To help bring diversity the workplace and further attract talented individuals, Amazon will be experimenting with teams that work for 30 hours a week, a new concept for large corporations.
The program will feature teams that solely consist of part-time workers. The part-time workers will receive the same benefits as traditional 40-hour workers, except their salaries will be reduced by 25% in accordance with the reduced number of work hours. Even though Amazon already employs part-time workers who share the same benefits as full-time workers, Amazon’s new program creates a team of workers – including managers – who share a 30-hour work week.
According to a blog post by Amazon on Eventbrite.com, the company wants “…to create a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth…This initiative was created with Amazon’s diverse workforce in mind and the realization that the traditional full-time schedule may not be a “one size fits all” model.”
Thus far, the program will only consist of small teams of around a dozen people. The teams will work under the Human Resources division with core hours from Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. in addition to flex hours. The part-time workers can choose to transition from 30 hours a week to 40 hours a week and potentially become full-time workers. Amidst Amazon’s efforts in providing opportunities for people to work less hours, Amazon doesn’t plan to change its 40-hour workweek at a company-wide level.
This program seems to be a move to quell criticism on Amazon overworked employees. A year ago, New York Times reported that Amazon encouraged its workers to work 80 hours a week with rarely a vacation. Amazon’s senior vice president, Jay Carney, denied these accusations and said they misrepresented the company.
Amazon did not say whether their latest move was related to the criticism they received from New York Times.
Amazon’s new move may be a way of tackling its bad reputation in the eyes of potential employees. By providing opportunities for reduced hours, Amazon may catch the eyes of top talent.
Although many companies have talked about reducing work hours, Amazon seems to be one of the only companies to take measures to do so.
In addition to appealing to potential talent, Amazon can solve its diversity problem with its latest move. Just like other major tech companies, Amazon is also having trouble with balancing its ratio of male and female workers. Male workers dominate the workplace with 76% of the company’s leadership roles filled by males. Amazon’s reduced hours could appeal to women who hold household responsibilities on top of their work.
Even though Amazon didn’t specifically address diversification efforts with this newest move, it could end up being very beneficial to Amazon. To cater to Amazon’s diverse customer base, Amazon should also have a diverse workplace that appeals to the customers. They can obviously afford to try experiments such as this.
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