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Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

businessinsider.com

11–20 of 104 posts

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#11
I've been hit up multiple times by Amazon to work at AWS. Every time I've responded to the recruiter by telling them I've heard that the way Amazon treats it's employees is not the kind of place I would want to work.

I've yet to hear anything about Amazon that makes me reconsider that.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#12

At the end of the day the counter to this is starting and building companies with remote work forces. If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage.

> If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage.

Only if the competitive advantage of remote work is large enough to overcome all the other moats a company of Amazon's age and size has built. Which seems wildly unlikely (but this says very little about the competitive advantage of remote work one way or the other).

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#13

At the end of the day the counter to this is starting and building companies with remote work forces. If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage.

Yeah, in the long term, all else being equal. I don't think either is such an advantage/disadvantage that it moves the needle either way, especially against a company like Amazon.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#14

At the end of the day the counter to this is starting and building companies with remote work forces. If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage.

> If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage.

Or they'll just buy you out. Competitive advantage doesn't work too well when your competitors have large moats of cash that you don't have access to.

Honestly, people just need to organize unions. That's the only effective counter to policy like this.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#15

Amazon is infamous for treating employees poorly. The label “PIP factory” started with Amazon. Yet, thousands of people flock to them for jobs. You can’t really blame Amazon at this point, they’ll use all the leverage they have because they know they can.

At least in my circles, I only know people who have left Amazon. I've never met someone who went to Amazon mid career.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#16
I dont fucking get this RTO. I am working from home and working more than I should because I feel obliged to deliver and show visibility. Companies get more from us employees working fully remote.

Saying that as I just finished 3h of unpaid work. I really dont get this.

(am an EU employee)

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#17

Refusing to promote? I had to leave my employer entirely because I didn't want to work from an office where none of my team was.

This is definitely a stressor in my current job. Fortunately I have a couple coworkers from before acquisition knocking around so there's at least some folks knocking around the office providing some social benefit, if not actual productivity boosts.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#18
Managers at Amazon were already able to fire employees not complying with the RTO policy. So I am not sure the ability to block promotions will have much impact.

Those non-compliant employees with enough leverage not to get fired might get that VP approval for promotion anyway.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#19

At the end of the day the counter to this is starting and building companies with remote work forces. If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage.

> If remote work truly is equal to or superior to in office work then you should be able to out compete in the long term using this competitive advantage. Or they'll just buy you out. Competitive advantage doesn't work too well when your competitors have large moats of cash that you don't have access to. Honestly, people just need to organize unions. That's the only effective counter to policy like this.

I agree. It's hard to wade through the headwinds of Scrooge McDuck piles of money working counter to you.

Re: Amazon is blocking promotions of employees who don't comply with RTO policy

#20

I've been hit up multiple times by Amazon to work at AWS. Every time I've responded to the recruiter by telling them I've heard that the way Amazon treats it's employees is not the kind of place I would want to work. I've yet to hear anything about Amazon that makes me reconsider that.

During the height of COVID, they were offering remote-friendly positions -- glad that their overall negative reputation stopped me from taking them up on it.
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