Amazon intends to grow its seasonal staff by 20 percent, creating the biggest temporary team in its history.

The online retail leader seeks to bring on 300,000 new hires for the peak holiday period across its fulfillment and delivery operations in the United States. This goal exceeds the 250,000 positions filled in each of the last three seasons. Beginning January 1, the firm will also extend medical coverage starting on the first day for full-time, part-time, and seasonal hourly staff scheduled for at least 30 hours weekly.

Those seasonal workers starting before January 1 will gain coverage on that day, according to the company. Employees beginning later will receive benefits from their initial workday onward. Amazon continues to recruit seasonal staff throughout the year.

Amazon medical plans begin at five dollars weekly and feature five-dollar copayments.

The firm reports that seasonal staff earn more than twenty dollars per hour on average, while regular full- and part-time workers average nearly twenty-four dollars per hour. Last month Amazon raised its base pay for core operations roles to twenty dollars hourly and introduced fresh grocery discounts for all United States employees.

Seasonal recruitment has shown mixed results this year, as some major retailers such as Walmart and Target choose to rely on current teams. Other firms including Spirit Halloween, Michaels, and Dick's Sporting Goods have revealed plans to add roughly 73,000 positions combined.

A recent Indeed study noted that the seasonal hiring period is beginning sooner and moving away from traditional store-based retail toward e-commerce fulfillment positions.

Amazon notes that its seasonal openings frequently fill within minutes of posting and that some temporary workers later transition into permanent roles at the company.