UnBrex-pected move: Amazon raises UK workforce to 24,000 Amazon has announced its intention to increase its UK workforce to over 24,000 this year. The company said it would be welcoming an additional 5,000 staff to its UK headcount, with the majority expected to be staffing its warehouse “fulfilment centres” dotted around the nation, although no breakdown was provided. Amazon told …
The retail arm of a company expands its fulfilment workforce to handle its retail growth in the UK - this work is most sensibly handled somewhere on this island, whether or not this country remains a member of EU.
Meanwhile globally-relevant technical departments also recruit because they've got plenty of development work to do. Doesn't matter where on the planet this work is done, but the UK has plenty of relevant skills and a first world infrastructure - so is as good a place as any, and again EU status is irrelevant.
Whatever your view, this is neither in spite of nor because of Brexit.
But everything has to be down to Brexit, even when they're not related in any way. Removes the need to do a proper job and all news sites are guilty unfortunately. I'm pretty sure if we looked hard enough we'd find an article stating Eve ate the forbidden fruit because she was for/against Brexit.
There is a BrExit angle.
Amazon at one point ~ 1 year ago reached a peak in Amazon Logistics where nearly everything was delivered via A.L. A.L. in UK was a typical Gig economy joint which bypasses the minimum pay, NI and other regulations by pretending that all of its employees are self-employed. Its position on this used to be slightly less dubious than let's say Uber's because most of A.L. "self-employed" delivery drivers were also on contract to Yodel, thus satisfying HMRC reqs of contractors working for multiple employers.
That bonanza is coming to an end - the Eastern European (primarily from Bulgaria and Romania) "self-employed" delivery drivers are leaving in droves because of the exchange rate and looming BrExit. 10 months+ ago 95% of my Prime deliveries were delivered by A.L. This is now down to sub-50% with Royal Mail, Hermes and even DHL picking up the slack. That _COSTS_ money, so Amazon is taking the logical step of actually recruiting for its logistics arm. That is where the sudden growth in numbers comes from. It is not the workhouse (err.. warehouse). It is A.L. which needs to pick up the slack from the Eastern European leaving as well as prepare for the rather inevitable minimum pay enforcement order from HMRC.
Amazon Logistics doesn't get used much round my way, but Amazon do have some perverse algorithm for picking carriers...
Anything cheap/difficult to break - expensive courier (usually DPD) or Royal Mail
Anything expensive/fragile - Amazon Logistics/Yodel
The only deliveries that are consistent are Locker deliveries, which I believe are exclusively handled by TNT.
The Brexit angle is a stupid effort to try to hide there is world outside England.
"Amazon to create record 15,000 new full-time jobs across Europe in 2017"
"Many of the roles will be in new fulfillment centers that have been announced over the past several months and are currently under construction in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and UK".
https://www.amazon.eu/p/feature/dxd673pupxt68qv
@ Alexander J Martin was it really this difficult to include this link to Amazon. And why did I guess it.
Since the referendum, the pound has dropped about 10% in value against the euro. That is to say, everyone in the UK has had a pay cut of about 10%, even though some of them haven't quite noticed yet.
Makes the UK a more attractive place to employ people, if the jobs are portable. (And they still are, for at least the next two years.)
Whatever your view, this is neither in spite of nor because of Brexit.
I tend to agree generally but they'll have to stop billing UK sales to Luxembourg when we leave which defeats the purpose of not setting up in the UK in the first place. Why be in Luxembourg when you can not be? It's a little of both. I'd expect to hear more stories like this over the coming years, especially from multinationals wishing they weren't in Ireland. Google and Facebook have already jumped, there's a few others that must be considering.
Also FWIW all those at the back that weren't listening the 40 times it's been discussed: right now is a good time to invest in the UK using foreign currency reserves - and it's caused by the GBP having been under attack by speculators since the vote. Maybe next quarter lads keep trying!
@ Yes Me
It always amazes me that bad news is because of brexit but good news is because "Brexit --wait for it-- hasn't happened yet". Just as the absolute certainty of doom right after the vote has been the opposite and so the excuse is 'we havnt left yet'. Sounds a lot like those loud people in city centres with signs shouting the end is coming. Then when eventually something, anything bad happens anywhere, they told us so!
And of course when the next recession hits (the business cycle) I am sure that will be blamed on brexit. Even Junker is already hedging his bets claiming brexit might break up the EU. No that would be the politicians running the cartel.
@ s. pam
"We all know they're not here because they don't pay their fair share of corporate taxes"
Fair. A great word which means nothing. Not a value. Not a calculation. Not a set of laws. For example it could be argued that it would be fair to follow the law, which they do.
To wipe all other retailers off the face of the earth or, at least here in the UK.
This includes the likes of M&S, Tesco, Morrisons, John Lewis, Debenhams and the rest.
They already deliver groceries in some parts.
These workers are really only temporary because soon all the fulfillment will be 100% done by Robots.
The only humans left are the delivery drones and with self driving tech, even those are an endangered species.
What then folks?
I've already stopped using Amazon, you can too before it is too late.
Amazon can be successful and the best if it doesn't pay the same amount of tax as everyone else, it can put that tax money back into discounts and customer service that competitors can't afford because the competitors are paying the Revenue for the infrastructure that Amazon are using to destroy them.
It's too successful like a particular TdF cyclist was too successful.
If they employed a few people at Banbury to run a collection point they could save some money on couriers. I walk past their new warehouse every lunchtime when I go out for a walk so picking a parcel up would be easy. After all fair's fair - I have to put up with legions of 'white van man' when I drive to/from work now that it's operational.
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