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Rumble in the jungle: war of words over Amazon workplace conditions

Getty

Getty

In the jungle it is survival of the fittest, and the same adage applies at Amazon, according to explosive revelations regarding workplace conditions at the online retail giant.

Former Amazon employees have blown the whistle on a ruthless environment where getting cancer prompts an immediate performance review, where workers are regularly seen crying at their desks and employees are encouraged to anonymously rat on each other in a scoring system that helps inform an alleged annual cull of staff.

In a typical account, one of the 100-plus former and current employees who spoke to the New York Times said she was put on a performance improvement plan right after having a stillborn child.

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“I had just experienced the most devastating event in my life,” the woman said, only to be told she would be put on a performance improvement plan “to make sure my focus stayed on my job”.

The revelations documented in the New York Times investigation focused on white-collar workers, but previous scandals have shone the light on conditions for those further down the company’s food chain – in 2011 it was revealed that ambulances used to wait outside an Amazon warehouse to treat heat-affected labourers on a regular basis.

The latest allegations have prompted a stern response from senior Amazon figures, including CEO Jeff Bezos, who wrote in a memo to staff that he doesn’t recognise the “soulless, dystopian” workplace described in the New York Times article.

While blowers say employees are encouraged to anonymously rat on each other in a scoring system.

Whistle blowers say employees are encouraged to anonymously rat on each other in a scoring system. Photo: Getty

Amazon refused to release its internal data on worker retention rates, but a 2013 survey by salary analysis company PayScale indicated employees typically stuck around for just one year, one of the lowest median rates in the Fortune 500.

The company asks workers who leave within the year to repay part of their bonuses and relocation fees.

Detractors and supporters of Amazon disagree on how tough the working conditions are, but plenty of people in both camps agree that the company deliberately works to weed out the weak in ways that sharply contrast with the famously decadent working conditions at tech rivals like Google, Apple and Facebook.

In a Facebook post, former Amazon employee (and now Facebook director of engineering) Nimrod Hoofien said: “The pattern of burn and churn at Amazon, resulting in a disproportionate number of candidates from Amazon showing at our doorstep, is clear and consistent.”

Former top Amazon human resources executive Robin Andrulevich replied to Mr Hoofien’s post by saying the company’s approach was “purposeful Darwinism” and later said it was an essential component to Amazon’s success.

On his LinkedIn page, Amazon head of infrastructure development Nick Ciubotariu lambasted the New York Times for cherry-picking information from disgruntled ex-employees, and argued that not everyone was cut out to work at what he described as the world’s most innovative technology company.

In the piece, which Amazon boss Mr Bezos linked to in his memo to staff, Mr Ciubotariu described himself as a proud “Amazonian”, a term he prefers to the “Amabot” and “Amhole” descriptors referenced in the New York Times article.

He said the problems the article addressed had all been fixed years ago, and that the company sought to develop employees, not cull them.

“New Amazonians are encouraged to ‘come up with better ways’, a recurring theme of how we encourage innovation, and something you hear often at Amazon,” he wrote.

“If you don’t evolve, you perish.”


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