Swansea worker Steve finds finds the right place in Seattle

A trip to the Space Needle, a visit to the world-famous Pike Place Market and a ticket to the Seattle Thunderbirds were just some of the activities enjoyed by Steve Phillips from Swansea after he jetted off on the trip of a lifetime to Seattle.

Steve, who works at Amazon in Swansea Bay, made the trip to Seattle after taking part in the I Found the Right Place programme.

The programme invites Amazon employees working across the UK to tell the company why it is the right place for them and what they love most about life at Amazon.

In his story, Steve went into great detail about how working at Amazon has not only helped him live and work in many different locations around the UK, but it’s also helped him buy his first home.

More than 600 employees from across Amazon’s UK customer fulfilment network took part, with the chance to visit the company’s headquarters in Seattle.

Steve jetted off to Seattle for a week of fun and adventures, where he joined colleagues from across the UK to have a tour of the global headquarters and a robotics fulfilment centre, where they met Dave Clark, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations at Amazon. He also enjoyed lots of food and entertainment at restaurants like FareStart, which helps fund programmes to alleviate poverty and homelessness and gives apprentices real-world job experience.

Speaking on the trip, Steve said:

“I’d describe the trip as unbelievable and incomparably unique. I had the most fantastic time and my highlights were the trip to the Spheres and enjoying all the different food on offer at the restaurants and Pike Place Market.

“Seattle is the most brilliant, technologically advanced place and I loved every minute of the visit. I’d encourage all of my colleagues at Amazon in Swansea to enter the programme this year – it really is the trip of a lifetime.”

Chris Law, Site Leader at Amazon in Swansea, added:

“Steve’s story of why he loves working at Amazon was fantastic and we were proud to see him jet off to Seattle on the trip. I Found The Right Place is one of a number of programmes we run at Amazon to recognise and reward the great work our associates do to deliver for our customers. It was great to welcome Steve home and we loved hearing all about his trip.”

Amazon employees have access to a wide range of benefits, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidised meals, an employee discount, which combined are worth more than £700 annually, as well as a company pension plan.

Amazon also offers employees the opportunity to participate in an innovative programme called Career Choice. Career Choice provides funding for adult education, offering to pre-pay 95% of tuition and associated fees for nationally recognised courses, up to £8,000 over four years.