Amazon Operations sits at the heart of the Amazon customer experience and looks after everything from the moment a customer clicks buy, to the moment their item is delivered—from desktop to doorstep. We provide a modern, safe, and engaging workplace, whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings. We’re continuing to reimagine our operations network, harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to place even more items in the right places to anticipate and meet customer demand. We wanted to stock more of the products our customers want locally, and have expanded our capacity to place these products in the right fulfilment centres across Europe. As a result of this, we shortened the average distance each package travelled in Europe within our middle mile network by 25 kilometers in 2023, compared to 2022.
Compensation and benefits for our operations teams.
All of our employees are paid a competitive salary and receive a comprehensive benefits package from day one. Furthermore, our Amazon Career Choice programme provides employees with free funding for professional training and tuition up to a value of €8,000 to gain new skills to support them when pursuing their career at Amazon or elsewhere.
At Amazon, we provide all kinds of jobs for all kinds of people, from young to old, from those with few skills to people with doctorate-level qualifications. What you might not know is that there are more than 60 different roles in our robotics fulfilment centres that make the whole process possible, from procurement professionals, finance managers and IT specialists, to quality controllers, safety experts, robotics technicians, and managers who run our sites.,
How we keep our teams safe
Our goal is to be the safest workplace within the industries in which we operate, and we’re continuing to make meaningful progress – thanks to the combined efforts of our more than 9,000 dedicated safety professionals and every one of our employees around the world. Our Recordable Incident Rate (RIR)—which includes any work-related injury that requires more than basic first-aid treatment—has improved 30% over the past four years and 8% year over year.
Amazon has invested more than $1 billion in safety initiatives, technologies, and programmes since 2019. We’ve also continued to invest in our robotics that help make our operations safer by reducing employees’ workload. One example is Proteus, our first autonomous mobile robot, that helps move heavy objects and carts. Another is Cardinal, a robotic arm that can quickly select a single package, read its label, and sort it. Both innovations help reduce repetitive tasks that can cause injuries like MSDs, and create a safer, more comfortable work environment for our employees all year long. We also plan for factors that can impact our employees’ safety such as extreme weather. Our policies and procedures for addressing extreme heat and cold are robust and often exceed industry standards and guidelines. In 2024, we’ve allocated over $750 million to invest in technologies, resources, training, and programmes to further our safety efforts.
Technology in our operations
Amazon Fulfilment Technologies and Robotics is innovating in how we strive to be Earth’s Best Employer and deliver for customers through novel advances in robotics and AI that are shaping how we design the warehouse of the future. For over a decade, Amazon has been at the forefront of innovation in supply chain technology. We take a practical approach, applying cutting-edge technology in sustainable ways that can be useful today for our employees, customers, and the community. At Amazon, we believe that collaborative robotics and operations tech drive career opportunities and improve safety for our employees. Designing, manufacturing, and deploying robotics across our operations network creates new roles at Amazon and opportunities for our employees to learn new skills and advance their career.
We have created 700 new categories of jobs since introducing robotics in our fulfilment network, including roles like flow control specialists, amnesty floor monitors, and reliability maintenance engineers. Our collaborative technology creates a safer and more ergonomic workplace that reduces repetitive motions, the need to walk long distances or move heavy objects, and allows our employees to focus on new tasks that require new skills.
Robotics and AI-powered innovation improve price, selection, and convenience for our customers, and assist our employees in their everyday work. Over three-quarters of a million of our robots are deployed worldwide, taking on part of the heavy lifting and repetitive tasks our employees oversee as they move, sort, and package customer orders. By leveraging the latest in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Computer Vision and by focusing on collaborative design, our technology is making our operations safer. It is also giving time back to our employees so they can focus on what they do best: finding new ways to delight customers.
Career Choice programme
We launched Career Choice in Europe in 2014 to enhance employees’ skillsets and expand their career opportunities at Amazon and beyond. Career Choice offers a pathway to higher paying jobs within the company or elsewhere. Some of the most popular areas of study are in the field of technology and transportation. Globally, over 113,000 employees have pursued certifications through Career Choice upskilling programmes.
