UK 
United States
Around 95% of people with a learning disability in the UK are unemployed, despite the vast majority wanting to work. HR Grapevine spoke to Alex Perkins, Amazon's Head of UK Workforce Staffing, about why the company has become the UK's largest private-sector provider of supported internships and what it takes to get it right.
Why does Amazon want to support internships for young people with learning disabilities and autism?
Alex Perkins
Head of UK Workforce Staffing, Amazon
According to the British Association of Supported Employment (BASE), around 95% of people with a learning disability are unemployed – despite the vast majority wanting to work. That represents a significant population of individuals who are underrepresented in the UK workforce, and we want to help change that. Programmes like this help us find exceptional people we might otherwise miss – people who bring fresh thinking, and sometimes a different way of seeing things. That makes us better: not just more inclusive, but stronger as a business, and even more reflective of the communities we serve.
Since launching with just three interns in 2021, the programme has since grown to 137 graduates this summer – making Amazon the UK's largest private sector provider of supported internships. Nearly 300 young people have now been through the scheme, and we recently committed to quadrupling the programme – supporting more than 1,000 young people with learning disabilities and autism into employment across more than 40 sites by 2030. We're scaling this because it works.
Programmes like this help us find exceptional people we might otherwise miss – people who bring fresh thinking, and sometimes a different way of seeing things. That makes us better: not just more inclusive, but stronger as a business, and even more reflective of the communities we serve
What particular adjustments are made for those with additional learning needs to feel supported at work?
Every intern is a college student, and each participating site has a dedicated tutor and job coach allocated to work alongside them throughout the programme. These job coaches – often employed by local councils – provide day-to-day support, while designated Amazon staff are also on hand to help interns with anything they need.
