Amazon starts hiring for its first fulfillment center in Thuringia, Germany

Amazon will create more than 1,000 jobs in Gera with competitive pay and comprehensive benefits from day one. Amazon prioritizes the health & safety of its employees and has invested millions of US dollars to provide a safe workplace.

Gera, January 26, 2021 - Today, Amazon announced to start hiring for the new fulfillment center in Gera, Thuringa, planned to launch before the holiday season 2021. With the fulfillment center, Amazon will create more than 1,000 jobs within the first year of operations. For this building, Amazon expects to add over 130 million euros to the more than 28 billion euros it has already invested in Germany over the last decade.

Amazon continues to develop its fulfillment center network to meet customer demand, expand its product selection and support a growing number of independent small German businesses selling on Amazon Marketplace using “Fulfillment by Amazon” warehousing and delivery. As part of Amazon’s commitment to The Climate Pledge, a goal to achieve net zero carbon by 2040, the Gera building integrates the latest environmental principles in terms of energy efficiency and responsible use of resources and has applied for a Gold certification by DGNB, the German Society for Sustainable Construction.

“We’re thrilled to be able to continue our growth throughout Germany with Amazon’s first fulfillment center in Thuringia located in Gera,” said Armin Cossmann, Regional Director Operations Amazon Germany. “We’ve been operating in Germany for over 20 years, investing heavily in the country and employing thousands of talented people who receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits from day one. We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from local and regional stakeholders and look forward to creating 1,000 new full-time jobs for the community in and around Gera and to fulfill customer needs.”

Amazon will begin recruiting for a range of positions for the Gera fulfillment center (including managers and technicians). Positions will also be available in support functions (human resources, security, and IT). Candidates interested in positions can learn more and apply online at www.amazon.jobs.

The new fulfillment center will be the second Amazon location in Thuringia after the delivery station in Erfurt, which opened in 2019 and employs 500 employees.

Wolfang Tiefensee, Thuringian Minister for Economic Affairs, Science and Digital Society: "This is an important settlement that offers additional prospects for the economic development of the region and the city of Gera." The large number of new jobs is particularly an important signal in the current situation. "And it is a clear success for the Thuringian large-scale initiative with which the state is opening up and developing large industrial areas in order to be able to offer companies suitable locations”, said Tiefensee.

Julian Vonarb, Lord Mayor Gera: “I am extremely pleased that the negotiations went well and that the property in Gera-Cretzschwitz was awarded the contract due to its attractive location. The fact that an international company like Amazon is settling with us clearly shows that Gera is competitive as a business location and can keep up in a national comparison. This sends out a clear signal to many other companies. The new jobs are extremely important for the economy in Gera and East Thuringia. The job market in Gera and the East Thuringia region will experience a noticeable boost due to the high number of job opportunities. In the long term, professional prospects are offered, a future is made possible for young people and thus Gera is strengthened as a home."

Andreas Krey, Managing Director of the Landesentwicklungsgesellschaft Thüringen mbH (LEG): "We support investors from Germany and abroad with their settlement in Thuringia and, even in these challenging times, we have seen a strong interest in Thuringia as an investment location. The extremely gratifying involvement of Amazon in Gera is an example of this dynamic trend.” Krey further emphasized: “We are developing the Gera-Cretzschwitz location chosen by the Group as part of the state's large-scale initiative. In this context, we stand by Amazon as a strong partner during the construction phase and in future corporate development at the location. We very much welcome that Amazon is taking the next step in the project with the start of recruitment, which will open up attractive employment opportunities for people in the region, and we look forward to further cooperation.”

Amazon employees in logistics receive a competitive wage package. In Gera, the converted entry base wage is 11.30 euros gross per hour. After 12 and 24 months at Amazon, the wage increases automatically. After 24 months, employees earn an average of around 2,600 euros gross per month.

This includes restricted stock units and other extras. Amazon employees also benefit from other additional benefits such as special remuneration for overtime, life and disability insurance, contributions to the company pension scheme or the "Career Choice" program, in which up to 95 percent of the course fees and literature costs for recognized further training courses are covered up to a maximum of 8,000 euros per employee.

Amazon has created about 16,000 permanent jobs in our logistics buildings in Germany. In addition to these direct jobs, tens of thousands of indirect jobs have been created in Germany thanks to Amazon's activities within transport partner companies or the many German small medium businesses (SMEs) that use Amazon’s technology, services or logistics network to develop their business by selling their products on the Amazon marketplace.

Amazon prioritizes the health and safety of its people and employs health and occupational safety experts at all German fulfillment centers. The company invested millions of US dollars to provide a safe workplace that includes comprehensive COVID-19 measures. Therefore, proven concepts, which have been endorsed by health authorities and governmental officials throughout Germany, will come into place in Gera from day one.

These concepts include increased cleaning and disinfection intervals, temperature measurement when entering the building, mask requirements and two-meter distancing requirements. In Germany alone, Amazon has ordered 470 million units of hand disinfectant, 21 million pairs of gloves, 19 million face masks, face shields and other mouth and nose covers, and 39 million units of disinfectant wipes.

As company, Amazon is committed to a sustainable future and is working on several projects to protect the environment. As co-founder of the Climate Pledge Amazon has made a strong commitment to reach the objectives set in the Paris Agreement by 2040 – 10 years earlier than the Paris Agreement’s target of 2050.

This commitment to eliminate carbon emissions includes among other things an order for 100,000 fully electric delivery vehicles from Rivian – the largest order for electric delivery vehicles ever –, an investment of 100 million dollars in reforestation and an increased usage of sustainable energy. For more information on our Climate Pledge visit nachhaltigkeit.aboutamazon.de.

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon.