The large market town of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, is home to three Amazon fulfilment centres, LBA1, LBA2 and LBA3; all named after the nearest international airport, Leeds Bradford.
LBA2 is the size of approximately 15 football pitches, allowing for storage of larger items such as TVs, home appliances and kayaks.
Jane Childs joined the LBA2 team when the building first opened in 2017. She is responsible for locating items which have been ordered by customers, picking them from the shelves using mechanical handling equipment and sending them on to be packaged.
“The team here is great, I could not wish for better colleagues and there’s always something new going on,” said Jane.
As part of a programme called ‘I Found the Right Place’ Amazon invited employees from fulfilment centres across the UK to explain what they like best about working at Amazon and why it is the right place for them. More than 800 employees from across the UK and dozens from each site put pen to paper.
“I had the opportunity to become an Instructor; I found I was really good at teaching and interacting with other associates and I even got voted on to our forum. Now I have a job I love and I am able to help others,” wrote Jane in her entry.
All of the entries were anonymised and the best entry from each fulfilment centre was chosen. The chosen employees were invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to Seattle, U.S., to explore the Amazon head office and see where it all started.
During the five-day trip to Seattle, Jane and Amazon colleagues from sites across the UK were shown around the city and enjoyed a trip up the Space Needle. They also went on a tour of the Amazon campus and the robotics fulfilment centre in Kent, Washington, where they met Amazon’s Chief Scientist.
“I’m one lucky lady who is part of a great team and the opportunities are endless. I’m so glad I took the plunge to apply for a job at Amazon. My only regret is I should have done it years ago,” said Jane in a message to people considering a career at Amazon. “I even introduced my daughter for the Christmas peak period in 2017; she also loved it and is now a shift manager here.”
