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Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

cnbc.com

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Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#291

Post by barbazoo »

snapcaster wrote: post #87

I have yet to see metrics cited by any of these announcements. Do people think that's because: a). They don't have metrics, and all the cynics are right about this being vibes based b). They actually do have the data, and it's very grim for how poorly people on average perform when WFH but don't want to share it due to sensitivity or something Like, i'm actually pro Work From Office (don't yell at me, i joined a comp…

Or maybe c) They actually do have the data, and it's inconclusive or d) They actually do have the data, and it shows a positive impact on productivity and they don't care, or d) They don't care about data at all here?

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#292

Post by karmasimida »

pknomad wrote: post #117

Genuine question for the folks over at Amazon: What is the value of working at Amazon (or even just AWS) these days? Every now and then I get a ring from a recruiter gauging my interest and sometimes I get the itch to just to go through the process so that I can have a FAANG in my resume. I've heard from others that Amazon could be an amazing place to work, citing fantastic colleagues and work opportunities. But then…

Comparing to other FANNGs, I think Meta seems like a drop-in upgrade, it is more cutthroat, same level of boringness, but more money. Google seems a little laid back, at least it is used to be that way, but money potential is less, as well as promotions. Apple I don't know. So I think most Amazon people left to Meta as a result. Not the other way around.

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#293

Post by syntheticnature »

aurizon wrote: post #165
nblgbg wrote: post #130

Reducing the number of managers is an interesting decision. I briefly worked at Amazon, and the only way for managers to get promoted is by hiring more people under them. There isn’t any other way to get promoted, which incentivizes managers to grow their teams and sometimes add features that may not make sense. Any opinions from ex-Amazonians?

I thought this went out when the USSR fell?

This is a common issue in large corporations.

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#294

Post by minkles »

captainkrtek wrote: post #277
pknomad wrote: post #117

Genuine question for the folks over at Amazon: What is the value of working at Amazon (or even just AWS) these days? Every now and then I get a ring from a recruiter gauging my interest and sometimes I get the itch to just to go through the process so that I can have a FAANG in my resume. I've heard from others that Amazon could be an amazing place to work, citing fantastic colleagues and work opportunities. But then…

Worked for AWS for 7ish years, from L4 to L6. Just my own experience, but I saw the company shift heavily from building high quality services to chasing sales/marketing hype and launching a plethora of “services” that did not match the quality of existing services. Also saw lots of empire building across organizations, many layers of management, more bureaucracy, etc. Can’t say its all bad or that I know better, but…

Sounds about right. A couple of the things we rely on appear to be run by two guys in a trailer somewhere who can't even get basic fixes out without a 6 month lead.

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#295

Post by 0cf8612b2e1e »

throwaway562if1 wrote: post #208
snapcaster wrote: post #87

I have yet to see metrics cited by any of these announcements. Do people think that's because: a). They don't have metrics, and all the cynics are right about this being vibes based b). They actually do have the data, and it's very grim for how poorly people on average perform when WFH but don't want to share it due to sensitivity or something Like, i'm actually pro Work From Office (don't yell at me, i joined a comp…

Considering how much negative publicity companies see every time one of they require RTO, and yet not one has published metrics? They absolutely don't have any.

Pretty obvious when all of these CEO reports lean on nebulous “culture” benefits.

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#296

Post by rty32 »

canjobear wrote: post #120
arunabha wrote: post #88

The cognitive dissonance from the CEO class is astonishing. From the article '“We’ve observed that it’s easier for our teammates to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture; collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing are simpler and more effective; teaching and learning from one another are more seamless; and, teams tend to be better connected to one another,” Jassy said in the message.' This, just a coupl…

It's good for people to change their mind in response to data.

What data?

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#297

Post by dmitrygr »

keeptrying wrote: post #234

[flagged]

> Being able to focus more than your peers will give you a leg up on the competition

Which is why i WFH. Office is literally the worst possible environment for focus.

> less lonely

Some of us prefer to PICK friends, not have them chosen for us

> facetime with important people at work for more opportunity

I refuse to work at a place where promotions work like this

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#298

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

ixfo wrote: post #248
keeptrying wrote: post #234

[flagged]

My experience is that working in an office is _much_ worse for distraction. Even if you're lucky enough not to be in open plan, the shoulder taps and quick chats easily demolish any chance of focus for me. At home I can knuckle down for a few hours and deal with something complex easily.

Personally, I am somewhere in the middle. I use in office days to catch up on gossip I would not have gotten otherwise. The amount of work I actually manage to finish seems higher, but I wonder if it is simply because of how some of my work is structured.

Honestly, I don't think I care that much. I am practically checked out now. I can't imagine I am the only one. I also can't imagine this change making a difference.

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#299

Post by spacemadness »

belval wrote: post #212
strivingtobe wrote: post #181

> We want to operate like the world’s largest startup It's always amusing when a multi-decade-old, multi-hundred-billion-dollar company says stuff like this. You're not a startup. You never will be. And if you were, you probably would actually offer perks in your offices that might actually encourage people to be there. Instead, the only perk that Amazon has is that you get one free coffee per day, and even that they…

I like working there, but Amazon definitely has the worst in-office accomodations. No snacks, no free coffee, for-profit (like 4-5$ for a chocolate bar) vending machines on every second floor, no cafeterias in most building and when they have one it's a hole-in-the-wall that microwaves stuff (except Seattle). In the original RTO email they even pointed the importance of employee spending money in the surrounding rest…

It is incredibly insulting they want to use guilt of not spending like a good consumer as another tool in their sociopathic toolbox.

Re: Amazon tells employees to return to office five days a week

#300

Post by gorbachev »

pxeboot wrote: post #207

What is the best way to handle this if you are unwilling to return? Wait to get fired? Resign? Hope they make an exception for you?

The best thing you could do, if you're working at Google, Meta or Amazon is to always be looking, or any other publicly traded company for that matter. They prune people whenever they feel like it. If shareholders aren't happy, this typically happens roughly every three months.
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