A new pilot program has been recently introduced by the e-commerce giant, Amazon to create technical teams entirely consisting of part-time employees to include managers, availing all benefits as provided to full-time employees of the company.

In an attempt to overcome its reputation as an unforgiving workplace, this new style of working incorporated by the company is intended to put an end to those rumours and become one of the flexible places to work, while luring best tech talent in the industry.

According to this new schedule, part-time employees will enjoy all benefits of full-time workers. The company believes, this move would help employees better coordinate schedules and own projects from start to finish.

Fighting the global labour crunch and competing with other tech giants and start-ups to lure the best talent in the industry, by offering generous benefits and flexi-work arrangements, the company will be holding further discussion about this initiative at an event scheduled to be held on August 25, “Reinventing the Work-Life Ratio for Tech Talent,” in its hometown of Seattle.

The company further noted, this initiative was created considering the diverse workforce in mind, wherein traditional full-time schedule, may not be a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model.

On the event page, the company stated, “Although this is new for technical job families at Amazon, the concept of part-time employment is not new – there are many people at Amazon who currently work a reduced 30 hour per week schedule. What is novel for Amazon is the creation of teams that are entirely comprised of part-time employees, including managers.”

“We want to create a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth. This team structure will ensure similar schedules, and enable ownership that allows team members to innovate and think big on behalf of our customers. Core hours for the teams will be Monday through Thursday, 10 am – 2 pm with flex work hours throughout the week.”

See: Rapid Adoption of Flexible Working by Companies Globally: Survey Reveals

“These part-time employees will still receive the same benefits as those employees scheduled for 40 hours per week. While the part-time employees’ projects will be carefully managed to align with schedules, they will share the same objective of all of our teams: to build great things on behalf of our customers.”

Furthermore, in another announcement the e-retailer plans to hire 1,500 permanent workers at its new warehouse fulfilment centre in Essex in 2017. The company plans to start recruiting a range of workers later this summer, including operations managers, engineers, HR, IT and people who will handle customer orders.

John Tagawa, Amazon’s VP of UK operations highlighted in a press release how robots will be used at the Tilbury centre to increase the speed of delivery.

The company currently has 10 fulfilment centres in UK including two in Doncaster and one in Dunfermline, Dunstable, Gourock, Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Rugeley and Swansea Bay. Two new fulfilment centres are expected to open, in Manchester and Coalville, Leicestershire, this autumn.

Also read: Q&A with Ben Elms: “Flexible Working is Part of Our Vodafone Brand Culture”

Image credit: glassdoor.com