According to the article, they hire tons of people but not many seem to last that long (if the article is accurate). They may talk a good game in recruiting. Or maybe this article is overblown. Who knows. This particular article is focused on the professional hires. I do know that in terms of the warehouse issues , most of my Amazon orders have been okay but have had two major mess-ups in the last year, involving time spent with customer service and the hassle of returning items. A large outdoor umbrella that arrived with the wrong color, a large area rug that arrived in the wrong color. I would have much preferred they get it right the first time and give their workers a little more time (and respect) than ship something out carelessly just to get an order out.
I’ve been reading the comments on the article and many many people say they are canceling their Prime accounts and never shopping with Amazon again. If the article is correct about Amazon’s reliance on data, and focus on small things, I am imagining a lot of meetings and people yelling at each other at Amazon today and days to follow.
I’m not sure what I want to do. I like using Amazon. But this article wasn’t pleasant to,read.
Do we still want a world where there were thousands of telephone operators at an ATT central office instead of the exchanges that got them all kicked out? Or when the only way you got your plane ticket was through a travel agent? Or having to go to the bank during office hours to withdraw money from a human, etc. etc. Our lives have become vastly richer and more efficient as cheap 24x7 machines replace humans.
And it’s not even in the low end jobs - DS’s friend’s company created software that does software testing so that companies don’t need to hire a dozen programmers to test a new version - they get a bunch of machines to keep humming all night and more thoroughly, freeing the human talent to do more involved tasks.
“Do we still want a world?” Advances in technology are wonderful. But humans still need to keep things going at a place like Amazon. I see no reason why the “human talent” that is still necessary cannot and should not be treated humanely.
“They may talk a good game in recruiting.”
No, actually, they are very transparent about their corporate culture. How do I know? I interviewed there. The questions I was asked would make someone who wants the job think twice about accepting the offer. Do you have time-consuming hobbies? Where do you keep your cellphone at night? I thanked them for their time…
I wonder whether Amazon operates and hires in a Europe. If yes how do they deal with European culture or how do Europeans deal with Amazon culture.
Good to know, BB. The culture certainly does not sound pleasant in the article but the negatives are highlighted… But, at least people know what they are getting into if Amazon is transparent during interviews . Although, a college student may be inclined to take a good offer from a major company and worry about the culture later. The person I know who took an offer recently from Amazon was more interested In places like Google, Palantir, Facebook, startups,etc. but that did not pan out. Hopefully, Amazon will work out, at least will be tolerable for as long as he needs to be there to not have to pay back any signing bonus or moving expenses!
like bookmama22 I cut back after the Hachette situation with Amazon. ( I have a child who works in publishing). This does not surprise me.
Amazon pays good $$$ (not as good as some other techs but definitely good). Some folks used to receive stock options. But… they do work people to the max. Compare the hours a white collar worker would plug in at a law firm, at a startup, at many biotechs, or what our MD students have to go through - it is not that awful. Everyone in the Seattle-area tech circles knows about the inner works of Amazon corporate. I don’t think the article dropped any big bombshells among my tech acquaintances. Bezos is a version of Jobs - but with a different vision (robotization vs functional design).
We can moan and b*** about Amazon and Wal-Mart who’ve tried at least in the past to provide US jobs or we can abandon them to foreign competition.
What stood out to me is that all this is about examples like:
- delivered a doll really fast to a customer
- selling gift cards to companies
That’s not exactly making the world a better place.
How is WalMart or McDonalds making the world a better place anyway and they’ve been existing for a long time.
I asked my DS, who has worked for Amazon for about a year now, about the article. He works in software engineering. He’s never seen anyone crying. He feels like his work/home balance is better there than it was at the two previous tech companies where he worked, and he says he has learned more and grown more in the past year than the previous five. The first six months were hard. I feel a lot better after talking with him about the specific issues in the article–the article had me feeling really uneasy!
Phew! I thought these UC graduates must be nuts or super desperate. Maybe they should have gone to Harvard.
I know somebody who is currently working at Amazon HQ and although they are working hard, they are not working weekends or crazy hours (they sometimes cut out early on Fridays), their boss is kind and understanding, and they are being treated well, learning lots, and enjoying their work.
Any job in corporate America is not much fun right now, people losing jobs to foreign outsourcing, any and all perks being eliminated (no Holiday parties, etc.), having shared tables instead of desks in offices to save on office rental costs, no pay increases, bonuses, or promotions over many years, no pensions (only 401K), much more expensive insurance premiums, etc.
Judging by the traffic pouring out of the South Lake Union Amazon campus onto Mercer between 5-6 pm, not everyone works crazy hours. 
But they do run a tight ship.
Kind of interesting to me how many work places don’t have air conditioning for employees especially like in Florida where it gets pretty hot. There’s a 1.5 million square ft. Walmart distribution center by me that I don’t think is air conditioned except for front office. Lots of warehouses and giant distribution centers in Florida don’t have air conditioning. Amazon just built two giant distribution centers near Tampa and it wouldn’t surprise me if they weren’t air conditioned. Lots of hot places like restaurant kitchens and big bakeries with hot ovens don’t have air conditioning. Out-door construction sites and mining quarries near me sure don’t have air conditioning for employees!
It never ceases to amaze me that the people who like to berate Walmart & McDonalds for their labor practices, are the same people you’d have to pry their iPhones (made by sweatshop labor) from their cold, dead hands.
What a disturbing article! Wonder if alibaba has such a hostile work environment?
Do we have to sacrifice so much for progress? I hope not.
An Amazonian responds- of course, he is current employee- responses are interesting, especially the google employee.
https://■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-ciubotariu?redirectFromSplash=true