‘I’M PROUD TO BE ME’ SAYS DUNFERMLINE AMAZON EMPLOYEE
A team member from the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dunfermline is sharing his story in celebration of Pride Month.
Pride Month, celebrated annually in June, honours the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a turning point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. Celebrations now take place in countries all over the world and include parades, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, attracting millions of participants.
This year, employees from Amazon will be taking part in Pride parades in Birmingham, Manchester and London.
John Aitken from Dunfermline is one of the employees taking part in the Edinburgh parade. Alongside his personal Pride Month celebrations, John is sharing his story to showcase Amazon’s #ProudToBeMe campaign in honour of Pride Month.
John , from Falkirk, is the general manager’s assistant at the Amazon fulfilment centre in Dunfermline.
Before joining Amazon, John attended a performing arts college in Cambridge and went on to work in entertainment on cruise liners in Los Angeles and Australia. During Covid, John wanted to be closer to his family and decided to move back to Scotland with his fiancée. Having discovered a passion for managing teams whilst working on the cruise liners, John found an opportunity to study a business management apprenticeship at Amazon.
Outside of work, John teaches and choreographs for children at a production company in central Scotland. Growing up in the performing world, John now passes down his passion and knowledge to children and watches them grow into their own performers. John also produces his own shows for a variety of theatres in Scotland.
John’s favourite thing about working at Amazon is the opportunities.
“I’ve been given so many opportunities during my time at Amazon, such as working in lead roles and then stepping up to an area manager role. I love to try every new challenge that comes along and Amazon is the place to do that,” John said.
John is also the site ambassador and regional lead in Scotland and Ireland for the Glamazon team, Amazon’s LGBTQIA+ affinity group, and plays a part in the community engagement side of the team.
Speaking on his experience with Glamazon, John said: “With my performance background, I’m the go-to guy for charity and site events.
“From having interest in Glamazon to approaching the team and becoming involved, it all grew quite naturally and organically until I took the role as regional lead. It was very much taking every challenge as it came and it’s been the best experience for me.”
“There is so much support at Amazon for the LGBTQIA+ community. They offer a range of programmes to help employees internally. From policies in the past that are now improving, to pronoun inclusivity, Amazon goes the extra mile to create an inclusive environment.”
Pride is a big event in John’s calendar, and he gets involved in a lot of events both through Amazon and outside of work.
This year, he is organising workshops for the Dunfermline site to educate team members on pronoun inclusivity, touching on identification. The Glamazon team will also be attending the Edinburgh Pride march.
He shared: “Pride is a moment to reflect and look back on how far the LGBTQIA+ community has come, from the civil riots to where we are now – it’s incredible. There are still inequalities, but Pride Month allows us to take a moment to understand the journey and that’s something I try to keep true to heart.
“That moment of standing there as a gay man makes you feel so at home with where you are and what you’re doing, especially when your workplace is as supportive as Amazon. We’ve all got journeys to take, we’ve all had journeys to get to where we are, but the journey that we still have to come is incredibly exciting.”
What’s next for John? He added: “I love working on the community side of Amazon and the more I do, the more my enthusiasm for it grows.
There’s so much more we can do for community engagement in the future and that’s really exciting.”
Ceysa McKechnie, Head of Glamazon in the UK says: “We are incredibly proud to have John as a member of Glamazon in the UK.
“Amazon believes that equality is a driver of innovation, and we strive to create environments that are inclusive to all employees regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation or expression. It’s great to hear stories like John’s that inspire others to be accepting and inclusive to all colleagues in the workplace.”
Amazon has 13 affinity groups, also known as employee resource groups. They play an important role in bringing Amazon employees together and create a sense of community globally while encouraging inclusivity and diversity. These groups include Glamazon, the Black Employee Network, Asians@Amazon, People with Disabilities and Women@.
Glamazon helps Amazon employees build a network with other LGBTQIA+ colleagues and allies across the business on a global level. The group promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion, and gives mentorship opportunities to members.
There are over 200 active Glamazon affinity group chapters around the world who work with Amazon to create an inclusive workplace, host hundreds of community events, and celebrate Pride annually.
Amazon has also been listed in The Stonewall Top 100 Employers list, the UK’s leading benchmarking tool for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the workplace.