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Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

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Re: Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

#41

Post by whateveracct »

zzalpha wrote: post #18
smb06 wrote: post #12

I think what they really mean is "30-hour workweek while being physically present in the office". I would find it difficult to believe that employees wouldn't continue working from home under pressure from management or simply because of tight timelines.

Precisely. Amazon is a sweatshop. The expectation is salaried employees put in ungodly hours. All this is doing is giving people more freedom to burn themselves out at home, while further blurring the lines between work and life and throwing in a 25% pay cut as the cherry on top. It's like the opposite of Google campus life, but with the same goal.

I work 40 hour weeks at Amazon as an SDE and never feel pressured to put in more. I don't take my work with me. It varies by team ofc I'm sure there are bad ones.

Re: Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

#43

Post by abbasaamer »

zzalpha wrote: post #18
smb06 wrote: post #12

I think what they really mean is "30-hour workweek while being physically present in the office". I would find it difficult to believe that employees wouldn't continue working from home under pressure from management or simply because of tight timelines.

Precisely. Amazon is a sweatshop. The expectation is salaried employees put in ungodly hours. All this is doing is giving people more freedom to burn themselves out at home, while further blurring the lines between work and life and throwing in a 25% pay cut as the cherry on top. It's like the opposite of Google campus life, but with the same goal.

"Amazon is a sweatshop"

I wouldn't agree with this broad generalization. I work in Alexa and the work environment on my team is pretty awesome. Lots of freedom to try new things, good work life balance, and generally a high level of respect for engineers. I turned down Google to come here and I have no regrets (though not to imply that Google isn't equally awesome).

Re: Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

#45

Post by themartorana »

andrewguenther wrote: post #40
gtrubetskoy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which way is "working from home" "taking it easy"?

Because working from home is usually light on working.

Not in my experience or the experiences of anyone I know or work with.

Re: Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

#48

Post by [deleted] »

abbasaamer wrote: post #43
zzalpha wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Precisely. Amazon is a sweatshop. The expectation is salaried employees put in ungodly hours. All this is doing is giving people more freedom to burn themselves out at home, while further blurring the lines between work and life and throwing in a 25% pay cut as the cherry on top. It's like the opposite of Google campus life, but with the same goal.

"Amazon is a sweatshop" I wouldn't agree with this broad generalization. I work in Alexa and the work environment on my team is pretty awesome. Lots of freedom to try new things, good work life balance, and generally a high level of respect for engineers. I turned down Google to come here and I have no regrets (though not to imply that Google isn't equally awesome).

[deleted]

Re: Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

#49

Post by toomuchtodo »

citizenflynn wrote: post #14
yeukhon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. First, this is a team made up of part-time workers, not full-time workers, which is not what I was expecting by reading the title. So working 30 hours a week is really really not that special, consider they are PART TIME. Regardless, there are weeks people will have to pull extra hours to complete work, such as during product launch week. If this were a program made up of full-time employees, I would be inte…

It is special in that you have proportional salary and full benefits. Many part time jobs have substantially reduced pay and benefits, unlike this.

Perhaps that's the appropriate pay and 40+ hour/week workers should be making more?

Re: Amazon is piloting teams with a 30-hour workweek

#50

Post by draw_down »

ebbv wrote: post #21

I hate to be cynical (really, I do) but this seems like a clear attempt to soften Amazon's current public image as being a horrible place to work. It seems like all surface/headlines and no real substance. The headline makes you assume "Oh employees are going down to 30 hours a week but still being fully paid." because in order for this to be really noteworthy at all, it would have to be, right? But that's not what t…

I'll agree on the reason why they're doing this, but I've actually always wanted this deal, or something like it. Less hours for less pay, which as a software professional would still be pretty good money. The challenge is having that be accepted by the organization, which most American companies won't because we're all supposed to love what we do or whatever.

If you're supposed to still accomplish the same amount of stuff in 75% the time then that's just clearly not going to work. Can't fit 10 pounds of shit in a five-pound bag.

But anyway, yes, I'm sure it's either a PR stunt or bound to fail or both.

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