Amazon’s Compensation & Miscellaneous Benefits
Avier Wealth Advisors is not affiliated with Amazon. While Avier communicates with its clients regarding their Amazon employee benefits, and educates itself on the Amazon Benefits, there is no guarantee that the information we have provided is accurate. Amazon employees are encouraged to contact their employer should they have any questions regarding their specific employee benefits.
How Amazon Employees are Paid
There are three different ways Amazon employees are paid:
Base salary: The way you earn your base salary is pretty straight-forward. In early 2022 Amazon announced that they were more than doubling their maximum base pay from $160,000 to $350,000. This is fantastic news for current and future Amazonians who now have potential to earn a larger, more predictable salary, and not be so reliant on RSUs and Amazon’s stock price to supplement income needs.
Sign-on bonus: Many new employees will also receive a year one and a year two sign-on bonus. The bonus is paid out with every paycheck, so in essence, it’s just additional salary for the first two years you are at Amazon. As a quick example: If you are entitled to a $60,000 year one sign-on bonus, you will receive an additional $5,000 per paycheck. The same method of payment (every paycheck) will occur in year two, simply divide your year two sign-on bonus by twelve.
Restricted Stock Units (RSUs): Stock vests will begin on your first anniversary. Additional shares will vest at the end of year 2 and then every 6 months until you’ve been with the company for 4 years. Many Amazon employees receive additional refresher RSUs over time.
Amazon’s Health Benefits
Amazon offers comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage to all regular full-time employees, regardless of their level, tenure, or position.
The company has two different health plans: a shared deductible health plan and a Health Savings Account (HSA). For employees with a high-deductible plan, the Health Savings Account (HSA) provides an attractive strategy to save for future healthcare needs and significantly reduce your annual tax bill.
HSA funds can accumulate over the years and grow well past their original contributions and be used as a retirement account when medical costs are higher. Similar to pre-tax contributions to a 401k, HSA contributions are tax deductible and grow tax deferred. Unlike a traditional 401(k), however, distributions from the account are not taxable if used for healthcare expenses.
Amazon’s Family Coverage
To support employees at whatever stage in life they may be, Amazon offers employees a variety of family leave benefits:
Pregnancy Leave provides birth mothers with up to 4 weeks of paid leave (pre-partum) and 10 weeks paid leave (post-partum). RSUs will continue to vest according to your current vesting schedule. If you were granted a sign-on bonus, those payments will continue as scheduled.
Parental Leave allows employees to take 6 weeks of paid leave following the birth or adoption of a child. (Employee must have one continuous year of employment to be eligible). This leave can be taken all at once or split into 2 increments. Your RSU vesting will suspend after 14 days of leave and will resume once you return to work with an adjusted vest schedule.
Leave Share enables employees to share any unused portion of their Parental Leave with their spouse or domestic partner if they do not have access to paid parental leave thru their employer.
Amazon employees have free access to a network of more than two million caregivers, including nannies, babysitters and special-needs caretakers. Employees receive discounts on certain day care centers, and Amazon provides a variety of free resources for parents of children with autism, ADHD and developmental disabilities.
Amazon’s Additional Benefits
Eligible employees receive a discount code for a 10% discount off of Amazon merchandise. Additionally, employees can participate in the employee discount program which provides you with a discount on a variety of services such as travel, tickets to event, cell phone service, restaurants, and more.
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