HAZLE TWP. – Amazon’s Hazle Township fulfillment center is big – and it’s getting bigger.
The 700,000-square-foot center is Amazon’s only fulfillment center in Pennsylvania — that means the facility receives shipments directly from manufacturers, splits them, and then sends them to other fulfillment centers.
You could say that the Hazle Township facility — which employs 3,000 “associates” — is a fulfillment center for other Amazon fulfillment centers.
Stan Weitoish, chief executive, said the facility is undergoing “a reboot” that will allow the center to service 40 Amazon fulfillment centers. It currently serves 17 centres.
“It’s all about speed,” Weitoish said. “We currently process around 90,000 boxes per day. Once the expansion is complete, we will be able to handle 180,000 perms per day, or 1.25 million per week. »
Amazon Hazle Township’s fulfillment center opened in 2008 and the team has approximately 3,000 full-time and part-time employees. Overall, Amazon employs more than 30,000 people in Pennsylvania.
Amazon operates more than 40 fulfillment centers, sorting centers and delivery stations in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In northeast Pennsylvania, Amazon operates five fulfillment centers and one delivery station. The company is the second largest employer in Luzerne County and the 13th largest in Lackawanna County.
Weitoish said Amazon jobs are great jobs with great benefits. In September 2021, Amazon announced that its national average starting salary for new hires – full-time, part-time, and seasonal – was over $18 per hour. Full-time Amazon employees receive comprehensive benefits from day one that include health, vision and dental, 401(k) with 50% company match, paid time off and paid holidays.
Amazon’s Career Choice program, which was expanded in 2022, fully funds tuition, plus high school diplomas, GEDs, and English as a Second Language (ESL) proficiency certifications for first-time employees. line, including those who have worked in the company. for as little as three months, Weitoish said. He said Amazon is also adding three new training programs to provide employees with the opportunity to learn skills in the areas of data center maintenance and technology, IT, user experience and of the research design.
Weitoish said Amazon is committed to being a good neighbor and partner in the communities where employees live and work. There are over 48,000 organizations in Pennsylvania that Amazon customers can support just by shopping on Amazon Smile. Amazon also supports local communities where its associates live and work through monetary and in-kind donations to nonprofit organizations and public schools. Some examples include donations to local public schools, food banks, and other area nonprofits.
An Amazon presence in Pennsylvania means more than the jobs provided within these four walls,” said field communications manager Steve Kelly. “In addition to great full-benefit jobs inside the building, we’ve created thousands of construction and service jobs.”
Since 2010, Kelly said Amazon has invested more than $17 billion in the state through infrastructure investments and employee compensation.
“Our distribution network supports millions of businesses of all sizes around the world,” Kelly said. “Some of these businesses are local organizations based right here in Pennsylvania. There are over 45,000 authors, small and medium businesses, and developers in Pennsylvania growing their businesses and reaching new customers on Amazon products and services.
Affinity groups play a major role
Amazon has 13 Affinity Groups, also known as Employee Resource Groups, which bring together Amazon employees across companies and locations around the world.
Affinity groups play an important role in building internal networks to build community, advise Amazon business units, lead service projects, and reach communities where “Amazonians” live and work.
Affinity groups play a particularly important role at Hazle Township Fulfillment Center. The majority of front-line employees are from minority backgrounds. In fact, Hazle Township Fulfillment Center employees come from 49 different countries.
Malik Thornton, 25, coordinates the program at the Hazle Township facility.
“One of the core values of the affinity groups at this center is to celebrate cultural diversity and raise awareness,” Thornton said.
Some of the annual celebrations organized by the groups are Black History Month, International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, Pride Month, Earth Day, Disability Awareness Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Month, Indigenous Peoples Day and many more. others. Each affinity group honors and celebrates them in unique ways and partners with local nonprofit community organizations to raise awareness and support as well.
In particular, as part of February’s Black History Month, the Hazle Township Fulfillment Center is hosting a series of events. They include the following:
• Hosted an employee stage show hosted by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated, a historic black fraternity.
• Bring in local black-owned restaurants to provide snacks and meals to employees.
• Partnership with the local library to read from black authors.
• Animation of a DJ and karaoke for employees featuring black artists.
• Presenting a traveling museum for associates throughout the building featuring historical Black leaders, athletes, musicians and artists.
Contact Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.
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