Live data from Hacker News

Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

engadget.com

81–90 of 129 posts

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#81
post #45

> The same Times investigation reported the company “intentionally limited upward mobility for hourly workers,” according to David Niekerk, a former Amazon HR Vice President. It’s not just for hourly workers. I was actively coached on holding promotions as a carrot. My leadership team would commit to unrealistic dates, taking input and estimates from dev teams but hand wave it. Amazon applies pressure on L7 and L6 so…

> We had specific projects where we easily burned out dozens of engineers "Amazon" is named after the rainforest, and like the rainforest, developers are an infinite resource that you can burn down forever and there will never be any consequences .. until somehow you run out. Really the only solution to this is for people to withdraw their labour - not just unionization but refusing to work for them in the first plac…

I straight up refuse to do phone interviews with them and force them to move me directly to an onsite (which I won't study for) just so that I can waste their engineers time and maybe have a tiny chance of stroking my ego by getting a FAANG offer.

No FAANG offer yet, but by my calculations, Amazon has wasted 5 digit sums on assesing me.

Bezos made it personal with how he treated my partner while they worked for him, so I'll have my petty revenge one way or another...

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#82
post #71

> The same Times investigation reported the company “intentionally limited upward mobility for hourly workers,” according to David Niekerk, a former Amazon HR Vice President. It’s not just for hourly workers. I was actively coached on holding promotions as a carrot. My leadership team would commit to unrealistic dates, taking input and estimates from dev teams but hand wave it. Amazon applies pressure on L7 and L6 so…

> It’s just a sweat shop. Amazon engineer salaries are in the 90th+ percentile in the tech industry -- let's not bother comparing them to the typical American's income. They have almost unlimited mobility in their industry: They can find a job elsewhere anytime they want. I remember you mentioning elsewhere that in 10 years of working at Amazon you're now financially independent. This isn't the outcome you usually se…

The dollars per hour worked ratio is trash at Amazon though.

All amazonians would jump to Google if they could. The reverse is quite rare.

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the Indian devs work their ass off out of fear of getting PIP’d and with their work authorization, they lose their job means they have to leave the country. This matches what I saw at Nike. Though it was a bit less extreme, it was the same dynamic. Indian-born workers got paid half what the American-born workers did for the same SWE jobs. And Indian workers couldn’t complain or push back against unrealistic exp…

Dozens of my Indian friends who work in WITCH companies in overseas locations are actually quite happy with their salaries. They are dying to work in overseas projects. Guess they are more than happy being a part of captive, exploitable force.

I bet they’d be even happier if they were paid the same as American workers, seeing as they’re doing the same job.

If a minimum wage worker happens to enjoy what they do, that doesn’t mean that we should all settle for minimum wage. Your argument is toothless and blatantly anti-worker.

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the Indian devs work their ass off out of fear of getting PIP’d and with their work authorization, they lose their job means they have to leave the country. This matches what I saw at Nike. Though it was a bit less extreme, it was the same dynamic. Indian-born workers got paid half what the American-born workers did for the same SWE jobs. And Indian workers couldn’t complain or push back against unrealistic exp…

Same for us Europoors. Joining meetings at Seattle time (like 7-8pm CET), meanwhile you're being paid less than half of what the American engineers earn at the same level. But they know there's so few options in Europe so they set the salaries according to "local market conditions".

Same for us in Bay Area with 7 AM calls to talk to our euro brethren. It is not all rosy.

And with the on call shift (when on call, not every week) going till 6:30 pM, sometimes it is 12 hour work days by design.

on the other hand, they don't bug us much during the day with micro management so it is not all bad.

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same for us Europoors. Joining meetings at Seattle time (like 7-8pm CET), meanwhile you're being paid less than half of what the American engineers earn at the same level. But they know there's so few options in Europe so they set the salaries according to "local market conditions".

... Am I the only one looking at American companies offering me 3-digits salaries and going "holy shit, that's a really good deal"? In my case, the company is extremely accommodating and doesn't schedule reunions at hours that are inconvenient for me, but even if they did, I'd still consider it worth it for the compensation they give out. I dunno. Maybe I could get an even better deal if I pushed hard or if I unioniz…

3 digits? So up to $999/year? That sounds extremely low. In the US salaries are done per year, so a 6-figure salary is >=$100,000/year.

Do you mean as an hourly wage? That would be $200,000+/year and a 6-figure salary.

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#87

> The same Times investigation reported the company “intentionally limited upward mobility for hourly workers,” according to David Niekerk, a former Amazon HR Vice President. It’s not just for hourly workers. I was actively coached on holding promotions as a carrot. My leadership team would commit to unrealistic dates, taking input and estimates from dev teams but hand wave it. Amazon applies pressure on L7 and L6 so…

Same shit happening at UK based finance firms. More than half of the employees are visa slaves.

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not shopping at Amazon because the company is big enough to get media attention is a bit silly. Do you know what the working conditions are like at any of the million non-Amazon warehouses? Of course not, there’s no media attention for Bob’s fulfillment in Wichita, Kansas. Here’s the truth: your friendly neighborhood warehouse down the street likely pays its employees far less, with far worse benefits, less safe faci…

The difference is that Bob's fulfillment isn't a billion dollar company with a CEO skimming billions of the top for himself. Bob probably pays himself a few times what his lowest paid employee makes. Bezos makes more money in a day than his lowest paid worker will earn in a lifetime.

So? Basically Bezos is able to make money while treating his employees better than competition and paying them more than competition... and I should be mad because he could pay them more if he wanted?

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Same for us Europoors. Mate, it isn't quite nearly the same for Europeans.

It is. We're getting paid peanuts compared to our American counterparts and we do the same work . What's worse is we pay higher taxes. The only way this changes is by European tech workers standing together and demanding matched salaries.

Well it's fair that your payment is adapted to the cost of living in your country/area.

Re: Amazon’s attrition costs $8B annually according to leaked documents

#90

> The same Times investigation reported the company “intentionally limited upward mobility for hourly workers,” according to David Niekerk, a former Amazon HR Vice President. It’s not just for hourly workers. I was actively coached on holding promotions as a carrot. My leadership team would commit to unrealistic dates, taking input and estimates from dev teams but hand wave it. Amazon applies pressure on L7 and L6 so…

Further, about a quarter of workers are annotated in Ivy as "Do Not Promote." They don't know who they are. I don't know why they get put on that list.
Post reply on HN