Amazon's First Fulfillment Centre in Quebec Celebrates its Day One with New Employees
July 14, 2020 /CNW/ - Amazon's first fulfillment centre in Quebec officially celebrated its "day one" earlier this month with its newest employees. After a morning of learning, associates received the first item into the new building: a Hot Wheels Rooftop Race Garage. The fulfillment centre will continue to ramp up to full operations over the next several weeks and will have more than 300 employees by the 2020 holiday shopping season.
Employees at the new fulfillment centre, located in Lachine, will work alongside Amazon's innovative robotics technology to pick, pack, and ship items to customers, ranging from household goods and small electronics to books, toys and baby products.
"Amazon is tremendously proud to open our first fulfillment centre in Quebec, creating over 300 jobs in a safe, inclusive and innovative work environment, that has competitive pay and benefits starting on day one. This milestone will also allow us to better serve our local customers, along with the thousands of local small businesses that work with Amazon to bring their products to customers across the province and around the world," said Jean-Francois Héroux, site leader for Amazon's Lachine fulfillment centre.
In total, Amazon employs more than 13,500 full-time employees at the company's fulfillment centres, corporate offices, development centres, and other facilities throughout Canada in Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. The Lachine facility is Amazon's 13th fulfillment centre in Canada.
"The arrival of Amazon consolidates the role of the Lachine industrial park in the Montreal logistics chain. Located between the airport, the marshalling yards and the port of Montreal, and with an occupancy rate of almost 95%, our industrial park is at the heart of Montreal's transportation network," said the Mayor of Lachine, Maja Vodanovic.
Amazon's presence in Canada means more than just the great jobs with full benefits provided within the company's four walls. Each additional Amazon facility adds to the thousands of jobs in construction and services the company has brought to the country.
Since 2010, Amazon has invested more than CAD $7.5 billion in Canada through its customer fulfillment and cloud infrastructure and employee compensation. Amazon estimates that its Canadian investments have created an additional 14,000 indirect jobs on top of the company's direct hires. Amazon continues to invest heavily across Canada, creating thousands of jobs for candidates with all types of experience, education and skill levels—from engineers and cloud computing specialists to those seeking entry-level positions and on-the-job training.
Full-time employees at Amazon receive comprehensive pay ($16 and up) and industry-leading benefits, including medical, vision and dental coverage, a group RRSP plan, and performance-based bonuses starting on day one. Amazon also offers employees access to innovative programs like Career Choice, where it will pay up to 95 percent of tuition for courses related to in-demand fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon. Since the program's launch, more than 25,000 employees across the globe have pursued degrees in game design and visual communications, nursing, IT programming and radiology, to name a few.
The health and safety of employees is Amazon's top priority. The new Quebec fulfillment centre has been equipped with all of Amazon's latest COVID-19 safety measures and best practices to keep employees safe. Amazon has implemented more than 150 significant process changes to support its teams, including physical distancing, temperature checks, masks, and gloves, to name a few, spending $800 million (US) globally in the first half of 2020.
Futhermore, Amazon's commitment to health and safety extends into the local community. Amazon donated $3,000,000 to support COVID-19 relief efforts across Canada. A donation of $150,000 was also made to the Food Banks of Quebec and its 32 members, which is equivalent to 450,000 meals to help address food insecurity in Quebec, caused by the current COVID-19 health crisis, among other issues.
To learn more about working at an Amazon fulfillment centre, visit https://www.amazon.jobs.
SOURCE Amazon Canada
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