Liju Thomas, Director of HR for Amazon’s India Operations gives insights into the e-commerce giant’s approach towards its workforce and its culture of diversity, equity and inclusion
In January 2017, Amazon launched an interesting initiative in Mumbai —the Silent Delivery Station. Run by a handful of individuals with speech and hearing impairment, the centre paved the way for a nationwide initiative.
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is a fundamental part of the work culture at the Seattle-headquartered global e-commerce giant that directly or indirectly employs about 1.5 million people in the US alone and close to 275,000 people globally as per a Reuters report.
The company that runs a variety of programmes to employ diverse sections of society launched a programme called Aurora on 27 November 2023, as part of its D&I initiatives in India.
The programme is designed to leverage the unique talents of individuals with learning disabilities and provide meaningful, sustained employment to them. India has almost 2 million neurodiverse people, according to a report by Deloitte and Amazon through this initiative Amazon seeks to help them find suitable employment opportunities.
In an exclusive e-mail interaction with IndiaRetailing, Liju Thomas, Director of HR for Amazon’s India Operations gives insights into Aurora, its approach to D&I, employee-friendly initiatives and more that have helped drive the company’s success in the country keeping people at the centre.
Tell us about some employee-friendly programmes at Amazon India.
We provide ways of working that fit with our employees’ life stages and personal priorities. Whether our employees are starting their careers, moving over from another one, or returning to work, we understand work is an important and necessary part of their lives.
We are consistently evolving our policies and initiatives within our Operations network to support women’s career advancement and assist them in balancing their personal and professional lives. Additionally, our affinity and allyship groups, such as WINOPS (Women in Operations), are established to exchange knowledge, celebrate diversity, promote career advancement, foster community connections, and advocate for women-focused policies.
Our ‘rekindle’ program offers women who have taken a break in their career, opportunities and support to professionally re-integrate themselves and resume their corporate careers. Structured onboarding, focused mentoring, flexible work options and on-the-job learning are its key elements.
Our ‘Ramp Back’ program allows employees to gradually return to work after pregnancy or parental leave through a reduced work schedule immediately following leave. We also introduced ‘ParentEx’ program to enhance the experience of new parents as well as expectant mothers. Amazon’s childcare benefit policy enables access to a network of childcare providers. Employees can select a childcare centre as per their requirements and avail their services at a discounted rate. Our insurance policy also encompasses IVF procedures. And, our maternity and paternity leaves are extended in the case of adoption as well.
Tell us about D&I at Amazon India.
We are a company of builders who bring varying backgrounds, ideas, and points of view to invent on behalf of our customers. Our diverse perspectives come from our diverse employee cohorts including gender, race, age, national origin, sexual orientation, culture, education, and professional and life experience. By bringing individuals from different backgrounds into our teams, we aim to build an inclusive environment that reflects and understands the needs of our diverse customer base.
Diversity is very important for us because it not only improves the work culture but also enhances the productivity and performance of people.
Our commitment to inclusion and equity extends to all talent communities, including women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual (LGBTQIA+) community, people with disabilities, and the military veteran cohort. We invest by working backwards from the needs of the different diverse cohorts and instituted several initiatives, policies and programs, including the creation of meaningful opportunities for them.
How does D&I benefit business?
While Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are good for business, our commitment is based on something more fundamental than that—it is simply right. When employees feel valued and respected for who they are and what they bring to the table, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated to bring their most authentic selves to work and perform to their best potential.
When the workforce is diverse and operates on a huge scale; you can’t fit all policies and benefits under one aspect. What we all need to do is to be future-ready. We are growing at a fast pace, and we are continuously introducing initiatives that further strengthen our culture of inclusion and enable us to serve our customers better.
What is the percentage of employees at Amazon India that come from a challenged section of society?
While specific statistics cannot be disclosed, our continuous efforts have resulted in the creation of distinct employment prospects for individuals from diverse backgrounds in various positions.
Over the years, we have made deliberate efforts to incorporate diverse cohorts, including military veterans, women, LGBTQIA+, and people with disabilities, providing growth opportunities for them across various businesses and roles.
We firmly believe that the key lies not just in focusing on numbers but in cultivating the right mindset and intentions to establish an inclusive work environment. It is not just a business objective for us; it is a fundamental principle aligned with our core values.
It’s an ongoing journey where we continuously seek inputs and feedback to make our company a more inclusive place to work.
Can you shed light on the Aurora programme?
At Amazon, we strive to be recognized as the ‘Earth’s Best Employer,’ and towards this objective, we consistently explore ways to improve our workplace culture, ensuring equal and fair opportunities for a diverse range of employees.
We actively seek to include neurodiversity in our workplace, valuing the unique skills and perspectives that this cohort brings.
Acknowledging the challenges in sourcing neurodiverse talent within a societal context that lacks awareness and carries a social stigma, we are addressing this issue by collaborating with Sol’s ARC, a Mumbai-based non-profit specializing in vocational training for individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities. Together, we have designed a program, Aurora with a specific focus on creating a neurodiverse workforce for e-commerce operations.
This initiative involves identifying suitable roles for this unique talent pool, developing methods to support their learning and growth, establishing effective onboarding processes, and facilitating their seamless integration into the workplace.
Through our partnership with Sol’s ARC, we have successfully onboarded 208 enrolments into the programme in the past year, with 137 participating in internships with us. Currently, we maintain an active pool of 36 individuals working within our organization.
How does Amazon plan to help them to blend into the workforce?
Understanding the unique needs of neurodivergent individuals, we consider reasonable adjustments to accommodate their specific requirements. This includes providing options for a conducive work environment, such as working from home or in a quiet office area. Communication is crucial, and we offer alternatives like text-based communication and noise-cancelling headphones to support our neurodivergent employees.
Our engagement with neurodivergent talent involves thoughtfully designing processes, expanding their responsibilities, and ensuring integration into various tasks across the organization. We provide education and training in areas such as language, micro-aggressive behaviours, biases, and other workplace issues.
Inclusive language is actively promoted, and we conduct bias training to ensure objectivity throughout the recruitment process. To further integrate neurodiverse employees, we’ve found success in sharing experiences, creating visual content, and implementing internship models. However, we recognize that this journey requires continuous evolution of learning and development practices to effectively include neurodivergent individuals in the workplace.
We’ve established platforms to capture the voices of neurodivergent employees and are dedicated to continually improving organizational processes and policies to enhance inclusivity. We acknowledge that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to neurodiversity and are committed to the ongoing journey of bringing in diverse cohorts, iterating on processes, and consistently improving to enhance inclusivity in the workplace.
While specifics about the number of neurodivergent individuals hired cannot be disclosed, our holistic approach underscores our dedication to creating an inclusive and supportive environment for neurodivergent talent.
How does Amazon use technology for the benefit of its workforce?
Our People Experience and Technology (PXT) team is dedicated to continuous innovation, striving to develop inclusive, technology-driven solutions that facilitate scalable hiring processes, ensure equitable candidate experiences, mitigate potential bias, and enhance the capabilities of our recruiting teams.
We introduced Alexa Inside Day One, a comprehensive and trusted information virtual buddy to ease the onboarding for new hires who could turn to Alexa for any information they need across their life cycle at Amazon. We also have an automated My HR portal, where employees can find answers to all their HR processes-related questions or even connect with live support available 24/7.
Our internally developed platform, Amazon Connections, is a real-time, company-wide innovative internally built platform, which provides Amazonians an effective way to share continuous feedback in a confidential manner. By asking daily questions to employees, ‘Connections’ utilizes real-time feedback and machine learning tools to gain insights into our employees’ experiences, facilitating the implementation of positive changes in the workplace. From talent acquisition to continuous engagement, such integrations help us harness the strengths of both technological advancements and human insight.
What is the company’s people strategy for India going forward?
At Amazon, we highly prioritize talent acquisition, recognizing that finding the right individuals and investing in their growth is paramount to assembling a team capable of continuous innovation to meet evolving customer expectations. Our strategy involves identifying customer needs first and then working backwards to develop plans and execute initiatives that profoundly impact lives and livelihoods.
In our pursuit of being Earth’s most customer-centric company, we channel our focus on obsessing over customers and formulating processes and programs that objectively pinpoint top talent. We aim to cultivate a diverse and inclusive workforce that propels successful and impactful outcomes. We acknowledge that diversity goes beyond gender, encompassing various groups currently underrepresented in the workforce. To elevate underrepresented groups, we place a strong emphasis on providing ample opportunities and support upon entry into the workplace. This includes specialized training programs designed to foster equity and ensure a level playing field for everyone. Our overarching goal is to construct a workforce that is not only diverse but also inclusive, fostering an environment where all individuals can thrive and contribute their best.
