By: Darbi Durham, Business Services Assistant, Illinois Chamber of Commerce
Over the last 25 years, Amazon has become a worldwide opportunity for people to make their lives more convenient, interesting and their own. Amazon has changed the way millions around the globe consume everything from groceries to The Goonies.
It has allowed people to explore their interests and find new ones on a never-ending platform of ideas. Their extensions of Whole Foods, Prime Now and Amazon Fresh, along with their venture into brick and mortar business, continue to expand and diversify their reach into new communities.
In their 26th year, a global pandemic has made the company not only practical, but vital for people forced by the threat illness to shop from their own home. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon’s top concern has been supporting their employees, customers and communities in the safest most generous way possible. Amazon invested approximately $4 billion from April to June, 2020 on COVID-related initiatives to improve getting products to customers and keeping employees safe.
This includes spending more than $800 million on COVID-19 safety measures such as providing hundreds of millions of masks, gloves and hand sanitizers for employees. They have procured thousands of thermometers and thermal cameras to ensure employees are safe to come to work and added thousands of hand washing stations and sanitizing sprays to support the more than 150 procedural changes they have implemented since the beginning of COVID-19.
To further grow their safety network, Amazon added nearly 6,000 janitors to their typical teams and spent more than $85 million redeploying team members from their normal roles to perform safety related tasks and audits at sites around the world. This includes team members who are ‘social distancing ambassadors’ helping with temperature checks.
To assist team members fighting their own virus battles, all Amazon employees diagnosed with COVID-19 or placed into quarantine received two-weeks of pay to ensure employees have the time they need to return to good health without the financial stress of lost wages. Amazon also offered unlimited unpaid time off for all hourly employees through April 2020.
In addition to supporting their full-time staff, Amazon established a $25 million relief fund for partners such as delivery drivers and seasonal associates facing financial hardship or quarantine due to COVID-19.
Amazon is taking their health initiatives a step further by assembling a team of Amazonians from scientists and program managers, to procurement specialists and software engineers to build scalable testing for COVID-19.
Besides increasing safety measures and helping to prevent lost income to COVID-19, Amazon increased regular pay for all hourly employees by $2 per hour in the U.S. and doubled the regular hour base pay for every overtime hour worked for employees in U.S. and Canada through May 2020.
They aren’t just adding dollars, but jobs as well. Amazon hired 175,000 new employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, including more than 6,500 new employees in Illinois. These new additions will join the more than 15,000 full-time employees already working in Amazon facilities across the state from Chicago to Champaign.
Due to pandemic restrictions, Amazon has been a global engine in providing essential materials, nutritional food efforts, supplies and other types of crucial possessions customers need. Amazon’s customer obsession, rather than competitor focus, has helped the company keep up with all businesses and consumers nationwide that are depending on their resources to keep them afloat.
They are prioritizing customers who are over the age of 60, have disabilities, and are high risk with dedicated shopping hours at Whole Foods. Free masks are also being provided to all Whole Foods Market customers nationwide and the company is further focused on enhanced cleaning at these locations.
As one of the world’s largest companies, Amazon’s service extends beyond just their employees and customers into their communities. Amazon CEO and Founder Jeff Bezos donated $100 million, the largest gift ever, to Feeding America to support food banks and food pantries to help address the increased demand for food assistance as a result of COVID-19.
In Illinois, Amazon donated $200,000 to the Greater Chicago Food Depository to provide the equivalent of 600,000 healthy meals to support the depository’s ongoing efforts to feed Illinois families. They also donated $50,000 to United Way of Will County to support their work in the community where they have multiple fulfillment centers.
Amazon’s support for Illinois communities is not limited to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, they donated $20,000 to support the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago including the scout’s GirlSpace STEAM program, along with $45,000 to United Way of Will County at their annual Spirit of Giving event. Besides direct donations, Amazon customers support more than 46,300 charitable organizations in Illinois simply by shopping on AmazonSmile.
Though COVID-19 has pushed Amazon’s charitable giving to the forefront, the company has quietly invested more than $8 billion in Illinois since 2010, including infrastructure and employee compensation, adding more than $8 billion to the state GDP.
Additionally, more than 50,000 independent authors, and small and medium sized businesses in Illinois are growing their businesses with Amazon. Around the world and right here at home Amazon is constantly coming up with new ways of supporting their people and the world around them. To learn more information about Amazon and what they are doing in your community, visit the Day One blog here.