Amazon Working Conditions

[Raiju]

I've heard a few comments about the article from Amazon employees in a few departments (retail departments, programming, etc.) and by and large they did feel they agreed with some of the points brought up - but felt the article was extremely biased and exaggerated points.

It seems there are some issues with management conveying the wrong messages and being quite heavy handed - one in particular explained that he indeed did see a lot of colleagues cry, but the majority of them were for non-work related reasons. A possible byproduct of working extreme hours means you see things you usually wouldn't see.

Another in the retail department said someone crying in the toilets or at their desk wasn't unheard of - and stated it was very possibly due to being shouted at by a manager.

The meeting style was generally agreed upon - it could be a very intimidating environment

The third quote seemed a bit out - it didn't match any of their experiences at all.

Embracing 'frugality' is agreed, but noone really felt there was a problem with it. Is there a problem with it? Particularly in lower retail/marketing positions where the pay is hardly astounding anyway.

The latter ones were unfortunately also generally agreed upon as standard procedure.


OT: I don't think Amazon sets the standard for what will be the corporate world - because other large companies do nothing like them. On top of this, Amazons model is practically impossible to bring to standard as unemployment rates would skyrocket (Such things as being able to manage a warehouse with 1/10th the staff of a previous fulfilment centre are just normal) - I daresay most companies in retail WISH they could copy Amazon's efficiency regardless of the employee repercussions.

It's worth mentioning that (not related to this article) Amazon is very clever - and there is nothing wrong with THEM for doing this - in putting fulfilment centres in areas with extremely low job opportunities. Often people only get to work there temporarily and don't have the luxury of other jobs available in the area.

[Deleted]

Pretty much this. I don't recall anyone forcing anyone else to work for Amazon.

Right, we should just let them slave drive people because they have a choice not to work there.
There are government enforced regulations when it comes to work environment and the treatment of employees and I can honestly say that I'm glad the world doesn't revolve around your twisted sense of morality.

[Antermosiph]

Man, that's fucked up. Also: isn't a lot of this happening off the clock? That can't be legal.

[Jester Joe]

NSFW warning on that link. The page is covered in porn.

There was one ad that was racy on the side, but that's about it. Covered in porn though? I'll try finding another to replace it, gimme a few.

[Cyberowl]

A lot of people fail to see the bigger picture. Amazon is approaching oligopoly/monopoly status in many countries and the demand for workers in those sectors stays about the same. x million people working in retail can't suddenly switch their jobs and Amazon will always find the workers to fill the jobs, because for many it's just a short term job, but can get away while offering their workers worse conditions.

[Reeve]

Here's some data from 2013 from the FAZ, a respected German newspaper.



It's volume, sales and profit.

Yeah, volume isn't really a very good metric. Units sold isn't useful when you're selling shipments of 10,000 units at 0.002 cents per unit.

Revenue is better, which is shown in that middle graph. Alternatively, and with newer numbers:

http://www.statista.com/statistics/2...ue-of-alibaba/
http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Amazo...)/Data/Revenue

[vindicatorx]

Right, we should just let them slave drive people because they have a choice not to work there.
There are government enforced regulations when it comes to work environment and the treatment of employees and I can honestly say that I'm glad the world doesn't revolve around your twisted sense of morality.

Your ignorance is laughable. It's Amazon I assure you a company as large as Amazon has a Human Resources department. If the job is as bad as implied where people are crying on a daily basis all they have to do is file a lawsuit. Amazon is liable for it's employees if this shit is really going on there would be a joint lawsuit filed against them already.

Employer Liability for Harassment
The employer is automatically liable for harassment by a supervisor that results in a negative employment action such as termination, failure to promote or hire, and loss of wages. If the supervisor's harassment results in a hostile work environment, the employer can avoid liability only if it can prove that: 1) it reasonably tried to prevent and promptly correct the harassing behavior; and 2) the employee unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

The employer will be liable for harassment by non-supervisory employees or non-employees over whom it has control (e.g., independent contractors or customers on the premises), if it knew, or should have known about the harassment and failed to take prompt and appropriate corrective action.

please think before typing an ignorant load of shit in the future.

[mrmsix6]

This kind of work environment isn't anything too out of the ordinary in the upper echelons of the corporate world. Environments like this have existed for decades at some of the most successful corporations in the world.

Frankly, you could find a village worth of former employees from any major corporation that would love tell you how shitty it is to work there, especially to a paper like the NYT doing an investigative piece. You're only getting one side of the story from a bunch of people who are motivated to tell you how horrible it was. I'm not saying they're all lying or exaggerating, but consider the source. Some of the accounts in there strain credulity.

