Amazon’s Chattanooga distribution center will enable its workers to self-test for the coronavirus within weeks as one of an array of efforts to keep employees healthy, officials said Thursday.
“I think it’s the new normal. Until we have a vaccine,” said Chris Scanlon, the center’s general manager, during a walk-through of the sprawling local facility highlighting measures Amazon has put into place.
He said the Chattanooga site has doubled its workforce to over 3,000 employees from its headcount in January, and it’s still hiring to meet customers’ growing demand for goods.
“I don’t see an end in sight. It’s the busiest ever seen by the company as a whole,” said Scanlon, who has been at the Chattanooga facility for nine years.
Amazon spokesman Owen Torres said the company in March announced it would hire more than 175,000 temporary full- and part-time workers across its North American operations. It later said it would provide the opportunity for 125,000 of those to stay with the company.