Amazon UK
We, the undersigned, commit to honour the Armed Forces Covenant and support the Armed Forces Community. We recognise the value Serving Personnel, both Regular and Reservists, Veterans and military families contribute to our business and our country.
The Armed Forces Covenant
An enduring covenant between the people of the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Government and all those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown and their families
The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.
Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.
This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.
Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Corporate Covenant
1.1 We Amazon UK will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:
- no member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen;
- and in some circumstances that special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.
Section 2: Demonstrating our commitment
2.1 Amazon UK recognises the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by pledging to the following:
- Armed Forces Friendly
- UK Service Veterans And Leavers
- UK Service Spouses And Partners
- Flexible Leave For Spouses
- Armed Forces Day
- Reserve Forces Day
- Armed Forces Charities
We also pledge the following:
Commitment to the Armed Forces: Amazon UK and AWS UK demonstrate that we are an Armed Forces-friendly organisation, to our staff, customers, suppliers, contractors and wider public through our commitments to the Armed Forces community in this pledge. We are a company of builders who bring varying backgrounds, ideas, and points ofview to inventing on behalfofour customers. Our diverse perspectives comefrom many sources including gender, race, age, national origin, sexual orientation, culture, education, as well as professional and life experience, including military service. We are working to develop leaders and shape future talent pools to help us meet the needs ofour customers around the world. Commitment to Veterans and Reserve Forces: Hundreds ofveterans and reserve forces are employed at Amazon UK andAWS UK, including those that have been wounded, injured or made ill by their service. We have dedicated teams ofrecruiters that actively source military talent into diverse roles throughout the company; including degree and non-degree apprenticeships and service-leaver internships. Program managers develop tailored on-boarding resources to ease transition and devise military retention policies thatfocus on mentoring and inclusion. We work closely with RFEA-The Forces Employment Charity and the Career Transition Partnership (CTP) to support the employment ofService leavers and to educate other employers on the benefits of employing talentfrom the military community. To aid transition Amazon UK holds regular ‘Military Insight’ events to showcase our career opportunities throughout the company and hosts ‘CV and Interview Workshops’ to help veterans showcase their talents. Our employee engagement group, Warriors@Amazon, is a vibrant community that supports our expanding military cohort, participates in talent acquisition activities and supports the military charities through fund raising and support activities. Commitment to Military Spouses & Partners: Amazon UK andAWS UK support the employment of military spouses and partners by providing flexible, mobile careers. We collaborate with the Career Transition Partnership and Forces Families Job (FFJ) to promote the value ofMilitary Spouses and Partners in the workplace and work together to educate other employers. ———————————-‘ Commitment to a Reserves Friendly HR Policy: Amazon UK and AWS UK value and support our employees who are members of the Reserve Forces. We grant 10 days additional paid leave for annual Reserve Forces training, and support mobilisations and deployment through our HR policies. We actively encourage members ofstaff to become Reservists and we understand that our business will be stronger with Reserves in our ranks. Commitment to National Events: Amazon UK andAWS UK support Armed Forces Day and Reserves Day by celebrating our diverse military community both internally, on ourAmazon intranet, and externally through our social media engagement. Amazon UK supports Poppy Appeal Day by hosting the Royal British Legion storefront on the amazon.co.uk website and ensures that 100% ofprofits made by the Royal British Legion, via storefront, go to the charity. Remembrance Day is promoted throughout the company, and our employee engagement group, Warriors@Amazon, leads Remembrance activities throughout the UK, and beyond, where veterans are encouraged to wear their uniform to celebrate theirservice. Commitment to Armed Forces Charities: Amazon UK supports Armed Forces charities with fundraising through the smile.amazon.co.uk program that donates 0.5% of net purchase price on all eligible purchases direct to the organisation. Amazon UK also donates funds through ourAmazon In The Community initiative to support charities whose mission aligns with ourfocus on supporting individuals out ofhomelessness, out offood poverty and supporting disaster relief efforts. We actively encourage our veteran community and supporters to volunteer to assist in charitable work and to raise money to support veteran charities. Commitment to those deployed: Amazon UK delivers to British Forces Post Office (BFPO} addresses and ensures that eligible purchases made by members of the Armed Forces deployed on active duty operations overseas are eligible for VAT refunds. Commitment to upskilling and reskilling of Veterans and Military Spouses: We actively seek opportunitiesfor the employment ofdedicated cohorts ofservice leavers, veterans, reservists and military spouses by offering complimentary opportunities for this community. AWS UK re/Start, our full-time, classroom-based skills development and training program that prepares individuals for careers in the cloud and connects them to potential employers. We are committed in this context, and more broadly, tofind ways to offer a new start to members of the Military Community who have served, or who are serving prison sentences in the UK. Commitment to Advocacy: Amazon UK andAWS UK are proud ofour commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant and our Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award. Through our membership of the Defence Relationship Management Gold AwardAssociation we advocate for the military community in the UK; we encourage others companies to sign the Armed Forces Covenant and provide advice and guidance to those who are applyingfor the Bronze, Silver and Gold ERS award. We share our best practices and policies regarding military talent acquisition and workforce development to support all organisations committed to employingfrom the military community. This advocacy takes place in manyforms and includes AWS UK Defence sector engagement, participation in the Partnering with Defence Conference and affiliation with the Veteran Employment Transition Support Steering Committee.
2.2 We will publicise these commitments through our literature and/or on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.