Amazon tech talent pilot to offer part-time work with full-time benefits

Dive Brief:

Amazon is experimenting with an interesting workplace pilot program that builds part-time only technical teams (managers, too) who receive full-time benefits. The move is part of the giant e-tailer's effort to boost its tech talent recruiting strategy and enhance its workplace flexibility reputation, according to Geekwire.
Part-time employees in pilot are on par with Amazon’s full-time workers when it comes to benefits, and the part-time aspect of the plan is a structure Amazon told Geekwire will help employees coordinate schedules and own projects from start to finish.
Geekwire reports that Amazon's part-time teams will work “core hours” of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m, with “flex work hours throughout the week.”

Dive Insight:

According to Geekwire, Amazon is trying to overcome its reputation as an unforgiving workplace, while also trying to lure the best tech talent with attractive benefits and flexible work arrangements. To that end, the company is holding an explanatory event, called “Reinventing the Work-Life Ratio for Tech Talent,” on Aug. 25 in Seattle, Geekwire reports.

On the event splash page, Amazon explains that it created the part-time initiative "with Amazon’s diverse workforce in mind and the realization that the traditional full-time schedule may not be a ‘one size fits all’ model.” It added that while it's a new program at Amazon, the concept of part-time employment at the company is not new.

Since the blistering attack in the pages of the New York Times last summer, Amazon's been busy on several fronts. Among other things, Geekwire reports that it expanded its parental leave benefits, it partnered with a non-profit to address Seattle’s homelessness problem, and earlier this week it hosted its first ever Women’s Entrepreneur Conference.

Amazon and others disputed and debated the Times story. But in the aftermath, CEO Jeff Bezos defended the company culture to shareholders and Amazon started regularly collecting more employee feedback. It also unveiled its fascinating new greenhouse space in Seattle. Perhaps most importantly: Amazon reclaimed the coveted the top spot in the The Harris Poll's annual Reputation Quotient (RQ) Summary Report.