My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
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Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#2I read through the article. I really, really hurt for its author, and pray that I never face similar circumstances. It sounds like he's stinging from his manager not expressing enough empathy.
But with the information in the article, I don't really understand what Amazon should have done differently. Unfortunately the article was vague about just how much the author was underperforming.
Also, while I'm no fan of Amazon, it sounds like they treated him far better than the legally required minimum. They were paying him a lot of money to do something. When he wasn't able to do it, it's not like they fired him instantly; they even offered him $30k of severance.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#31. How do other companies handle these situations? How do you effectively handle an employee rendered unable to perform their job due to tragedy? This came up with Atlassian a few weeks ago, and they have a much better reputation than Amazon and it doesn't seem like they handled things in a great way either. The reality is that you might just need to terminate people who cannot perform, no matter what the reason.
2. I am obviously sympathetic to his plight, but at this point Amazon has that reputation as a brutal employer. Every ex-Amazonian I have known in real life has told me that the pay is so that they own you, whether 3PM or 3AM and they have no qualms about firing you (a former co-worker who was with AWS said that if I ever take an AWS role, don't get a full year lease for a condo in Seattle). Not to blame him, but it is unfortunate that he didn't have someone who could advise him that taking a hard job at a notoriously uncaring company with a sick wife would be unwise.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#4A tip: If anyone finds themselves in a tragic situation like this where they can’t work but also can’t afford to take leave, investigate your short and long-term disability benefits ASAP. Also read up on the documentation necessary to begin disability claims.
Engage with a doctor early on who can document the severe depressive symptoms that are preventing work (which the author specifically cites in his anecdote). Do it as early as possible to generate a documentation trail. Don’t wait until you’re close to being terminated to begin documenting anything because that will make the claim much weaker compared to someone with months of doctor’s notes documenting the situation.
I can’t speak to Amazon’s specific benefits, but most big tech companies I’ve worked for have provided some base level short and long term disability coverage as part of their core benefits, partially to avoid situations like this where employees are unable to work due to external circumstances but are unable to go on leave.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#5I read through the article. I really, really hurt for its author, and pray that I never face similar circumstances. It sounds like he's stinging from his manager not expressing enough empathy. But with the information in the article, I don't really understand what Amazon should have done differently. Unfortunately the article was vague about just how much the author was underperforming. Also, while I'm no fan of Amaz…
A 'normal' company would understand that while a persons significant other is dying of a cancer, their work output may suffer as a result.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#6I read through the article. I really, really hurt for its author, and pray that I never face similar circumstances. It sounds like he's stinging from his manager not expressing enough empathy. But with the information in the article, I don't really understand what Amazon should have done differently. Unfortunately the article was vague about just how much the author was underperforming. Also, while I'm no fan of Amaz…
A 'normal' company would understand that while a persons significant other is dying of a cancer, their work output may suffer as a result.
If I was a plumber, and my wife was dying, and as a result I was unable to repair plumbing, I would not expect anyone to give me money to repair their plumbing, not even if I told them my wife is dying and they should be sympathetic.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#71. How do other companies handle these situations? How do you effectively handle an employee rendered unable to perform their job due to tragedy? This came up with Atlassian a few weeks ago, and they have a much better reputation than Amazon and it doesn't seem like they handled things in a great way either. The reality is that you might just need to terminate people who cannot perform, no matter what the reason. 2.…
You behave like a human being with feelings. You do the best you can to support and help someone who suffers unbelievably and you f**ing show some empathy. This involves actually putting yourself in the shoes of someone else, yes. It means that you share a part of their suffering.
You are dealing with a human, not a "resource" and not a machine. It sickens me to read stories like that to the point where I really consider stopping ordering anything from Amazon.
I hope this practice is going to backfire on them.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#81. How do other companies handle these situations? How do you effectively handle an employee rendered unable to perform their job due to tragedy? This came up with Atlassian a few weeks ago, and they have a much better reputation than Amazon and it doesn't seem like they handled things in a great way either. The reality is that you might just need to terminate people who cannot perform, no matter what the reason. 2.…
> Not to blame him, but it is unfortunate that he didn't have someone who could advise him that taking a hard job at a notoriously uncaring company with a sick wife would be unwise.
This is blaming him.
> The reality is that you might just need to terminate people who cannot perform, no matter what the reason.
Or even better, give them a few months' leave at half or a quarter salary, or at least let them keep their benefits. I know, crazy to suggest we might put corporate profits over helping someone in need, but you could give it a try.
Edit: Amazon did offer the employee family leave unpaid. It wasn't workable and their response was that he should quit.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#91. How do other companies handle these situations? How do you effectively handle an employee rendered unable to perform their job due to tragedy? This came up with Atlassian a few weeks ago, and they have a much better reputation than Amazon and it doesn't seem like they handled things in a great way either. The reality is that you might just need to terminate people who cannot perform, no matter what the reason. 2.…
A normal company would recognize that the employee's hardship is temporary, that treating the employee with compassion will buy long term loyalty that will far outlast the lost-work of the temporary hardship, and would treat the employee with basic human moral emotion and empathy.
I broke my arm in a bad vehicle accident ~5 months into my last work position. I couldn't code for ~2 months. I couldn't commute into the office for another ~2 after that due to personal fragility from the injuries.
My direct boss offered to come help me fix up my apartment in case I couldn't reach things in my apartment. My employer worked with me every step of the way.
I was so touched, having come from a 'fire first' mentality shop before that, that I worked at that firm for another 7 years. I rose to a directorship, and ultimately ran half of their engineering department. I worked countless nights, because I cared. And when I did finally leave, having long since outgrown the organization, I went to work for the boss that had offered to help me rearrange the apartment.
Human empathy is basic, good business sense.
Re: My Wife Was Dying of Brain Cancer. My Boss at Amazon Told Me to Perform or Quit
#10I read through the article. I really, really hurt for its author, and pray that I never face similar circumstances. It sounds like he's stinging from his manager not expressing enough empathy. But with the information in the article, I don't really understand what Amazon should have done differently. Unfortunately the article was vague about just how much the author was underperforming. Also, while I'm no fan of Amaz…
A 'normal' company would understand that while a persons significant other is dying of a cancer, their work output may suffer as a result.
But we don't know how much. What if they made one small bug fix in a week? What if they literally did zero work?