Since Launching Last Summer, Amazon Hourly Employees Enrolling in Career Choice Program to Prepare f

Since Launching Last Summer, Amazon Hourly Employees Enrolling in Career Choice Program to Prepare for Careers in Game Design, Nursing and Accounting

Amazon Increases Tuition Pre-Payment to $3,000 a year, up to $12,000 Over Four Years

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Amazon.com (NAS: AMZN) today announced it is increasing the amount it will pre-pay for hourly employees to pursue associate degrees or vocational certifications, as part of its Amazon Career Choice Program, an initiative designed to expand the choices available to its employees in their future careers, whether at Amazon or in another industry.

Through the program, which launched in July 2012, Amazon will pre-pay an eligible employee's tuition at accredited schools up to $3,000 per year or up to $12,000 over four years. Unlike traditional tuition reimbursement programs, Amazon's Career Choice program exclusively funds education only in areas that are well-paying and in high demand according to sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the company will fund those areas regardless of whether those skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

Since the program's launch, employees are pursuing degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few. Top chosen fields of study for Amazon employees are computer and information technology, health and sciences, and accounting.

Jason Fitzgerald, a warehouse associate at Amazon's fulfillment center in New Castle, Delaware, has been employed with the company for more than nine years. Through the Career Choice Program, he has taken classes in architecture and is now planning to pursue a certification in visual communications and game design. He said, "I'm working toward a certification so I can further my career in an exciting, growing field. I like the program because it is attracting associates to the site who want to learn and get ahead."

"Our goal is to help our employees succeed whether they choose to build their career at Amazon or in another industry," said Dave Clark, Amazon's vice president of worldwide operations and customer service. "We believe pre-paying our employee's tuition is a great first step to helping people pursue their aspirations as it eliminates one of the biggest barriers to going back to school--cost."

The Amazon Career Choice Program builds on a series of innovations at Amazon's fulfillment centers. Amazon's high productivity allows the company to pay its fulfillment center employees 30 percent more than traditional physical retail store employees while still offering customers the lowest prices. Full-time, hourly employees at Amazon also receive company stock awards and a comprehensive benefits package.

To learn more about the Amazon Career Choice Program, please visit www.amazon.com/careerchoice.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NAS: AMZN) , a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth's Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth's most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon's developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon's own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Kindle Paperwhite is the most-advanced e-reader ever constructed with 62% more pixels and 25% increased contrast, a patented built-in front light for reading in all lighting conditions, extra-long battery life, and a thin and light design. The new latest generation Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, now features new, improved fonts and faster page turns. Kindle Fire HD features a stunning custom high-definition display, exclusive Dolby audio with dual stereo speakers, high-end, laptop-grade Wi-Fi with dual-band support, dual-antennas and MIMO for faster streaming and downloads, enough storage for HD content, and the latest generation processor and graphics engine—and it is available in two display sizes—7" and 8.9". The large-screen Kindle Fire HD is also available with 4G wireless, and comes with a groundbreaking $49.99 introductory 4G LTE data package. The all-new Kindle Fire features a 20% faster processor, 40% faster performance, twice the memory, and longer battery life.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es and www.amazon.com.br. As used herein, "Amazon.com," "we," "our" and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.

Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr

KEYWORDS: United States North America Washington

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

The article Since Launching Last Summer, Amazon Hourly Employees Enrolling in Career Choice Program to Prepare for Careers in Game Design, Nursing and Accounting originally appeared on Fool.com.

Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.