Following natural disasters and in times of national crisis, America’s private sector steps up to aid the states. We are proud of the herculean efforts of CSG Leadership Circle and Associates, our private sector members, as we together combat COVID-19.
Associates in Action articles highlight CSG Associates’ philanthropic efforts and public-private partnerships throughout the states.
Amazon, a CSG Associate, is working around the clock to ensure that, as a company, it is continuing to provide essential services to the people who need it most. Amazon has not only ramped up hiring, increased pay for workers, donated supplies and established a $25 million relief fund, but also created shared solutions for many Americans now working and learning from home.
Amazon announced that it is opening 100,000 new full and part-time positions across the U.S. in its fulfillment centers and delivery network to meet the surge in demand from people relying on Amazon’s service during this stressful time, particularly those most vulnerable to being out in public. Amazon also know many people have been economically squeezed as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel have been lost or furloughed as part of this crisis. The company encourages those impacted to join the team until things return to normal and their past employer can bring them back.
In addition to the 100,000 new roles that Amazon is creating, the company wants to recognize its employees who are playing an essential role for people at a time when many of the services that might normally be there to support them are closed. In the U.S., Amazon will add an additional $2 USD per hour worked through April from our current rate of $15/hour or more, depending on the region. This commitment to increased pay through the end of April represents an investment of over $350 million in increased compensation for hourly employees across the U.S., Europe and Canada.
Amazon Web Services is now providing its expertise and is working closely with the World Health Organization to accelerate the effort to track the virus, understand its outbreak and to better contain its spread. Amazon Web Services is supplying the World Health Organization with advanced cloud technologies and supporting technical expertise. This ranges from building vast “data lakes,” aggregating epidemiological country data, to rapidly translating medical training videos into different languages and helping global healthcare workers to better treat patients.
The White House launched the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium to provide researchers with access to the most powerful high-performance computing resources to help stop the virus. As part of the Consortium, Amazon Web Services is offering research institutions and companies technical support and service credits to advance research on COVID-19 diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine studies. Researchers and scientists working on time-critical projects can use Amazon Web Services to instantly access virtually unlimited infrastructure capacity, as well as the latest technologies in computing, storage and networking to accelerate results.
With people in many cities and countries now being asked to work or learn from home, Amazon Web Services believes that some of its services can help to make the transition from the office or the classroom to the home just a bit easier. Amazon WorkSpace lets users launch virtual Windows and Linux desktops that can be accessed anywhere and from any device. Amazon WorkDocs makes it easy for users to collaborate with others from anywhere. Amazon Chime supports online meetings with up to 100 participants. Additional services include: Amazon Connect, Amazon AppStream, Amazon Web Serivces Client VPN and Amazon Web Services Chatbot.
As students experience disruption across the U.S. during the pandemic, Amazon Future Engineer is providing access to a variety of free, online learning opportunities. Amazon Future Engineer is a childhood-to-career program aimed at increasing access to computer science education for children and adults from underserved and underrepresented communities. During the COVID-19 crisis, Amazon Future Engineer is providing resources from lesson plans to online coding programs for all grades.
“This is a global health emergency that will only be resolved by governments, businesses, academia, and individuals working together to better understand this virus and ultimately find a cure,” said Teresa Carlson, Amazon Web Services vice president for World Wide Public Sector. “In our Amazon Web Services business, one area where we have heard an urgent need is in the research and development of diagnostics, which consist of rapid, accurate detection and testing of COVID-19. Better diagnostics will help accelerate treatment and containment, and in time, shorten the course of this epidemic.”