Investment in education is a key to a better future

Sławomir Płonka, regional director for Amazon operations for Central and Eastern Europe and Paweł Stankiewicz, coordinator of educational projects from the Digital Dialogue Association, talk about who and how it can reach for the support of the Fund and the activities of Amazon in Poland.

How big is Amazon in Poland today?

Sławomir Płonka (SP): Amazon in Poland is 11 logistics centers and 3 technology development centers in Gdańsk, Krakow and Warsaw. Thanks to them, about 70,000 were created. direct and indirect jobs – both with us and our partners. In the years 2012-2023, Amazon allocated over PLN 30 billion for development in Poland, and our country means a lot in the structures of the whole company.

Polish logistics centers in the European Amazon supply chain system, serving orders for clients from many countries, including Poland. After we launched the Amazon.pl store four years ago, the distribution of shipments to native recipients is growing quickly.

It is in Poland that Alexa was born and evolves. In local technology development centers (Amazon Development Center Poland), engineers also work on products for an intelligent home, e.g. ring and deal with cloud services (Amazon Web Services) – after all, we are one of their largest suppliers in the world. They also support the development of AI solutions. We also have a team that cares about the functioning of the Prime Video streaming platform on the Vistula and the already mentioned Amazon.pl store.

You directly employ an impressive number of employees. This, of course, requires conducting the right personal policy. What are its foundations?

SP: First of all, we believe that Amazon is a workplace for everyone. For both women and men, for young and old people, also with disabilities with various professional qualifications. For years, we have been consistently focusing on diversity, inclusiveness and equality.

This approach expresses our pursuit of being the best employer. We know that employees want to perform their duties in friendly and open communities – those in which they are respected, where their difference is accepted. So we answer their needs.

On the other hand, we see that diverse and inclusive teams function more efficiently. They can be more creative and ultimately provide better solutions. Thus, these key rules for us also have their purely economic explanation and benefit both for us, as an employer and employees themselves.

We are constantly developing initiatives that help us implement our values. One of them is a paid internship program for young people that are just entering the labor market. It is addressed to people over 18 with secondary or vocational education who want to develop their skills in areas such as mechatronics, robotics, automation and electrics. Some people decide to tie us for longer after such an internship. This is a beneficial situation for both sides.

As an employer, we also want to endure barriers and restrictions that can lead to excluding certain groups from the labor market. In 2020, we launched the first employment program for deaf and hearing impaired – “Migs”. In addition to adapting workplaces and processes, its part was also part of the team’s integration, including by learning basic phrases in sign language. Last year, in cooperation with the Marshal’s Office of the Lower Silesian Voivodship and the Wrocław University of Technology, the “Homer” program, which is addressed to the blind and visually impaired.

What does concern for employees’ development in Amazon look like in practice?

SP: It is expressed at many different levels. These are, for example, the aforementioned paid internship programs for students. But that’s not all. Almost from the beginning of our presence in Poland, we run the “Bet on your development” program. Thanks to him, every employee of Amazon logistics centers in Poland – after a year of work – may apply for funding of up to 26 thousand. PLN for various types of courses and training. This is not always education related to logistics or distribution centers. They can learn what they want. We do not combine this support with any loyalty program. Employees after completing these courses can change their professional path. 6,500 people have already participated in the “Bet on your development” program. Often, their completion of the course was combined with a later promotion in Amazon or transfer to another company’s division.

We also have programs addressed to women. The purpose of these initiatives is to raise their participation in management and in specialist positions. The first is “Women Career Development”, which is intended for women at the beginning of the professional path. Through training and support of experienced leaders and leaders, they can consciously build their careers. The second program is “Women in Leadership” addressed to managers who want to develop and advance further.

The internship program for young people mentioned by you is actually a program that goes to local communities. Does Amazon have more such initiatives?

SP: Of course. Since 2019, we have been developing, in response to the voices of our employees and public benefit organizations, the STEM program (abbreviation from English from science, technology, engineering, mathematics – natural sciences, technology, engineering, mathematics) Kindloteka. As part of it, special spaces are created for the promotion of reading, programming and robotic classes and DIY classes. Exercises are conducted by trained teachers, librarians, educators and Amazon volunteers. We have already opened 106 such facilities. They were used by over 500,000 children.

For five years we have also been running the “Girls Do Engineering” program, which supports students of Tri -City high schools in discovering the world of engineering and new technologies. This is possible thanks to programming workshops, meetings with Mentors and Mentors Amazon and supporting trainers of the Digital Dialog Association. With this program, we fight the stereotype that technical and digital competitions are more suitable for boys. Over 190 young women have already participated in it.

Now, another large project reaches the list of educational initiatives of Amazon …

SP: Yes, we start with the Amazon fund. His idea was born during last year’s celebration of the decades of our activity in Poland and this is another our educational initiative. We know the World Economic Forum statistics that say thatBy 2030 as much as 39 percent current professional competences will require update or become unnecessary. It is obvious that the future of the labor market will be shaped by, among others analytical or technological skills, as well as 4K competences – creativity, critical thinking, communication and cooperation. So we consistently focus on education.

Our new Amazon fund has a budget of PLN 1 million. NGOs may apply for financing projects in the field of STEM education in the amount of up to 80 thousand. zloty. The fund will also allocate approx. 77 thousand PLN for grants for doctoral students of the Gdańsk University of Technology, in particular research on artificial intelligence.

Applications for co -financing from the Fund for NGOs can be submitted until May 11 on the website specially prepared by us. We want to analyze them as soon as possible, so as to inform the applicants about the results of the competition within about a month.

You are a substantive partner and operator of the Amazon fund, but this is not the first joint project. Could you tell you about previous initiatives?

Paweł Stankiewicz (PS): The digital dialogue has been cooperating with Amazon for several years on educational projects, which is why the decision to accept the role of a substantive partner and the operator of the grant program of this fund was a natural next stage for us. The portfolio of existing joint initiatives includes The already mentioned STEM Kindloteka – a nationwide initiative popularizing reading and the STEM method – as well as implemented with the Amazon Development Center in Gdańsk “Girls do Engineering”. It is addressed to high school students from the Tri -City and aims to encourage young women to explore the engineering industry and consider studying in exact fields.

What are your expectations, therefore the latest project?

PS: As an experienced non -governmental organization, we know how much a challenge is to obtain financing for statutory activities, which is why we are glad that in the Amazon fund we can effectively support other entities. We will be sure that this grant program has fulfilled the assumed goals if the incoming applications respond to key criteria – they will have an innovative character that falls into the STEM method, and their goal will be to support the local community, primarily the youngest generations. We want the Amazon fund become a kind of incubator for effective educational ideas and initiatives and a motivator to develop organizations, associations and micro -social.