Amazon is going to double the salary of its employees in 2022?

Tech giant Amazon is more than doubling the maximum base salary it pays employees to USD 350,000 from USD 160,000. The hike will allow Amazon to hire the best talent in the industry and also retain its top core. Amazon also said it was increasing the compensation ranges of most jobs globally and is changing the timing of stock awards to align with promotions.

The e-commerce giant employed 1.6 million people globally as of December 31, including warehouse workers who are paid hourly and office staff who earn annual salaries. However, Amazon has not clarified how many employees would receive the bump in pay announced on Monday.

The memo does suggest the increase in compensation will be applicable for most jobs globally. Retaining the best employees has become challenging for Amazon with rivals eyeing the talent for their own growth. Last year, Amazon increased its average starting wage for operations staff in the United States to more than USD 18 (roughly Rs 1,340) an hour.

Amazon will review the compensation for newly promoted employees at the time of promotion and give in-year stock awards, if required, to get them in the new pay range, the memo read. The memo says managers will be reviewing the existing compensation during the appraisal period of an employee, and give stocks as mid-year bonus based on their performance during the period.

Last week, Amazon reported the greatest ever one-day increase in value. Shares of the online retail and cloud computing giant surged 13.5% on February 4 in its quarterly report, expanding its market capitalisation by around USD 190 billion (roughly Rs 14,18,200 crore) by the end of trading. Amazon is now valued at about USD 1.6 trillion (roughly Rs 1,41,82060 crore).