Amazon says 'business as usual' with plans to hire 1,000 extra staff

Online retailer says Brexit changes nothing for now and more staff needed to fulfil Prime Now one-hour delivery service.

Amazon is planning to hire 1,000 more people than previously expected in the UK this year as the online retailer rolls out its one-hour delivery operation and extends its web services.

The company will now create 3,500 permanent full-time jobs in the UK in 2016, taking Amazon’s total workforce to 15,500 as its Prime Now fast-delivery service, launched a year ago, reaches more than a third of the UK population.

Doug Gurr, Amazon UK’s new chief executive who officially took up his role this week, said the company was continuing with “business as usual” after the country’s vote to exit the EU last month.

Gurr said: “There are a lot of details to work out and as it stands today we don’t know exactly what the impact will be or what the regulatory environment will be. Right now we are single-mindedly and solely focused on keeping our heads down and doing what we are doing.

“As far as we are concerned nothing changes. We are still part of the EU. We’ll deal with [a change in] situation as it arrives.”

Gurr said Amazon was not about to change its plans and had continued to see “sales in line with expectations” after the Brexit vote, and while there had been short-term changes around events such as the England v Iceland football match these evened out over the longer term.

He said Prime Now was “rolling fast and we’re very pleased with the progress we’ve made”. Gurr said the company was also “encouraged” by customers’ response to its food delivery service, Amazon Fresh, which launched in the UK last month, but would not comment on any future expansion plans.

Amazon Fresh initially delivered to 69 London postcodes but last week extended that to a total of 128, including in the south of London for the first time.