Amazon employees prepare for first Christmas with innovative flexible working contract

Parents from Amazon fulfilment centres across the country are among hundreds of Amazon employees in the UK planning their first Christmas with one of the company’s innovative flexible contracts.

Launched last year, the Term-Time contract, which remains a unique UK working option, guarantees time off for the Christmas school holidays, as well as Easter and the longer summer break, without affecting a comprehensive range of benefits, including private medical insurance and life assurance.

Alongside the launch of Term-Time contracts in 2023, Amazon Anytime, a flexible part-time contract – with a minimum of 80 hours per month – was also made available to thousands of additional employees.

Amazon Anytime lets employees pick and mix the shifts that suit their needs; part-day or full-day, day or night, weekday or weekend. The contract is also aimed at supporting people who are unable to find work due to family (or other commitments that require flexibility) return to the workplace.

One of the dads working at Amazon who has signed up for the Term-Time contract is Shahid Iqbal who works at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dunstable.

Shahid started work as a seasonal employee at Amazon in Dunstable in 2019. He was soon made permanent and has since progressed through departments at the fulfilment centre to become a team lead. 

Shahid has four children, aged fifteen, twelve, nine and five, and says term-time working has made a huge difference to the family.

“This working pattern is like a pre-booked holiday. I don’t have to worry about booking time off because I’ve got so much flexibility, making life much easier to plan. It helps me be an active participant in my kids’ social lives when they’re off school – and with their homework too. We like to cultivate a love of learning at home, and this helps us do that,” he said.

“My wife is on a different work schedule and this contract allows me to take over in the holidays and give her time to relax! Because we can plan everything way in advance, there’s less of a headache around scheduling, and it means we can save a bit of money on holidays too. As a result, I get proper quality time with my kids, and I think they look forward to it as well. School holidays mean they can spend lots of time with their dad. 

“In the summer we used the time to go back home to Pakistan and see my dad, who’s 80. It was 5 ½ weeks and whenever we go there, I like to give as much time as possible to him. We used to struggle to find the time for such a stint away, and my dad, who loves to see us, can’t travel longer journeys. He often complains we’re not there for long – but this year was the most amount of time we’ve spent in Pakistan as a family, so he couldn’t complain, and everyone was happy!”

How does Shahid plan to use his time off during his children’s December holidays?

“This December is all about GCSEs for my eldest daughter, who’ll be sitting mock exams soon,” he said. “It’s more pressure for her this year so we want to spend lots of time smashing her revision, especially maths and science, which is her favourite subject. We’ll have lots of fun with our other three children too but that’s the focus this school holiday. 

“Overall, switching my contract to term-time has given such great flexibility. Having every school holiday off is the best and I’m constantly promoting it to colleagues in my team.”

Eryk Wilczynski works as an interim team lead at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Doncaster and is enjoying the flexibility of his new Amazon contract.

Eryk has worked at Amazon for nine years, and was made a permanent employee in 2021, when his current site first opened its doors. A new dad to nine-month-old baby Alice, Eryk recently joined the Amazon Anytime contract, which allows him to pick and choose any shift which suits his needs.

Speaking on the switch, he said: “You get to work on your own terms with this contract – your own schedule – whenever you want; day or night. It gives me a lot of opportunity to work around my personal life – it’s like nothing I’ve seen before. I feel like this option is the best one for what I need right now, given my child is still so young. 

“My partner loves it. My baby hasn’t been sleeping much, so my partner’s been particularly tired. This contract allows me to help in a huge way and let her get some sleep while I take care of Alice. 

“As long as you give notice, you can cancel a shift and pick another whenever else. Whether it’s my child or partner being unwell, or any other circumstance, I know that no matter what happens I can support my family and have unlimited flexibility. Surely these are the best working conditions you can have?” 

This will be Eryk’s first Christmas with Alice, and he’s already planning a flexible festive season:

“I will probably take Christmas off and not need to be concerned, as I’ll do my hours elsewhere in the month. I have total flexibility on my first Christmas with Alice, which is so valuable, and I can fully commit to my family. Hopefully by then Alice will be sleeping!”

Eryk added:

“I think you should work to help you live life to the fullest, both in the workplace and at home. That’s what I’m trying to focus on. All this flexibility helps me live my life how I want to live it. And I think that’s the best part about it. Flexibility like this can help you achieve your goals. And that’s what I think Amazon is all about – supporting people with career choices, flexibility and life goals.”

Aneta Krawczyk has been with Amazon at the same fulfilment centre for three years, and has also recently changed her working pattern to Amazon Anytime. The mum-of-one says it’s made a big difference to her life:

“Kids surprise us, don’t they? Anything can happen, and this contract gives me the flexibility to deal with all of that. You can plan ahead very easily too. As soon as I get Maja’s school calendar, I can arrange my working pattern to fit in around it. Even if Maja is poorly, it’s easy to swap shifts. It’s amazing and it’s exactly what I need at the moment. 

“At Christmas I will try and do most of my monthly shifts before the school break, which means we don’t need to juggle or pay for childcare. We’re looking forward to putting the decorations up and doing lots of Christmas shopping together. It’s a magical time for kids, with lights and trees everywhere. I love it – and so does Maja. It’s great to be there for such a large part of it.”

Based on employee feedback and initially launched in Amazon’s larger fulfilment centres, Term-Time contracts – which are aimed at better supporting family needs – have now been expanded to include thousands of employees in the company’s network of delivery stations as well.