Amazon pilots 30-hour work week

Seattle’s e-commerce behemoth Amazon is yet again trying something new.

The company is piloting a program of teams entirely composed of 30-hour-per-week workers.

According to an Eventbrite posting last week, the company has been testing the idea of part-time technical teams -- not a new concept in itself, but new in that all members of the teams are on the 30-hour schedule.

“We want to create a work environment that is tailored to a reduced schedule and still fosters success and career growth,” the company wrote in the event ad.

Amazon is trying out the 30-hour work week through a new pilot program with technical teams made up of part-time workers. Amazon is trying out the 30-hour work week through a new pilot program with technical teams made up of part-time workers. Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images Photo: Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images Image 1 of / 50 Caption Close Amazon pilots 30-hour work week 1 / 50 Back to Gallery

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Workers in the pilot program will have core hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with flex hours throughout the week. They’ll be paid 75 percent of full-time pay, but still receive the same benefits as full-time employees.

The program seems likely to score a few positive points for the company a little more than a year after a New York Times story painted a picture of a terrifyingly competitive, work-til-you-break workplace. In response, Amazon's Jay Carney (former White House Press Secretary) was quick to paint the NYT piece as something of a hatchet job, and a Times' public editor wrote a column weighing whether the piece was fair.

Either way, the event posting from last week hinted at changing ideas of healthy workplace culture.

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“This initiative was created 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,” the company wrote in the posting.

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