Amazon offers free Prime membership to warehouse workers, but corporate employees are left out of the holiday rush – Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

In preparation for the busy holiday season and a Prime Day-style sale on October 8th and 9th, Amazon.com Inc. AMZN has announced new benefits for its warehouse employees, which will take effect next year.

What happened: The new benefit comes with a pay increase of at least $1.50 per hour for frontline workers. Prime membership, launched in 2005, now costs $14.99 per month or $139 per year and comes with several perks. The company told Fortune that the free Prime membership is available exclusively to frontline workers.

Vice President of Worldwide Operations at Amazon, Udit Madannoted in a blog post that front-line team members are critical to delivering Prime benefits to customers. However, this perk is exclusive to warehouse workers; corporate employees must still pay for their own subscriptions.

Despite the pay increase, warehouse workers’ wages remain significantly lower than corporate employees. According to ZipRecruiter, the average Amazon corporate employee makes $133,000 per year.

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Why it’s important: The announcement comes as Amazon is making several strategic moves. On Thursday, Amazon launched a generative AI-powered personal assistant, Project Amelia, that aims to help U.S. sellers with personalized responses and updates.

Amazon has ended its work-from-home policy and is requiring employees to return to the office full-time starting in January.

This decision has attracted attention and criticism, especially from former employees such as John McBridewho wondered whether this move was a form of ‘silent layoffs’ to reduce staff and increase margins.

Additionally, Amazon announced Wednesday that it would raise worker wages to more than $29 an hour, representing an average annual increase of $3,000 for full-time employees. The $2.2 billion investment is part of the company’s efforts to improve worker compensation amid regulatory scrutiny and unionization efforts.

Amazon’s mandate to return to the office also extends to its One medical subsidiary, which will require employees to come to the office three times a week from October.

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Photo courtesy of: Unsplash

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote