Creating an Inclusive Culture
We believe that building a sense of belonging, value, and opportunity is integral to people thriving in their lives and at work—and to what we can achieve as a company. We take an intersectional approach to the policies, programs, and strategies we create for our employees, selling partners, suppliers, and customers to build inclusion into our business.
Amazon’s culture of inclusion is reinforced by our Leadership Principles, which remind team members to seek diverse perspectives, learn and be curious, and lead with empathy.
One of our newest Leadership Principles—Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer—specifically calls on leaders to work every day to create a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment.
In 2021, we set enterprisewide goals to rapidly scale a more inclusive culture for employees across Amazon.
Our affinity groups are Amazon communities where employees can share experiences and ideas to passionately and positively impact the company.
Our dedicated DEI teams consult with affinity group leaders to improve our inclusion efforts internally and externally, and each affinity group has an executive sponsor who supports them with engagement efforts.
Amazon and our employees stand together with the LGBTQ+ community.
As of 2021, there were more than 100 global chapters of Glamazon, our LGBTQ+ affinity group. We’re committed to advancing equal rights and have a long track record of advocating for protections for the LGBTQ+ community.
In the U.S. and India, Amazon provides transgender-inclusive health benefits and gender transition benefits based on the Standards of Care published by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Amazon also holds a gender identity conference to build community, educate those outside of the LGBTQ+ community, and provide professional development opportunities for those at Amazon who are transitioning openly in the workplace.
Working closely with the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the International Documentary Association, and Gamechanger Films, we created the Inclusion Playbook to help people recognize biases that occur across the lifecycle of a series or movie—from production to launch.
Outlining how to think about a story, casting, crewing up, and how to track and report inclusion successes, the Playbook is specifically designed to advance the visibility and responsible depictions of underrepresented communities. We view it as an evolving document that will be updated over time, offering a much-needed tool to guide decision-making in creative hiring practices.
Amazon recruits experienced military leaders from all branches and all backgrounds.
Together, these leaders form important pipelines of talent. We offer veterans the Military Mentoring Program (MMP), a career-development resource that connects new employees with experienced employees who help them translate and apply their knowledge to Amazon.
New veteran hires who join the MMP complete a brief profile before being matched with a mentor, who then collaborates with them throughout their first year at Amazon. Mentors also assist mentees with progressing in the Military Ambassador Program, a 12-month development program focused on sharing resources such as writing exercises, videos, and virtual huddles.
