News

This section contains recent developments, announcements and activities related to KCADC and the KC region. Please check back frequently to find new posted articles.

<< Return to Blog List

Investor Profile | Amazon

by Mary Rooney | Sep 13, 2022

The Operations teams are at the heart of Amazon’s mission to be Earth’s most customer-centric company. Amazon creates, builds, and takes ownership for what it does—whether it is developing new technology in-house, launching an Amazon fulfillment center or delighting customers by delivering packages directly to them. Amazon is constantly creating the ideas, services and products that make life easier for millions of customers. 

Within the Kansas City metro area, Amazon has 10 operational facilities with more than 5,000 associates. Amazon grew its Kansas City area facilities by more than 65% during 2021, with three delivery stations in Riverside, Lenexa and Blue Springs opened respectively during the summer and a fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kansas in early fall. Combined, the new facilities have created nearly 2,300 good jobs. In addition to competitive pay, benefits from day-one, training programs for in-demand jobs, and up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave, associates in Amazon’s operations network enjoy additional benefits such as: 

  • Paid college tuition as part of Amazon’s $1.2 billion investment in education and skills training for its U.S. workforce 

  • Greater work flexibility and benefits through the FamilyFlex program. 

  • Career safety for military spouses through a project which helps them maintain their employment at Amazon when their partners need to move on military orders, benefitting nearly 200 Kansas City associates. 

In Kansas since 2010, Amazon created more than 8,000 full- and part-time jobs and invested more than $4 billion across the state, including infrastructure and compensation to our associates. These investments have contributed an additional $3 billion in GDP to the Kansas economy and have helped create more than 8,000 indirect jobs on top of Amazon’s direct hires – from jobs in construction and logistics to professional services. 

In Missouri during this same timeframe, more than 10,000 jobs have been created with $2 billion invested across the Show-Me state, also including infrastructure and compensation to associates. An additional $1.5 billion in GDP to the Missouri economy has been generated from Amazon’s investments, in addition to 11,000 indirect jobs on top of Amazon’s career opportunities. Across both states during the past decade, 36,000 charitable organizations are available for Amazon customers to support by shopping on AmazonSmile, and 34,500 small and medium-sized business sellers and independent authors are growing their businesses with Amazon. 

Just as important, Amazon believes that building a culture that is welcoming and inclusive is integral to people doing their best work and is essential to what we can achieve as a company. As we actively recruit people from diverse backgrounds to build a supportive and inclusive workplace, we take steps to ensure employees have a sense of belonging, value, and opportunity. And Amazon Affinity groups play an important role in building internal networks for creating a diverse and inclusive community. Along with 13 affinity groups (employee resource groups) of more than 90,000 employees across hundreds of chapters around the world, Amazon actively recruits diverse candidates through our partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and women’s colleges, and we have over 40,000 veterans and military spouses currently working at Amazon. 

In 2022, Amazon earned a “Best Places to Work for Disability Inclusion” designation for the fifth year in a row after getting a perfect score on the Disability Equality Index. The index is a joint initiative of the American Association of People with Disabilities and Disability:IN that measures disability workplace inclusion. Employers are evaluated on culture and leadership, enterprise-wide access, employment practices (including benefits, recruitment, employment, education, retention, advancement, and accommodations), community engagement, supplier diversity, and non-U.S. operations. The Disability Equality Index also incorporates non-weighted leadership questions about including disability in corporate board diversity criteria.

To learn more about Amazon, please visit aboutamazon.com or contact Jason Vangalis, Manager, Economic Development.

Information as of August 2022

Leave a comment

Also in this section:

KC by the Numbers - List of KC ratings & rankings

Brand Toolkit - Icons and logos for KCADC and its initiatives

Photo Library - Stock images of the KC region

Video Library - Video content for KCADC and its initiatives 

Twitter - @ithinkkc

KC by the Numbers

Brand Toolkit

Photo Library

KCNext