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Amazon's twice-annual Prime Day sales period brings bargains galore for customers and fresh challenges for its HR department as workers are asked to work extra hours and diverted from other departments to help meet demand.
This year, Prime Day promises to be even more grueling because the company has doubled the length to four days, from July 8-11.
The firm has turned to its corporate workforce to help fulfil grocery orders ahead of its major Prime Day event, asking New York-based staff to volunteer for in-person shifts at one of its warehouse locations.
A Slack message sent to thousands of employees across functions including engineering and marketing requested volunteers to “help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet.” The call for assistance came from an area manager and applied to a grocery fulfillment center in Brooklyn.
The voluntary shifts were scheduled to run from Tuesday through Friday in two-hour blocks between 10am and 6pm. According to the internal message, employees would assist by “picking items, preparing carts and bags of groceries for delivery, packing boxes on receiving carts,” and even “boost morale with distribution of snacks.”
The request also noted that volunteers would be allowed to use a conference room if they needed to take calls or attend meetings during their shift. The initiative, according to the message, aimed to “connect” corporate and warehouse teams more closely during the high-demand sales period.
Griffin Buch, spokesperson for Amazon, confirmed the approach was not new. “This support is entirely optional, and it allows corporate employees to get closer to customers while enabling our store teams to focus on the work that’s most impactful,” he said.
Amazon Fresh logistics under pressure
Amazon Fresh, the grocery service available to Prime members and distinct from its Whole Foods operation, is offering discounts this week including a free 90-day delivery trial and $30 off orders for existing subscribers. Prime Day traditionally leads to a spike in demand, prompting Amazon to hire thousands of additional warehouse staff to manage fulfillment.
New York remains one of Amazon’s busiest hubs in the US, and warehouse capacity is a critical part of the company’s ability to meet its fast delivery promises.
Cost-cutting and robotics in focus
Last year, Amazon Fresh faced major restructuring. CEO Andy Jassy closed several Amazon Fresh physical locations and eliminated hundreds of roles within the grocery delivery division as part of cost-cutting moves. The wider business has shed more than 27,000 jobs since 2022.
Speaking last week on CNBC, Jassy described a future where robotics play a bigger role in fulfillment. “Over time, as we expand the use of robotics in our fulfillment centers, we will have robots doing fulfillment and transportation for us,” he said.
The sales glut does have an impact on staff, however, with many arguing that it puts workers under undue pressure.
“It’s not uncommon for there to be a parade of ambulances leaving JFK8, especially during Prime week and peak season, when safety just goes out the window,” Tristian Martinez, a six-year veteran at the company’s Staten Island warehouse and a member of Amazon Labor Union Local 1 of the Teamsters, said. “They just push and push you."
In the days before, during, and after Prime Day, Amazon institutes its notorious Mandatory Extra Time (MET) schedule. For warehouse workers that means an hour or more tacked on to their shifts every day, plus an extra day of work every week.
