// Amazon had paid warehouse staff to share positive messages about the firm on social media in order to attract potential workers
//The online retailer is understood to have wound down the scheme late last year due to its poor reach
Amazon has abandoned its campaign of paying warehouse employees to share positive messages about the company on social media in order to attract new staff.
The retailer set up its fulfilment centre ambassador scheme in 2018 in an attempt to defend it against rising hostility over conditions at its warehouses.
However, Amazon has quietly wound down the scheme and removed all traces of the employee influencer scheme since the end of the last year as executives were unhappy with its poor reach, according to the Financial Times.
READ MORE: Amazon’s profits could drop 16% this year as labour costs skyrocket 60%
It is unclear how many ambassador accounts existed. Investigative group Bellingcat at one point logged more than 50 in the US and Europe in 2019.
Typical tweets sent out by ambassadors read: “I feel proud to work for Amazon — they’ve taken good care of me. Much better than some of my previous employers.” The campaign also led to some spoof accounts which gave the impression that some Amazon workers had gone rogue on social media.
Improving perception of Amazon’s workplace has become a big focus for the retail giant as it tries to expand its workforce in order to maintain its growth and delivery speeds. The cost of attracting new applicants, and labour-related losses in productivity, added $2bn to Amazon’s operating costs in its most recently reported quarter.
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