been there done that let it not get done... if the boss asks why, ask them do they want you to do your job? or the slackers job???
people like that HAVE to go
a healthy company should get rid of the bottom 5% every year
Posted on 08/15/2015 12:07:31 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions.
SEATTLE — On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.
They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.
At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.”) Many of the newcomers filing in on Mondays may not be there in a few years. The company’s winners dream up innovations that they roll out to a quarter-billion customers and accrue small fortunes in soaring stock. Losers leave or are fired in annual cullings of the staff — “purposeful Darwinism,” one former Amazon human resources director said. Some workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages and other personal crises said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given time to recover.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
” I prefer Deming.”
This is Deming on crystal meth.
....”My co-worker likes to push work off on other people and gets away with it”.....
Because nobody’s pushing back....there does come a time.
Must be the Evil Right Winger Republican that owns the Company pushing those poor Souls the brink, oh wait...
In the olden days, a company like this was called a “sweat shop”, now it appears that sucking people dry and spitting them out as ruined hulks is being celebrated,that is of course, as long as it’s some “hip” company like amazon or google, and not one of those big ol’ mean, soulless corporations like exxon, walmart, ibm, centurylink, comcast, time-warner, general mills, etc.
High workforce turnover also saves a lot on medical benefits and the pension program. Recruit ‘em young, work their butts off, then drive them away in 2-8 years, and bring in more.
Wonder what the vesting point is in Amazon’s 401K program? I’ll bet a lot of worker and junior execs walk away with only their contributions after a few years of 80+ hour weeks.
Amazon is unique; they’re on track to become the first $1 trillion retailer that only occasionally turns a profit
This is not a workplace for crybabies. Many workplaces coddle their workers and labor unions make it impossible for go-getters to do a good day's work and get ahead.
Amazon is the place to be if you are a hard worker and want to get ahead. I wish that I could be born 20 years later than I was and knowing what I know now. I'd get in the ground floor of one of these great companies (i.e. Amazon; Google; Facebook) and I would thrive there.
I’ve been a programmer for 35 years. I come in at 8 and leave at 5. I have always adhered to that. I’ve never been fired, laid off or written up.
Such a great, wonderful, efficient company must generate huge profits and pay substantial dividends quarter after quarter.
No part of their income from me though, having been an Amazon customer a total of zero times.
Our own home-grown Foxconn. So why is Apple denigrated for using Foxconn?
been there done that let it not get done... if the boss asks why, ask them do they want you to do your job? or the slackers job???
people like that HAVE to go
a healthy company should get rid of the bottom 5% every year
After reading the NYT article, I've got to wonder how many of those vets last more than a few months. The long hours are no problem—never met an ex-military guy or gal who wasn't afraid to put in the hours required to get the job done. But it must be a huge culture shock to work at a place where anonymous criticism can sink your career in a matter of weeks. That's about as far removed as you can get from a system (like the military) which is built on trust and teamwork.
My manager has one of my co-workers report to him about what others are saying about this or that. He let it slip once in a job review so I figured out who it was as we have a small office. Those types are bad managers.
Now have a company like Amazon where it is encouraged.
The article describes their use of corporate slogans. The reality is different. Jeff Bezos company gets me the products I want but I do not like the way he treats people. He comes across as a rotten person. Note he has the profits (5th richest man) that others created while he is the critic of those that are in his mind are not working hard enough for him.
I once worked for a ATT call center for 4 and a half days. You did not have anywhere to park. The small parking lot was for those that were there for more then a year so the rest of us had to find parking on the street so yu drove round and round then took a long walk to the building. During our training someone asks what the turnover rate was. I had never heard of this before so I was shocked when the answer was 10% a month....
I had another offer at another company and left. Later that same center closed and the former ATT workers showed up at the company I was working at.
I worked with a guy who had mild OCD in a warehouse once. Everything was in its place. It was a joy working there.
You are exactly right. P&G only owned us for a few years but one of the managers told me that nobody makes it there as long as I was with Duracell because they are worn out long before normal retirement. The upside is, if you can stand it, the benefits are so good that you are able to retire early if you put a good portion of those good earnings in the 401K. The retirement benefits are good too. That lets the older workers retire financially stable and allows younger workers to be hired.
That’s one of those things, you either become really excellent in your field (but a bit odd), a billionaire, or one of those poor souls on Hoarders!
I’m curious about the abusive meetings, what about it was abusive? (Not trying to be disagreeable, I really want to know.)
At my last job, we have the opposite problem. The boss would come up with a screwy idea and nobody will tell him truthfully that it’s going to crash. I’ve tactfully said, “There’s some unintended consequences that concern me. I’m not saying that this is a no-go, but we need to look at X, Y, and Z....” After the meeting, my lead is complaining to me that I insulted the boss. BS, I wasn’t insulting to anybody.
It was a place where you don’t tell the boss he’s wrong, you move heaven and earth to make him right and correct his screwups without telling him. Screw that. I tell my new co-workers that if they think I’m going off the rails, TELL ME. I’m not saying that you should throw a presentation in somebody’s face and scream at them that it’s garbage, but I’d much rather work in a place where people aren’t afraid to speak up if you’re proposing something screwed-up. It’s a lot easier to head off mistakes than it is to correct them when the plan is moving ahead and executing.
The last several orders I got it the next day. One time I ordered a DVD. It came still shrink wrapped but the case was empty. Called them up, next day I got another one. No hassle.
I wouldn’t survive there. I have a life outside of work that is more important, plain and simple. I’m not an uninspired clock-puncher bureaucrat but I’m not going to pour my life into a job at the expense of family and having a life. That’s why I got out of the Navy. They demanded more time that I was willing to give.
I used to be the kind of guy who had the attitude “You are what your job is” and was all ambitious to be the big boss someday. Not anymore. My self-worth is not tied up in a title and being in charge of people, I like being a systems engineer with some lead-engineer responsibilities just fine. I don’t want to take phone calls on the weekend because Joe-Bob screwed up and be pressured to not take earned leave because the division vice president is determined to get promoted and expects everybody to be the same brand of psycho workaholic that he is.
There’s no worse hell than a job where you’re just killing time. I don’t mind hard work but I don’t do unpaid overtime or working an insane number of hours. They can fire me if they don’t like it. I’m all good with hard work but I’m not going to make my job my life, I’ve already done that gig.
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