Many brilliant mums who work across Amazon’s fulfilment network are preparing to celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend with their colleagues, who are also their children. We’ve been talking to some of the mums, sons and daughters who work together at Amazon to see how their family bond ties them together both inside and outside work.
“I owe her everything”
Yasmin Choudhry works with her son Fahad, an operations manager at Amazon’s fulfilment centre in Tilbury. Fahad originally joined the Amazon team as a temporary employee when the Tilbury fulfilment centre opened in 2017, before returning on the Graduate Area Manager Programme in 2019, followed by his brother who joined a year later. One of Yasmin's other sons, Hummad, who is currently studying to become a dentist, also works at Amazon part-time.
Fahad loves his job at Amazon and attributes his success with the company to his mum. “I owe her everything,” he said. “She’s always been so supportive of me and everything I’ve done, and she’s been such a positive force for me inside and outside work. She puts a smile on my face every time I see her, and I love working alongside her.”
Yasmin mirrored her son’s thoughts on working together as a family. “I have encouraged many members of my family to work at Amazon because I feel it’s already a great place to work, but is made even better when we come together. I am so proud watching his fast progression at Amazon, he is only 25 years old and has already been promoted four times,” she said. “It’s also easy for me to see what Fahad is up to at work and I am always checking up on him to make sure he’s doing a good job!” she joked.
Laughter in Leyland
Mirela has worked at the Amazon delivery station in Leyland for three years and for the last year, she’s worked alongside her son Cristian. Their close bond at home means the pair enjoy a great working relationship at Amazon, where they process packages for customers in Leyland and across Lancashire. Cristian reveals the one thing Mirela always delivers for him.
“Laughs,” he says. “She really makes me laugh at work and she’s got a great sense of humour, so I’d say she always delivers laughter at work.”
Having fun at work is something Mirela is also passionate about.
“I think it’s so important to have fun at work and I try to create a positive atmosphere with Cristian and our wider team," she says. "I really enjoy working with my son as I don’t see much of him at home, so it’s nice that we can be together in work.”
“It’s great fun!”
Cornelia works alongside her daughter Anca at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Coalville. Anca, who has been with Amazon full-time for the last two years, has worked alongside her mum every day in that time. It’s a close working relationship that the pair really enjoy.
“It’s great fun working with my daughter, especially when I can hear her calling ‘mum!’ at me in the fulfilment centre when she needs something or has a question,” explains Cornelia. “Working with my daughter is also beneficial because we are so synced together. It means we can communicate quickly and make sure we’re helping each other to do our jobs to the best of our ability.”
Living, working, and commuting together
Elizabeth works alongside her daughter Erin at the Amazon delivery station in Motherwell. Erin, who has been with Amazon for nine months, has worked alongside her mum for six of those months.
Elizabeth and Erin live together, commute together, work in tandem and then travel home together at the end of their shifts. Whilst you might expect the proximity to put a strain on the relationship, both mother and daughter say that the extended time together is something they value.
“I treat all my colleagues like they’re my children,” says Elizabeth, “but it’s a joy to work alongside Erin, who actually is my daughter!”
Erin, who took up her role at Amazon on her mum’s recommendation after finishing a degree in psychology, echoes her mum’s thoughts when it comes to working together. “It’s a lot of fun working with my mum. You might think that being in each other’s pockets all the time would be frustrating, but we really love each other, and I never get sick of spending time with her.”
The family teams are among Amazon’s 70,000 employees in the UK. Amazon provides competitive pay, comprehensive benefits and a modern, safe and engaging work environment for its employees. The roles pay a minimum of £10.00 or £11.10 per hour depending on location, and Amazon employees can also take advantage of Amazon’s pioneering Career Choice programme, which pre-pays 95% of tuition for courses in high-demand fields, up to £8,000 over four years, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.
Amazon also provides opportunities to improve existing skills or learn new ones through internal career progression opportunities such as cross-training, transferring to a different department and promotion into a managerial role.
Read more about Amazon’s investment in the UK.
