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Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

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Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#31

Post by hotpotamus »

knorker wrote: post #21
mamonster wrote: post #13

> "Staffers who posted in the Slack channel said they were caught off guard by the announcement. Many expressed frustration that they’d have to find arrangements for child care, caregivers for aging parents, or potentially move in order to be within commuting distance of the office. One worker said they’d recently leased a car with an annual limit of 16,000 miles assuming remote work was still an option; if they’re r…

"what do you mean i can't collect silicon valley salary while working from Montana?"

One of the problems I've always had with remote work is how do you justify large differences in pay between the US, Europe, and Asia if the location of an employee is not supposed to matter?

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#32

Post by kgwgk »

flerchin wrote: post #22
knorker wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"what do you mean i can't collect silicon valley salary while working from Montana?"

Why would that be unreasonable when making Silicon Valley profits for my employer?

Because the reasonable thing for your employer is to pay less to someone else - someone who gets them even higher profits.

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#33

Post by dEnigma »

belter wrote: post #16
eggy wrote: post #8

It is for a three-day return-to-office, not full time. Given the state of the economy, I'd be worried about just quitting. It seems during the pandemic tech workers went for broke and took car leases and moved away banking on being able to WFH for a long period of time. I wonder if Amazon made it clear WFH would not be permanent or an option. There are plenty of tech workers who would like to work at Amazon if a bunc…

Last week I had to deliver an onsite at a company who insisted on doing at their location. You see the thing is...I have been curing a strong feverish cold, but was good enough to go. We were all 15 on a tiny cozy meeting room for 3 days. I am fairly certain half of this team will cook my virus and will feel miserable and might stay in bed next week...Am I guilty ?? ;-)

Of course you are guilty of putting others at risk of catching your virus, and you seem perfectly aware. Did you tell them that you were possibly infectious? If this is some kind of joke I don't understand it.

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#34

Post by Adraghast »

xwdv wrote: post #28
eckza wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Boy these employees are about to get what looks like a very expensive lesson in expectation / risk management. Is that really the takeaway, here?

What else is there to takeaway? They knew they weren’t working for a remote-first company. They knew what their contract said. They played a dangerous game and now they’re finally burned. You cannot collect an Amazon salary living out in Idaho or Nebraska.

Why not?

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#35

Post by Xcelerate »

It isn’t clear to me from the different articles on this; does RTO apply even to fully remote employees that live far from any Amazon office? E.g., does an applied scientist in North Dakota have to move near an office or resign? Can a VP make exceptions? And if required to relocate, what is the time period to do so?

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#36

Post by mamonster »

eckza wrote: post #20
mamonster wrote: post #13

> "Staffers who posted in the Slack channel said they were caught off guard by the announcement. Many expressed frustration that they’d have to find arrangements for child care, caregivers for aging parents, or potentially move in order to be within commuting distance of the office. One worker said they’d recently leased a car with an annual limit of 16,000 miles assuming remote work was still an option; if they’re r…

> Boy these employees are about to get what looks like a very expensive lesson in expectation / risk management. Is that really the takeaway, here?

At least part of the takeaway here has to be that employees themselves bit as hard on the "Covid=new paradigm" idea as the employers themselves, and that now they are getting burned for it, just like the employers themselves.

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#38

Post by lettergram »

piva00 wrote: post #25
knorker wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"what do you mean i can't collect silicon valley salary while working from Montana?"

If the company was willing to pay SV salaries to hire someone what does it change for the company if the worker is not in SV, specifically?

Exactly, I hate the policy of paying based on region (I won’t work for those companies)

You’re providing X value, and the company needs to make >X, often by some multiple mX profit so to speak.

My costs are my business, and I shouldn’t be punished for making different life choices.

If remote employees tend to produce a lower multiple, that’s fine. Just provide a salary at the reduced rate. Should be the same everywhere though, imo this is unfair hiring practices

I should add, it’s up to the employee what they’d accept. I had a few awesome job offers from Europe, but they couldn’t even come close on salary. That’s fine, didn’t work out, still respect them as it was the same salary everywhere

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#39

Post by SuoDuanDao »

siva7 wrote: post #30
piva00 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the company was willing to pay SV salaries to hire someone what does it change for the company if the worker is not in SV, specifically?

That it can hire the same guy for less in Nebraska.

couldn't it do that before they hired them for more in SV?

Re: Amazon employees express dismay, anger about sudden return-to-office policy

#40

Post by nivenkos »

flerchin wrote: post #22
knorker wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"what do you mean i can't collect silicon valley salary while working from Montana?"

Why would that be unreasonable when making Silicon Valley profits for my employer?

It's not, but it's a corporation not a workers' co-operative.

They'll get someone to do the same thing from Islamabad like Digital Ocean.

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