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Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

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Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#421

Post by Crosseye_Jack »

lisper wrote: post #269

> Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos saw his warehouse workforce as necessary but replaceable, and feared that workers who remained at the company too long would turn complacent or, worse, disgruntled, according to reporting by the New York Times. Wow. Think about what this is really saying: Amazon adopts the explicit policy of not wanting their workers to stay on long enough to figure out that they are getting…

Yeah, my first thought when I read the headline was “Oh shit, have Amazon figured out they can’t treat people like shit and not run out of people willing to work for them?”

Hopefully it will lead to better treatment of those they can employ.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#422

Post by knolan »

hintymad wrote: post #412
madrox wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn't a secret. Engineers are treated this way as well. At my time at Amazon, it was explained to me that this is why their comp structure is so wrapped up in stock and salaries are so low. Unless you keep getting promoted and get more stock, employees will naturally want to leave within four years.

As a result, AWS engineers are very much promotion oriented. This leads to two results: title inflation and disgruntled employees. L6 used to be a big deal but not any more. L7 is now the new L6. The challenge with this arrangement is that whoever got promoted early on but stayed in the same level get less in return. And apparently it's human's nature to compare. When engineers see that their peers get promoted to L7…

That almost sounds like a cult.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#423

Post by nemo44x »

mywittyname wrote: post #389
mc32 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those idiots! Everyone and their mother knew that printing money since 2008 was going to blow up one day. Technology and unsubstantiated sectors allowed them to print without repercussions for a while and the administration and them also tried to fool people into believing the inflation was transitory... Reckless idiots. And now wage labor is the one to suffer most. 4TT in spending for BBB? Uhhuh! Even Yellen said it…

> Everyone and their mother knew that printing money since 2008 was going to blow up one day. You can't "predict" that something will cyclical will happen on some indeterminate timeline then claim success when it eventually does. Impactful actions have pretty immediate results. So if you "predicted" that the actions of 09-10 to have an effect, if effect didn't happen by like 2012, your prediction was wrong. The econo…

> Inflation is being experienced globally, even in regions with little/no economic ties to the USA.

Oil is priced in USD.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#424

Post by EGreg »

I guess this implied people are burned out by working in these warehouses and they will have churned through EVERYONE IN THE UNITED STATES who might have considered it. Quite a feat. Maybe finally allow people bathroom breaks rather than peeing in bottles? Or just develop more robots.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#425

Post by lisper »

jrockway wrote: post #339
lisper wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've considered Walmart, but it kind of defeats the purpose for me. It doesn't do a lot of good to replace one monopolistic behemoth with a different monopolistic behemoth.

I don't think there is a small mom & pop one stop shop, but if you are willing to buy different things from different stores, you have options. I buy most of my electronics from B&H, and things like fasteners from McMaster-Carr. Amazon does feel pretty unavoidable for the long tail, though.

I'm surprised that these specialty retailers have not banded together to form some kind of syndicate with a common web front end to take orders. That sort of thing could be an Amazon-killer. Combined with a doordash-like delivery service it could offer same-day delivery and reliable product vetting.

Hm, anyone here want to start a company?

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#426

Post by lupire »

notyourwork wrote: post #358
jjoonathan wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

We do it in the medical and legal field under the guise of “experience” and “career development”. Is it different because it’s blue collar hourly work and not used as a foundation for a lucrative career. I think it should stop in all places but we seem to disregard shitty work arrangements for the few prestigious and financially lucrative careers and cry wolf for those hourly souls. Why is that?

Are you saying it's not fair that people who get paid less get more sympathy?

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#427

Post by fellowniusmonk »

otikik wrote: post #401

- wants to become “Earth’s Best Employer” - tells drivers to pee in a bottle Doesn’t compute

Destroy all the other companies in the world and then you'll be earths best employer, why be better when you have the power to make things universally worse.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#428

Post by babypuncher »

surement wrote: post #366
babypuncher wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a position cannot pay well enough for the employed to sustain themselves then it should not exist in the first place. If there literally are not enough jobs that can pay sustainable wages to everyone in need, then we need to rethink how our economy works on a fundamental level. A system that requires some portion of the population to go hungry or even homeless is ethically indefensible.

Not sure how being unemployed is better than making a low wage in terms of being hungry or homeless. Are you just trying to advocate for communism?

I'm not saying that being unemployed is better than making an unlivable wage. I am saying both outcomes are unacceptable.

And I am not advocating for any specific solution, just saying that the current system does not work. I don't believe in false dichotomies. Being unhappy with capitalism does not automatically make one a communist.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#429

Post by sudosysgen »

scarface74 wrote: post #391
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would prefer that nobody who works 40 hours a week (tops! I'd be happy if the number was less) earns less than the US poverty level for a family with 1 or 2 children (undecided over which). As a matter of law.

I’m sure my 16 year old son would have loved that. And everyone arguing that a company doesn’t deserve to exist if it can’t profitably pay more, is posting on a site funding money losing companies that couldn’t exist if they actually had to make a profit.

Well not quite. They exist because they are profitable on average.

Re: Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire

#430

Post by skybrian »

lisper wrote: post #269

> Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos saw his warehouse workforce as necessary but replaceable, and feared that workers who remained at the company too long would turn complacent or, worse, disgruntled, according to reporting by the New York Times. Wow. Think about what this is really saying: Amazon adopts the explicit policy of not wanting their workers to stay on long enough to figure out that they are getting…

Compare with an "up or out" system [1], which many companies have, as does the US Army.

When I was at Google, it was generally understood that you were expected to be promoted to senior engineer eventually, but I never knew how much it was enforced.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_or_out

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