Amazon set to pay for staff’s College fees – but who’s really eligible?

Amazon is gearing up to spend $1.2 billion for its employees to attend College

The world’s biggest eCommerce platform announced it’ll pay the full cost of college tuition for eligible staff.

Amazon estimated that the new benefit along with new training initiatives the company is set to offer, would require a total investment of $1.2 billion by 2025.  

Amazon’s recent announcement comes after other major companies such as Target and Walmart extending similar offers to their U. S. workforce. Those companies continue to come up with new initiatives, commission strategies and company benefits as a method to lure and retain workers during the tight labor market.

The offer from the eCommerce giant will commence in January 2022 and will include the cost of college tuition, fees and textbooks for warehouse, transportation and other hourly employees who want to pursue bachelor’s degrees.

To be eligible an employee must have been employed by Amazon for 90 days

Amazon’s new benefit also includes covering the costs of education for high school based diploma programs, GEDs and English as a second language certifications.

Amazon confirmed that it will also add three new education programs as part of its training offerings as a way to provide staff with the opportunity to learn skills in data centre maintenance and technology, IT, and user experience and research design.

The company’s offering is expected to a popular attraction point for the retention of staff and also attracting new employees to the workforce.