Named after the nearby Manchester airport, MAN1 is the tenth Amazon fulfilment centre to open in the UK. The first customer shipment left the fulfilment centre in October 2016.
In the summer of 2018, Jelena Skorodumova joined the team at MAN1 as a fulfilment centre picker, responsible for locating items from a customer order, picking them from the shelves and sending them to the pack lines.
“I like everything about working at Amazon. I am a picker, which is important and meaningful. I imagine all those people waiting for their orders and I am getting their items for them, I am literally making people happy,” said Jelena.
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 fell in love with this place from the very first day and it still feels like the honeymoon for me,” wrote Jelena as part of 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.
“When I found out I was chosen I was so surprised, I had no idea that it could be me! My team were all really lovely when they found out, they all know me now because I am going to Seattle and they all wished me luck,” said Jelena.
During the five-day trip to Seattle, Jelena 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.
Jelena’s favourite part of the trip were the Amazon Spheres, she said, “we saw a lot of different beautiful plants and the atmosphere there was just wonderful.”
Speaking to anyone considering a career at Amazon, Jelena said “I feel valued, respected, I feel like I am doing something that really matters.”
