Amazon to reskill 100,000 U.S. employees by 2025

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Upskilling 2025 is the name of Amazon’s 700 million dollar commitment to upgrade its U.S. workforce.

Amazon to reskill 100,000 U.S. employees by 2025
‘Upskilling 2025’ is Amazon’s 700 million dollar commitment to upgrade its U.S. workforce. Image: Amazon.
Reading time 2 minutes
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Amid accusations of unfair labor practices and strike threats by some of its workers, Amazon announced a new plan to train thousands of its employees in technology areas.

‘Upskilling 2025’ is the name of Amazon’s 700 million dollar commitment to upgrade its U.S. workforce.

Over the next six years, the company led by Jeff Bezos is committed to training more than 100,000 employees, an initiative that will impact workers at all levels of the organization, that is, their corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retail stores, and transportation networks.

“While many of our employees want to build their careers here, for others, it might be a stepping stone to different aspirations. We think it’s important to invest in our employees to help them gain new skills and create more professional options for themselves.” — Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of Human Resources

According to Amazon’s press release, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) anticipates some of the fastest growing job areas are in skilled areas, such as medical assistants, statisticians, software developers, nurse practitioners, and wind turbine service technicians. How will Amazon train its staff in these areas?

Six years, six initiatives

This effort includes the following six lines of action:

  • Machine Learning University (MLU). Employees with technology and coding experience will learn the necessary skills in this field of artificial intelligence through a six-week program.

  • Amazon Technical Academy. Aimed at non-technical workers who wish to pursue a career in software engineering. A mixed instructor-led and project-based learning program to master the most used software engineering tools.

  • Associate2Tech. A three-month program to motivate and drive fulfillment center associates into technical roles, regardless of their IT knowledge.

  • Career Choice. Amazon will pay up to 95% of the tuition of some fulfillment center associates towards a certificate or diploma in fields of study such as aircraft mechanics, machine tool technologies, medical lab technologies or nursing, to name a few.

  • Apprenticeship programs. Learning and training in different work experiences will be offered to hundreds of candidates with interest in accessing cloud support jobs, data technicians, and software development engineers.

  • AWS Training and Certification. Employees will enjoy digital training to develop knowledge in solutions in the cloud, as well as discounts on Amazon Web Services certification exams.

Upskilling 2025 can be a good bet from Amazon to keep workers engaged and lessen the bad reputation they have as an employer. Likewise, Amazon’s investment in its personnel is an example for other companies on how to fill tech skills gaps.

Christian Guijosa

This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0