And I kind of have to agree with the others: if enough people enjoy working there, they're paid well, the company is highly successful and laws aren't being broken, I don't have a problem with it. Why would I?

[Reeve]

Mine wasn't. Are you sure they weren't google ads reacting to your recent browsing history?

Pretty sure. This is a work computer. I don't do that sort of browsing here. Besides, I have adblock on. These were bits of the site itself, other images suggested.

[Deleted]

I don't mind hard work myself. I've had close to 80 hour weeks myself when I was in the startup phase of my first business.

But I could only spend that many hours on my own thing. Never for someone else.

[vindicatorx]

Man, that's fucked up. Also: isn't a lot of this happening off the clock? That can't be legal.

Salary employees like myself get paid the same no matter how many hours we work. If I work 20 hours a week I make the same as when I work 100.

[Reeve]

Embracing 'frugality' is agreed, but noone really felt there was a problem with it. Is there a problem with it? Particularly in lower retail/marketing positions where the pay is hardly astounding anyway.

The issue I had with it was being expected to pay my own travel expenses.

- - - Updated - - -

There was one ad that was racy on the side, but that's about it. Covered in porn though? I'll try finding another to replace it, gimme a few.

There were two fully nude images when I loaded it, graphically so.

- - - Updated - - -

Man, that's fucked up. Also: isn't a lot of this happening off the clock? That can't be legal.

Salaried employees are generally exempt from the FLSA, which is what protects hourly employees. If you're salaried, you're always on the clock.

[Deleted]

Here's some data from 2013 from the FAZ, a respected German newspaper.



It's volume, sales and profit.

Amazon isn't a profit generating business though. Their philosophy is to reinvest every single penny they earn. Interesting alibaba has such a high volume of sales but low revenue, I guess that's because they're serving an Eastern instead of western market.

[vindicatorx]

There were two fully nude images when I loaded it, graphically so.

Glad you caught it before I clicked on it I'm at work with 5 people behind me.

[Reeve]

I don't mind hard work myself. I've had close to 80 hour weeks myself when I was in the startup phase of my first business.

But I could only spend that many hours on my own thing. Never for someone else.

I don't mind long work weeks. I've probably worked more hours outside the office than in the office over the last month. But that sort of thing should be occasional, not all the time. It shouldn't be expected to become your permanent lifestyle on pain of termination.

Plus, I don't want to work in an environment where employees are encouraged to backstab each other, where when mistakes are made, the emphasis is on tearing down the person who made them instead of finding the solution.

[Raiju]

The issue I had with it was being expected to pay my own travel expenses.

I don't know anyone who has to travel anywhere other than their office so don't know anything about it - and also didn't even notice it in the article admittedly (skimming)

All I've talked to said that long work weeks (more than the standard 40-45 hours) are exceptionally rare (and optional!) for programmers and only during peak periods in retail - which is completely standard retail.

[Deleted]

Glad you caught it before I clicked on it I'm at work with 5 people behind me.

Boy - your boss must be really proud of you. You openly admit that while you are at work - getting PAID to do a JOB - you are stealing from them by posting on a frivolous internet board when you should be doing your JOB. Nice!

[Reeve]

Amazon isn't a profit generating business though. Their philosophy is to reinvest every single penny they earn. Interesting alibaba has such a high volume of sales but low revenue, I guess that's because they're serving an Eastern instead of western market.

I think this is because Alibaba tends to sell massive quantities of things. If you want servo motors, you might have to buy a minimum order of 1,000, with most orders being 10,000 or more.

[Raiju]

Boy - your boss must be really proud of you. You openly admit that while you are at work - getting PAID to do a JOB - you are stealing from them by posting on a frivolous internet board when you should be doing your JOB. Nice!

While I don't go on MMOC in my current job they're extremely happy with me spending about 20% of my time working and 80% of my time slacking off due to the work I do when I am working, personally.

And yes, Alibaba is where you go if you want stock - They may make the same amount of $ on a sale of 1000 that a low end jewelry retailer will make on a $60 necklace. It's also standard to haggle to razor thin margins there (the advertised price is almost never the selling price)

[Jester Joe]

There were two fully nude images when I loaded it, graphically so.

Well I changed it now, it's good to go. Just a generic imgur link now.

Apparently I missed out on the nudies

Boy - your boss must be really proud of you. You openly admit that while you are at work - getting PAID to do a JOB - you are stealing from them by posting on a frivolous internet board when you should be doing your JOB. Nice!

Might be shocking, but some people's jobs are to sit at a computer waiting to help people.