Amazon will not be paying most warehouse staff within the US to stop their jobs this 12 months. According to The Information, the e-commerce big has paused its “pay-to-quit” program for majority of its staff for 2022, and it is unclear if it will likely be reinstated. The publication has obtained a replica of Amazon’s message to its workers, which was then verified by a spokesperson from the corporate. Typically, Amazon pays its warehouse staff as much as $5,000 to stop their jobs after peak seasons like the vacations as a method to pare down its workforce within the slowdown that follows. 

Jeff Bezos additionally as soon as advised shareholders in a e-newsletter that it is a method to give workers an out in the event that they’re now not comfortable working for Amazon. The firm would normally make “The Offer,” as it is also referred to as, in the direction of the tip of the primary quarter of the 12 months. For 2022, nevertheless, it advised workers that solely staff who graduated from Amazon’s Career Choice coaching program can be eligible for the payout. They’re additionally solely eligible inside 90 days after graduating. Amazon pays tuition reimbursements for staff a part of the Career Choice program, which expands this January to incorporate GEDs, English as a Second Language (ESL) certificates and bachelor’s levels. It solely used to cowl certificates for technical abilities and affiliate levels.

Karen Riley Sawyer, the corporate’s consultant, has confirmed the modifications to the pay-to-quit program, telling The Information that it is at present solely out there “to graduates of Career Choice to support their transition to a new career should they choose to leverage their new certifications.” While Sawyer did not say why this system’s scope has been narrowed down, it may very well be as a result of vaccine mandates and the rising an infection charges attributable to the unfold of the Omicron variant are making it exhausting for Amazon to search out sufficient staffing. Earlier this month, Motherboard reported that over 1,800 staff at a single Amazon facility in New York had been out on depart as a consequence of COVID. A supply additionally advised The Information that the warehouse had been going through extreme staffing shortages over the previous months.