Sutton-in-Ashfield HR partner shares secrets of career building at Amazon during Learning at Work Week 2025

Each year, the Learning at Work Week programme is run by charity Campaign for Learning. The charity works with organisations across the UK to arrange events, stimulate curiosity in the workplace and support organisational goals by engaging employees in continued learning.

This year’s theme, 'Get Connected', highlights the social aspect of lifelong learning at work, with a focus on how collaboration between colleagues can support their learning and professional development through understanding and empathy.

Diana Frunza, who works at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Sutton-in-Ashfield, has used Amazon’s training and development pathways to further her professional goals.

One of the pathways Diana has taken advantage of to progress her career is Amazon Career Choice. The programme, which has been running at Amazon since 2012, supports participants by covering up to 95% of tuition and fees for courses in high-demand fields, with an available amount of up to £8,000 over four years, regardless of whether the participant proceeds to pursue a career at Amazon.

There are many pathways for progression within Amazon Career Choice, including associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees and certificates. Software development, English language classes, accountancy and HGV driving are just some of the courses on offer and are designed to help employees build careers at Amazon or elsewhere. This means that eligible employees are given the opportunity to gain the skills and qualifications needed to follow their career aspirations, whatever they might be.

Diana, who used Career Choice to help land her role as an HR associate partner, has shared her experience to inspire others to elevate their own career using the Amazon Career Choice programme.

Originally from Romania, Diana came with her husband and son to the UK in 2017. Working at Amazon was her first job after moving.

Diana began her Amazon career at the company’s fulfilment centre in Dunstable on a temporary contract, eventually moving to Sutton-in-Ashfield in 2020 when it first opened. Both she and her husband work at the site, with Diana in HR and Bobi in stow.

“It was pure luck that we found out that Amazon was hiring,” said Diana. “We overheard people in town talking about seasonal jobs and asked where they were. That was the initial reason we started, but there are so many reasons why we stayed. We’ve been given opportunities here that we couldn’t have found elsewhere. Our jobs are stable, and we trust Amazon. It changed our lives.”

Initially Diana tried to progress as a team lead within the operations department at Amazon, but found it didn’t suit her, so she decided to try her hand at something else.

“When I started my first role at Amazon in operations, I felt it wasn’t really what I was looking for career progression-wise. Although I’d graduated twice from university already, Career Choice gave me was another chance to try something new and see if I’d like it.

“It was completely different to the things I’d studied before. I did an accountancy degree back home in Romania and then a software engineering degree in the UK. Studying HR through Career Choice was an opportunity for me to try something else, working with people, and using a different skillset.”

Diana availed of two courses through Career Choice, graduating from an HR Assistant course in 2023, and undertaking a CIPD Level 5 Diploma afterward. She credits Career Choice with advancing her career and helping her secure a permanent role.

“These qualifications really changed my career – I wouldn’t have been able to afford the courses without Amazon. Everyone asks ‘what’s the catch?’ when they hear about what Career Choice offers, but I realised that there is no catch from speaking to other people who’d done it! I decided to go for it, and here I am today.”

Diana’s favourite aspects of her job at Amazon are that she gets to work hands-on with her colleagues, and the independence and flexibility it offers her family.

“The best thing about my job is that we get to help a lot of people – we have a headcount of over 2,000 employees on site, and I would deal with at least a quarter of them during each shift, which is a lot of people depending on you!

“I really like that I can be self-sufficient – I work the night shift, and when we don’t have senior management and I get to make all the tough decisions, there’s freedom and trust there for me to do what I think is right.

“Amazon is also very flexible in terms of schedules. My son is nearly twelve now, but he was four when we first got here, so one of us had to be home all the time. Me working the nightshift and my husband working days was ideal. This might change as I progress, but that’s a conversation I’m not worried about having.”

Diana plans to complete the CIPD Level 7 Diploma to further advance her HR career.

Amazon employees receive competitive pay and comprehensive benefits. The minimum starting pay for frontline operations employees is between £13.50 and £14.50 p/h, depending on location. For those with 36 months service, this is £13.75 and £14.75p/h, depending on location.

Amazon has invested £550m in increased pay for operations employees across the UK since 2022, representing a 35% increase in the hourly rate in just two years. Additionally, from day one, all employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidized meals and an employee discount. Together, these benefits are worth more than £700 annually, and employees can take advantage of Amazon’s company pension plan.

Amazon has been named as a ‘Top Employer UK 2025’ by the Top Employer Institute, for the second year in a row, one of the world’s most prestigious certifications in the field of human resources management. This award recognises Amazon’s commitment to the development and well-being of its employees. In addition to the UK accolade, Amazon has also been certified as one of the Top Employers in Europe for a third consecutive year.

In 2025, Amazon ranked in second place on LinkedIn’s Top Companies list — an annual list that identifies the most sought-after large companies to work for and grow your career in the UK. Using data from LinkedIn’s 900 million members, LinkedIn’s Top Companies list is designed to help professionals identify the best companies to grow their careers.

To find out more about a career with Amazon, visit Amazon Jobs.