Illustrative stock photo (source: AP/SITA)
After years of speculations, the US company Amazon decided to open a new logistics centre in Slovakia. It will be situated close to Sereď (Trnava Region), with the opening planned to take place between summer and autumn 2017, the Sme daily reported.
One of the reasons for such a step was allegedly the successful work of Amazon in Bratislava, which started in 2011. The company currently employs 850 financial and HR managers, as well as managers for contact with consumers, sale support and analysis, in the capital.
The new logistics centre will occupy more than 60,000 square metres. Amazon plans to employ up to 1,000 people in the following three years there. Some rumours even suggest that the number may be as high as 3,000 staffers, Sme wrote. The US firm, however, failed to comment on the information.
The employees of the centre will assess the state of the products that could not be delivered or were returned to Amazon. The company has not specified yet how much they will earn, Sme reported.
The recruitment for positions that do not require any experience should start in mid-summer. Except for them, the company plans to hire operational managers, technologists, HR managers, financial managers and IT experts.
“The fact that we will build our logistics centre in Slovakia proves how much trust we give into investments in this market,” said Roy Perticucci, the vice president of Amazon operations in Europe, as quoted by Sme.
Observers consider it a challenge to find enough employees in the planned locality. Sereď is situated in the Galanta district, where the jobless rate amounted only to 3.2 percent in January. The average registered unemployment in Slovakia at the same time was 8.7 percent.
“From the point of workers, this locality has a very good connection to industrially developed regions,” said Jana Mesárová of Wincott People, as quoted by Sme. “People can commute to Trnava, Nitra, Bratislava and also Hungary without problems.”
Moreover, close to Sereď there are also companies such as Samsung (Galanta) and Duslo (Šaľa), Mesárová added.
As a result, Amazon will probably have to search for new staff outside the Galanta district or will have to try to offer better conditions to already employed people, she opined.
Amazon will be one of the biggest investments Slovakia has received in the past few years as regards the number of new jobs, after carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, Sme wrote.
