Most employers don't take kindly to their workers making plans to leave the company. Things are a little different over at Amazon, however, where the company will pay for an employee's education so they can find a new, higher paying job!
It turns out the median pay at Amazon is $28,446, which is significantly lower than the $240,000 at Facebook or $200,000 at Google (two similarly sized peers of Amazon online). What's the reason for the discrepancy? Amazon hires more low-wage, warehouse and delivery-type workers. These workers are much more likely to leave their jobs—for many, it's a matter of when rather than if. And if these low-wage workers are going to leave anyway, Amazon wants to prepare them for their next profession.
The program is called "Amazon Career Choice." Here's what Jeff Bezos had to say about it:
For hourly associates with more than one year of tenure, we pre-pay 95 percent of tuition, fees, and textbooks (up to $12,000) for certificates and associate degrees in high-demand occupations.
A similar sentiment was offered by Juan Garcia, a Global Leader for Associate Care at Amazon:
We offer training paths that could very likely lead to opportunities and careers outside of Amazon, but we think if we can help people realize their dreams, we want to be a part of it.
Amazon will pay for employees' education if they go into one of four in-demand careers:
- Healthcare
- IT and Computer Science
- Transportaion
- Mechanical and Skill trades
Amazon believes these opportunities to prepare for next steps after Amazon will, ultimately, make each employee's time at the company more valuable and positive. So far 16,000 employees from 10 countries have participated and they couldn't agree more!
Perhaps it's best for everyone when a company puts employees first!
