Amazon reviews

No company is perfect at all things and there are certainly things Amazon can do better. First is correcting the perception that there is no work/life balance. i have been in roles in Amazon where there was very little balance and I've been in roles where there is a good balance. What I've come to learn, is it is generally on me to draw those lines and stick to them. The company does need to do more to help employees achieve a proper balance rather relying on the the good intentions of the employee or their manager. If you don't live/work in Seattle, get ready to adjust your life to the Seattle timezone. At Amazon, the world revolves around Seattle and, in my opinion, is the chief reason why work/life balance is a struggle for those in the field. There are not enough people in Seattle that think about other timezones when setting up meetings and such. A 10am "check-in" on a Saturday morning Seattle time during the holidays is a far cry from a 7pm "check-in" on Saturday evening when you work on the other side of the globe (and it's summer). While you can certainly speak up about it, you may be the minority that is impacted that way and without senior leaders thinking about this, you will generally suck it up and do it to avoid being a "complainer". A peer once chastised me (to another peer) when I was working internationally on when I would stop bringing up the international locations in our discussions to which that peer responded, "probably when we start thinking about the international locations on our own." If you have a role that requires extensive international travel, realize that all of those trips (no matter how long) will be in coach. I've flown in coach for over 24 hours (in the air, not counting time in airports) for several required work trips a year. While you may get to travel to some really great places, there is a cost to your health. This is done to be "frugal", but is one of the areas where I believe we are just cheap and senior leaders are scared to challenge it after seeing how leaders in the past were treated after challenging the policy (you can read about it in "The Everything Store"). I am in no way advocating for first class trips across the board, but if the company is requiring you to travel where you will spend more than 8-10 hours in the air, the least they can do is spend money to ensure you are comfortable and will arrive ready to get to work. Rather, most employees leave on these longer trips a day earlier than they otherwise would so there is time to recover once you arrive. When I've brought this up to VPs, the common response is referring to the example discussed in "The Everything Store" and that it is "career suicide" to challenge this policy at an executive level. Once you travel frequently, you can use the miles you've accumulated for business travel to get upgrades but you are subject to the airlines upgrade policies which are very restrictive for international flights and sometimes impossible (coach tickets are bought at the cheapest fair possible) unless you pay out of pocket to upgrade the coach ticket to a fare that is eligible for complimentary upgrades. The compensation philosophy is focused on base pay and restricted stock units. While this is a great retention tool and drives ownership in employees to help the stock price improve, it is painful for employees to have such shifts in their pay year to year that is largely driven by sways in the stock market. When it's good it's GREAT, but when the market corrects itself it makes for a painful compensation discussion with your employees in the following years. There is little done to really educate people on the philosophy outside of standard training at annual review time that is not very effective at helping people understand the value.

Where to start. I encourage you to search for the 2015 New York Times article regarding working practises at Amazon - its roughly 80-90% accurate. As an employee, you are not valued. The culture is 24/7 across all departments and even the hardest of workers will find working 60-70+ hour weeks + working weekends challenging. Expect to receive more than 200 emails a day. The culture is rotten and comes all the way from the CEO down, fuelling a horrible, back biting, blame-driven working environment. Expect little to no support from your Manager who is likely working even harder than you and focused on covering their own backs. Really and truly, being an employee of Amazon is the exact opposite of being a customer here - do not gauge your experiences of being a customer of Amazon and think it must be an awesome place to work. If you have a family or value any sort of life outside of work it is not for you. Pay is below industry average and "frugality" is the watchword with poor staff benefits and a general feeling of "cheapness" across the business. The culture does suit some people but if you have options, pick Amazon last. If you do pick Amazon, make sure you go in with your eyes open, have an exit plan and get what you need out of working here. Staff turnover is appallingly high and job roles are difficult to fill. Despite a facade valuing diversity and gender it is not valued at all. A shame, I was so excited to join this company and knew within days I had made a horrible mistake. Beware also the "golden handcuffs" of the "joining bonus" which means you cannot leave inside a year and note carefully the 2 year nature of your salary structure - this is a deliberate policy to burn you out you out and get the next load of poor, bright-eyed staff in.