Amazon is to create another 2,500 permanent jobs in the UK this year in an act of commitment to a post-Brexit Britain that will boost its workforce in the country to 27,500.

Skilled job creation in the UK

The company said the extra staff were necessary at a time of growing R&D investment in the country, as well as to meet increasing customer demand.Many of the extra staff will be software developers, engineers and technicians “with all levels of experience”, from the highly-skilled to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training. The company said about 650 roles would be created across its development centres and cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services.Amazon UK’s head office and development centre in London would also recruit “hundreds” more staff but the company declined to say how many extra staff would be taken on at its 16 warehouses across the country.The firm is building several more warehouses and also wants to expand its fashion photography studio in London, as well as the development centres in Cambridge and Edinburgh, where it also plans to increase staffing at its customer service centre.Doug Gurr, Amazon UK country manager, said, “The UK is a fantastic place to do business so we are delighted to continue our investment in the British economy and provide quality, permanent roles for people the length and breadth of the country.“Whether you are looking for an entry-level role or in highly-specialised fields such as speech science or machine learning, we are proud to be expanding our UK workforce so we can further improve our products and services like AmazonFresh, Prime Video and Amazon Alexa.”

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Amazon investment in the UK

According to Mr Gurr, the company has invested over £9.3 billion in its UK operations since 2010 and Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond called the latest recruitment drive “a clear vote of confidence” in the UK workforce and economy.“Supporting businesses to create the high-quality jobs of the future is a key part of our plan to create an economy that works for everyone,” he said.“Innovative companies, such as Amazon, will be at the forefront of our new economy. And I welcome the news that they are creating 2,500 permanent, new jobs across the country. It’s a clear vote of confidence in our workforce and our economy.”Announcement of the new jobs came just days after the GMB union accused Amazon of “terrible conditions and poor treatment of workers” at its warehouses. The union said records showed ambulances had been called out 600 times to 14 Amazon warehouses over the past three years.It also cited a survey of GMB members working at Amazon warehouses, which claimed that 87 per cent were in “constant or occasional pain due to their workload”.
When asked about the quality of jobs available at Amazon, Mr Gurr said, “We’re very transparent. We provide health insurance, we provide pensions, we provide shares. We’re very proud of the working conditions across all parts of our business.”Relocate’s new Global Mobility Toolkit provides free information, practical advice and support for HR, global mobility managers and global teams operating overseas.Access hundreds of global services and suppliers in our Online Directory 

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