company between Dec. 1 and 31 will be eligible for the payout. Full-time employees will receive $300 each, while part-timers will be paid $150.
Amazon said that combined with other holiday incentives, it would work out to about $750 million in additional pay for its frontline workers. The company also took the opportunity to tout its $15 minimum wage. This brings the total bonuses paid to Amazon employees across the globe this year to more than $2.5 billion.
Image source: Amazon.
"I'm grateful to our teams who continue to play a vital role serving their communities," said senior vice president Dave Clark. "As we head into the peak of the holiday season, we want to share our appreciation through another special recognition bonus."
This isn't the first such payment in 2020. In June, Amazon paid more than $500 million in "thank you" bonuses to full- and part-time employees, including drivers and Whole Foods workers.
Amazon has experienced explosive growth of its e-commerce platform this year, with its U.S. digital sales revenue climbing 37% year over year to nearly $161 billion during the first nine months of 2020.
With the lockdowns caused by the pandemic, there's been a decided shift in consumer behavior, with an acceleration in the adoption of e-commerce. Amazon has captured much of that windfall and is expected to command as much as 39% of all digital sales in the U.S. in 2020, according to data assembled by eMarketer.
