Amazon’s New Future Ready 2030 Initiative

Hey HR Pros!

Amazon’s new Future Ready 2030 initiative is a $2.5 billion blueprint for how to approach skills, retention, and long-term workforce planning at scale.

With a goal to prepare 50 million people for the future of work, this strategy reflects a growing expectation: if you're not helping your people grow, you’re risking losing them.

Upcoming In This Issue:

• 🌍 From Tuition to Tech Training: What HR Can Learn from Amazon’s Skills-at-Scale Strategy

• 💼 Side Hustles Are the New Safety Net — and HR Should Be Paying Attention

• 🧠 What HR Can Learn from Heineken’s Approach to Performance & Psychological Safety

• 🎙️ Featured HR Podcast | HR Works Podcast with Amanda Czepiel

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• Walmart employee claims she was fired hours after emailing HR

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Featured resources this week:

• Survey by EduBirdie: Gen Z’s Attitudes Towards Workplace Romance

• Owl Labs’ 9th Annual State of Hybrid Work report

• The Work-Life Wellness Report ‘26 by WellHub

• Survey by Patriot Software: The Side Hustle Nation: How Americans Are Turning Passion Into Paychecks

🌍 From Tuition to Tech Training: What HR Can Learn from Amazon’s Skills-at-Scale Strategy

Amazon’s new initiative aims to equip 50 million people globally with future-ready skills, spanning K–12, early-career talent, and employees already on the job.

From AI and cloud upskilling to expanding tuition programs for salaried employees, the strategy reflects a shift every HR leader should take seriously: learning isn’t optional — it’s operational.

Key Insights for HR Leaders

• 📊 Amazon exceeded its 2019 goal 7x — upskilling 700K+ employees.
  Original target: 100,000. Result: 700,000+ trained globally, including 425K in the U.S. — a clear case for scale.

• 🎓 Career Choice now includes salaried U.S. employees (Level 4+).
  This long-standing tuition benefit program expands beyond hourly workers, enabling more career mobility across job levels.

• 🧠 Apprenticeships are driving real wage lifts — up to 58% more.
  Programs like Mechatronics and Robotics show how technical training can unlock wage gains in entry-level roles.

• 🌍 It’s not just internal — 50 million people will benefit globally.
  From students to former employees, the program aims to build a more agile labor force far beyond Amazon’s walls.

Read the full article by Amazon

💼 Side Hustles Are the New Safety Net — and HR Should Be Paying Attention

A growing number of workers are using side hustles not just to chase passion projects, but to weather inflation, layoffs, and uncertainty. This shift has major implications for how HR supports, engages, and retains talent.

HR leaders can no longer treat these ventures as a distraction or fringe activity — they’re central to how today’s workforce manages stress, plans for the future, and defines personal growth.

Key Insights for HR Leaders

• 📊 80% of side hustlers feel more financially secure with one.
  For employees, hustles offer stability amid inflation, layoffs, and economic unpredictability — especially when full-time roles aren’t enough.

• 🧑‍💻 Half of full-time workers spend 10+ hours a week on side gigs.
  Side hustles aren’t hobbies — they’re often second jobs. Employees are clocking 50+ hour work weeks just to stay ahead.

• 🚀 24% of hustlers are confident they could go full-time.
  Side gigs are becoming business incubators — employees are testing entrepreneurship before making the leap, often while still employed.

• 🌱 51% of Gen Z say their side hustle gives them hope.
  For younger employees, hustles are more than money — they’re sources of agency, creativity, and optimism in an uncertain job market.

read the full 942-word article here

HR LOLs

🧠 What HR Can Learn from Heineken’s Approach to Performance & Psychological Safety

In a recent conversation, Paddy Hull, Head of Talent, Leadership, and Culture at The Heineken Company, unpacked how HR can lead the AI evolution while preserving what matters most: trust, safety, and meaning at work.

Hull shows that HR can embed change within culture — not against it — by framing new behaviors in familiar language and values, helping people adopt without resistance.

Key Insights for HR Leaders

• 🧬 Culture change sticks when it blends in, not breaks through.
  At Heineken, change is masked as evolution — not disruption — to avoid “organ rejection” from legacy culture.

• 🧭 Future-ready leaders are empathy-driven and adaptability-first.
  It’s not about strength or charisma; it’s about sensing shifts and helping others move with them.

• 🤝 AI is a tool — not the decision-maker.
  Heineken uses AI to widen the pool, but human judgment stays central to promote fairness and context-driven hiring.

• 🏗️ Safety and performance can (and must) co-exist.
  Autonomy, belonging, growth, purpose, and inclusion are the five HR levers to support both thriving people and thriving business.

read the full 942-word article here

🎙️ Featured HR Podcast | HR Works Podcast with Amanda Czepiel