Amazon set to start hiring at new Monroe facility

Amazon’s new fulfillment center in Monroe is just months away from opening and bringing more than 1,000 full time jobs to the region.

Located near Interstate 75 at 700 Gateway Blvd. in Park North at Monroe, the cavernous 1.3 million-square-foot facility was completed this month, company officials said. It will make its debut in 2019 and house employees who will pick, pack and ship larger items such as car seats, sports equipment, patio furniture, gardening tools, kayaks and pet food.

Amazon, which employs 575,000 nationwide, will ramp up hiring for the Monroe facility over the course of just a few weeks following its opening, according to Rachael Lighty, regional manager, external communications for Amazon Operations.

Salary range for the Monroe jobs has not yet been set, Lighty told this news outlet.

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“Starting wage for hourly employees varies by location, and is competitive with the market at that time,” she said. “However, what I can share is that the average hourly wage for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, and incentive bonuses, is over $15 an hour before overtime. We encourage anyone to compare our pay and benefits to other retailers.”

Those benefits health insurance, disability insurance, retirement savings plans, up to 20 weeks of paid leave and benefit programs aimed at giving new parents flexibility with their growing families.

Amazon also provides on-the-job training and advancement opportunities for all its associates, Lighty said. Many leaders in the company worked their way up and held various positions across the company, as they grow their career, she said.

In addition, the company offers a Career Choice program to expand the choices available to associates in their future career, whether that’s at Amazon or in another industry.

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“Amazon’s Career Choice program helps train employees for in-demand jobs so they can take full advantage of the nation’s innovation economy,” Lighty said. “The program pre-pays 95 percent of tuition for courses in in-demand, high-wage fields, regardless of whether the skills are relevant to a future career at Amazon.

Dan Clark, Monroe’s vice mayor, said Amazon constructing its fulfillment center in the city and creating 1,000 jobs there is “a very big deal.”

“During this process of Amazon coming to Monroe there have continuing discussions … about employee training and working within the community and development and we hope those discussions will continue in the future,” Clark said. “Amazon has been an excellent partner for us thus far and we know that will continue.”

Employees at the facility will join a network of two existing fulfillment centers in the Columbus area (Obetz and Etna) and one scheduled to open later this year near Cleveland (North Randall).

An Amazon presence in Ohio means more than the 1,000 jobs at the Monroe facility, according to Jane Tschanen, the facility’s general manager. Construction of the site created hundreds of construction jobs, she said.

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