Amazon uses diversity and inclusion to build business innovation
October 2, 2019
E-commerce giant Amazon champions diversity and inclusion not only as the right thing to do, but as a business decision aimed at improving creativity and the inventive mindset of its 30,000 full-time UK employees.
Closing the conference agenda on day one of Employee Benefits Live 2019, keynote speaker Ben Farmer (pictured), head of HR, UK corporate at Amazon, said: “The more diverse voices, ideas and experiences we can learn from, the better. At Amazon, diversity starts with understanding that we need to be creative and flexible as we strive to foster an inclusive working environment for employees, especially as their circumstances or needs change.”
Amazon’s focus on diversity links in with its ‘day one’ organisational culture. This encourages staff to treat every working day as if it were the first day within a new start-up business; Amazon believes this helps to drive innovative thinking. This further connects with Amazon’s four guiding principles: customer obsession, passion for invention, long-term thinking and operational excellence.
Farmer firmly believes that diversity has a meaningful impact on business success and Amazon’s bottom line. “Diversity is not only the right thing to do, it’s also good for business. For [an organisation] like Amazon, innovation is crucial to our success and diversity helps to drive that innovation by giving us new ideas and a better understanding of customers’ needs.
Read more: on website employeebenefits.co.uk (EN)
