Amazon announced earlier in March its plans to hire an additional 100,000 workers in the U.S. to cope with the unprecedented surge in demand for online shopping during the coronavirus outbreak. This has highlighted the inequalities within the company and strained Amazon's own operations. 

Speaking to local media, Amazon's senior vice president of global corporate affairs, Jay Carney, said that the boost in employment was "in the way [they] do for seasonal periods like the holiday."

Last December holiday season, Amazon's hiring plans were at 200,000 – nearly twice the amount compared to the year before. 

And the current hiring spree is a clear sign of increased demand at a time of stay-at-home orders in most of states and social-distancing measures in much of the world.

It's a devastating moment for the American job market, as the number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits have surged more than 3,000 percent since early March. 

And according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the last week of March alone saw a record-high 6.6 million U.S. workers file for unemployment benefits, twice the number of those who filed in the prior week.

But despite the trend of numerous businesses going out and widespread layoffs, Amazon is not alone in experiencing the opposite – other large retailers like Walmart and Costco have also emerged from this crisis with varying gains. 

They've all seen some increases in their respective stock market shares despite the global downward trend.

What does it mean for the workers?

Amazon's handling of the situation has highlighted the inequalities within the company, right from the onset.

While many of the higher-paid workers from its corporate offices were allowed to work from home, that wasn't an option for the majority of workers at its warehouses or delivery teams.

And the new hires are predominantly for those positions, that do not allow them to stay at home.

Kirill Korchinskiy used to work at Amazon's warehouse in Seattle, where the company's global headquarters is based. He stopped going to work when Washington state was initially announced the U.S. epicenter for the pandemic.

Kirill did not mind working as a part-time rideshare driver, as he "probably had far less chances of contracting the virus from his passengers, then he does at the warehouse." He said "nobody washes their hands and nobody can keep their distance."

It was soon after my conversation with Kirill that Amazon workers in at least 10 stores were reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 and several sites have been temporarily closed.

Since then, Amazon has announced that it's taking strict measures, by regularly sanitizing door handles, elevator buttons, lockers, and touch screens. Additionally, it was also staggering shifts and spreading out chairs in break rooms.

Amazon also set up a 25-million-U.S.-dollar relief fund that would provide up to two weeks' pay for those who've been tested positive for the virus or those placed in quarantine. 

But for other workers worried about their safety, paid leave is not an option, just as working from home is not. As an incentive, though, they have seen a two-U.S.-dollar raise (two euros for workers in Europe and two pounds for those in the UK) in their hourly wages throughout the month of April, and better overtime pay. 

While none of this was enough to keep Kirill spending his days at the warehouse, it is for many others too good a deal to give up.

By the end of March, some of the local hiring had already ended in certain areas of Los Angeles and other big cities, but other human resources pages on the internet were still showing openings for various positions across the United States.

Implications and challenges

This unexpected and rather abrupt surge in demand has also strained Amazon's own operations. 

The one-day and two-day deliveries previously available to Amazon's Prime users are all but gone. In fact, these days customers are lucky if they can receive their shipments within the week.

On its page, Amazon explicitly tells shoppers that it's prioritizing items that people need the most, given the ongoing pandemic. Certain items that could once be delivered to central Los Angeles on the same day, are now taking nearly two weeks to reach the same address.

Delays are an understandable setback in these unprecedented times, but they certainly undermine one of Amazon's competitive advantage in the market – that's always been about free and quick shipping.

In the longer run, it will be interesting to see how this extended shutdown will impact the retail business overall. Long before this outbreak, Amazon had already dominated a significant share of the retail market, putting immense pressure on many small businesses trying to compete. 

Many of those "local" stores are now forced to shut their doors, and most do not have enough (or any) online presence or the delivery network to even make up for the lost business.

Throughout this pandemic, Amazon will likely continue to play a critical role, as it usually does during holiday seasons. And one wonders how its role will shape the overall retail business by the time we reach the end of the tunnel.