The number does not include supplemental compensation like bonuses or company shares.
Struggling to both find and retain top white collar workers in a competitive tech talent pool, Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report is raising its maximum base pay in line with companies like Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter, Inc. Report and Google (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report.
According to a leaked internal memo reported by GeekWire, the e-commerce giant is raising the maximum base pay for its corporate workers from $160,000 to $350,000.
Why Are They Doing This?
While this number does not include supplemental compensation like bonuses or company shares, it more than doubles the amount that employees in given roles could earn.
“This past year has seen a particularly competitive labor market and in doing a thorough analysis of various options, weighing the economics of our business and the need to remain competitive for attracting and retaining top talent, we decided to make meaningfully bigger increases to our compensation levels than we do in a typical year,” the note reads.
The change comes amid a national labor shortage and Amazon’s own struggles to offer competitive work at all segments of the labor market.
On the corporate side, Amazon already lagged behind companies like Twitter and Google when it comes to base pay. Another report found that 50 vice presidents left the company in 2021, with below-market pay one of the top reasons for leaving for all employees, according to internal surveys.
Just last week, Amazon said in a SEC filing that its work environment “may be perceived as less favorable compared to other companies’ policies.”
Amazon Adds Family Friendly Work Options
Amazon has long cited its stock options as a major benefit of working for the company.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic pushing workers in all fields to reconsider their work arrangements and leave for better options, even Amazon has recently had to field potential employees’ insistence on better work-life balance and benefits.
A recent study found that nearly 40% of white collar workers named work-life balance as more important than salary when choosing a job. To navigate this, Amazon recently launched a program called Amazon FamilyFlex for employees who may need to take time off for kids or family obligations.
“As compensation is unique for each employee (considering their performance, job family, and market conditions), these updates to the base pay cap and the total compensation ranges will affect every employee differently,” the note further reads.
