Amazon program helps military spouses settle into new jobs

As active military members build careers in the service, their spouses and family members are often making additional sacrifices.

The average military family moves once every two and a half years, seven times more frequently than civilians, according to the Department of Defense. Those moves can hold military spouses back from pursuing and advancing their own careers. Amazon is hoping to ease this transition with a new app offering for employees called Project Juno.

Amazon employees can utilize Project Juno to input their move date, and then the system finds the same or similar role in the employee’s new location. Employees have secure employment within 48 hours.

“I truly believe that who you marry shouldn't have to impact your career,” says Beth Conlin, a military spouse herself and senior program manager of Amazon’s Military Spouses Program. “We shouldn't have to ask our military families to choose financial security over service.”

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Conlin and her family have moved eight times in 11 years. This time, the conversation between her and her husband sounded much different than previous moves, she says.

“This was the first time I didn't have to consider how I was going to shut down my career and start over,” she says. “The level of stress that took off of our shoulders, so that all we had to do was focus on moving our family, was honestly life-changing.”

While COVID has made remote work more commonplace, many military spouses don’t have the option to work remotely, leading to record high unemployment rates. Currently, military spouses have a 40% unemployment rate, compared to 4.2% for veterans and 4.8% of the general population, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Frequent relocations and a lack of childcare are the top reasons military spouses cite for leaving work or remaining unemployed, according to data from Deloitte. Ensuring families have access to career opportunities and the financial security that comes with it is a goal not just for military spouses, but for all employees.

“If we can solve a problem for military spouses, we can solve a problem for American families,” Conlin says.

Currently, the program is available to Amazon’s 45,000 veteran and military spouse employees. But news travels fast in the community, Conlin says, and she hopes other companies will follow Amazon’s lead and provide similar job security for their military spouse employees.

“One of the beautiful things about the military spouse employment space is that we shamelessly share our secrets with others. This is definitely a best practice that I will continue to share,” she says. “When you support a military spouse, you're supporting the military family.”