Amazon offers financial help to employees seeking in-demand jobs

Some Amazon employees in the GTA are being given the opportunity to get financial assistance towards their education, even if it means the company will lose those workers down the road.

Balbir Kaur is one of those workers, stocking shelves and filling orders at the e-commerce giant's Brampton location. When Kaur isn't working in the Amazon warehouse, she's inching closer to her goal of working in healthcare.

"Every newcomer has to struggle with the survival jobs," said Kaur, who was a science teacher in India before moving to Canada.

• Amazon among companies entering food delivery market

"It's not easy to study," noted Kaur, who considers the cost of attending universities and colleges in Canada "really expensive."

So when Amazon offered to pay up to $12,000 over four years towards training for jobs deemed in demand, Kaur leaptat the chance to improve her resum.

It helps you to attract other great employees.- Alexander Younger,workplace expert,Design Lab

"It was like a golden opportunity for me and a dream come true," Kaurtold CBC News.

She even gets to studyone evening a week at her workplace.

Even ifthe program means employees are more likely to leave, one independent analyst says it may ultimately work in Amazon's favour.

"You can empower them to move on, they're going to tell a great story about your business," and tell otherpotential employees that it's "a great place to work," said Alexander Younger, a workplace expert with Design Lab in Toronto.

"So it helps you to attract other great employees."

Ashley Robinson, a public relations manager with Amazon, suggested that's precisely the company's strategy.

"It's a great tool for us to help attract quality talent to come join our team," said Robinson. "We know that for some folks, a job at Amazon is a stepping stone onto another career path."