Amazon Offers To Help Train Workers For Other Jobs

itwbennett writes "Amazon, which has come under attack for harsh warehouse working conditions, on Monday announced a new training benefit program for fulfillment center employees. The program will cover 95% of the cost of vocational training for jobs that Amazon determined to be in high demand and that pay relatively well, including aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technology, medical laboratory science and nursing." Two limitations of note: the maximum Amazon will contribute is $2,000/year for four years, and the employees need to have worked full-time for three consecutive years before they can take advantage of the program.

Re:That does not compute.

[colinnwn]

An Airframe & Powerplant training program that gets you eligible to take the FAA license test takes just under 2 years, and costs between $8,000 for community college programs, up to $30,000 for private schools.

Only $2k?

[fragMasterFlash]

US businesses can deduct up to $5250 per employee per year in schedule C federal income tax filings for tuition reimbursement. I guess Amazon would rather pay taxes than help employees realize their full potential.

Re:astounding generosity

[Sir_Sri]

For some community college programmes that might be reasonable.

http://www.alameda.peralta.edu/apps/comm.asp?$1=20092

Lists aviation maintenance technology as a total cost of 3200 dollars including tuition and tools. Which presumably you could do in 1 year straight out of school, or in 2 or 3 if you're working at amazon, but hey, it's better than minimum wage at the end of it, and if you can't get student loans, or don't want to have them or whatever it's a better than nothing option.

You have to consider what 2000 dollars is relative to their existing pay. Amazon claims their fulfillment centres pay '30% more than a retail job', which are, apparently (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes412031.htm) 25k. So an employee making ~ 32k is getting offered 2k (tax free? not sure how that's like in the US), so 6% of your pay for a chance to get out of it. And at 32k you can at least live, not live well, but live, and not be in debt at the end of it. It's not spectacular, but it's still a lot of money.

Not funny at all.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is this modded funny? This isn't funny. I have been laid off the day before a raise or benefit increase multiple times in the last decade.

When the corporate policy says get X piece of paper and you will receive a 20% raise on your next review, be prepared to find yourself out of a job the day before that review. It happened to me, it will happen to you.

Re:Scam

[J. T. MacLeod]

Did you even read the article?

It's not a diploma mill. Amazon is funding tuition for any accredited school, as long as the coursework is in the list of in-demand fields. There aren't kickbacks (Although if there were, so what? It would just mean it's not as generous, not that it's a scam.).

Amazon is also willing to pay for 95% of the cost, up to their annual limit. At a community college, that will generally cover everything. There is no saddling anyone with ridiculous debt.

This is a genuinely good program. There is no scam or any taking advantage of anyone. How did you even invent this in your imagination?

Amazon is switching to robots

[Animats]

Amazon just bought Kiva Systems [youtube.com], which makes warehouse fulfillment system robots. Kiva already powers orders from major brands including Crate and Barrel, Soap.com, Dillards, Drugstore.com, Gap, Office Depot, Saks, Staples, Timberland, Toys-R-Us, and Walgreens. This [youtube.com] is what order fulfillment is like with those robots. It takes about two minutes to learn the job and there is no chance for advancement.

The people being "retrained" will be laid off soon.

McDonalds, UPS....

[sonamchauhan]

Educational assistance is fairly common...

McDonalds, UPS...
http://work.lifegoesstrong.com/article/don-t-turn-your-back-free-education [lifegoesstrong.com]

"McDonald's tuition assistance program will reimburse up to $5,250 a year (which is the maximum IRS exemption), and $2,000 for part-time employees, which in effect adds two dollars an hour to someone's earnings. UPS has a program called Earn and Learn where students can have their tuition, expenses and transportation paid for if they work a part-time schedule; since 1999, UPS has paid out more than $47 million in tuition assistance alone."

B&N
http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/jobs/benefits/benefits.html [barnesandnobleinc.com]

"Continuing Education
Our continuing education program offers full-time booksellers tuition assistance if you choose to further your business career by taking courses toward a job-related degree. "

Re:That does not compute.

[superdana]

You can become a fully qualified, FAA-certified airframe or powerplant tech with a two-year degree from most community colleges, as long as the school is certified under FAR Part 147. I know people like to look down their noses at community colleges but these graduates really are qualified, and they have to pass the same FAA exams as every other mechanic.