Employees and jobs at Amazon

2024: In the U.S., students refuse internships at Google and Amazon over aid to Israel

At the end of June 2024, more than 1,100 students and young engineers from more than 120 universities signed a pledge not to take jobs or do internships at Google or Amazon until the companies stopped supplying aid to the Israeli government through the Nimbus Project, a $1.2 billion cloud computing and other assistance contract. Read more here

2023

Amazon dissolves most of gaming division after series of failed projects

On November 13, 2023, Amazon announced a further reorganization of Amazon Games' gaming division. As part of this initiative, some projects will be curtailed, and the number of personnel will decrease. Read more here.

Amazon top executive gets 16 years in prison for stealing $10 million from company through fake accounts

On July 5, 2023, the US Department of Justice announced that former Amazon top manager Kayricka Wortham was sentenced to 16 years in federal prison for organizing a fraudulent scheme and stealing approximately $10 million from her employer. Read more here.

Amazon employees take bribes from sellers to help them boost sales

On March 27, 2023, Amazon sales consultant Ephraim "Ed" Rosenberg pleaded guilty in federal court in a criminal case related to bribes and bribery of employees of the named company.

We are talking about a trial that dates back to 2017. According to investigators, six people organized an international fraudulent scheme: they bribed Amazon employees to obtain confidential information about algorithms for finding and ranking a trading platform. The attackers also paid bribes in order to restore blocked seller accounts and collect data on competitors.

In addition to Rosenberg, the case includes Rohit Kadimisetty, who until 2015 worked as a sales support officer at Amazon's office in Hyderabad, India. He has already been sentenced to 10 months in prison for conspiring to bribe Amazon employees. The other defendants are sales consultants Joseph Nilsen, Kristen Lecce, Hadis Nuhanovic and Nishad Kunju.

In some cases, I paid bribes directly or indirectly to Amazon employees to obtain information and restore blocked accounts. These actions were against the law. No one should bribe Amazon workers for providing sensitive data, "Rosenberg wrote.

According to calculations, United States Department of Justice the defendants in the case allegedly gave Amazon employees bribes totaling approximately $100 thousand. At the same time, the unreasonable competitive advantages that their clients received in monetary terms exceed $100 million. Amazon says it invests hundreds of millions each year dollars in safety and product compliance with its stated performance and quality metrics. However, fraudsters continue their illegal activities.^[1]

Dismissal of another 9 thousand employees

In March 2023, it was announced that Amazon was laying off 9,000 more employees, adding to the cuts that have already become the largest round of layoffs in the company's history.

Reduction of salaries to employees by 15-50% after the collapse of shares by 50%

Amazon will cut employee salaries by 15% to 50% due to a sharp drop in stock values, the Wall Street Journal reported. At the end of 2022, the company's shares collapsed by 50%.

Dismissal of employees of the division for the delivery of goods by drones

In mid-January 2023, it became known that Amazon intends to reduce the staff of the division that deals with parcel delivery technologies using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). More details here.

The dismissal of 18 thousand employees is a record in the history of the company

In January 2023, it was revealed that Amazon was laying off more than 18,000 employees - the biggest workforce cuts in the company's history - the latest sign of a deepening downturn in the tech industry.

The reduction will affect mainly retail and human resources department. The cuts were previously thought to affect around 10,000 people.

Staff strike in Britain

On January 24, 2023, it became known that Amazon workers in Britain first went on strike demanding higher wages. Strikers began holding pickets outside the company in Coventry in central England throughout the day.

According to the Financial Times, about 300 out of 1,000 Amazon workers, members of the GMB union (the united union includes 460,000 members) took part in the strike at a warehouse in Coventry, England. Two Amazon workers from a warehouse in Coventry who are members of the GMB union have said robots are "treated better than us."

At 6am London time, workers stood by a bonfire waving union flags outside a company building in Coventry, near Birmingham Airport. One poster behind the workers featured the slogan "Fight for £15" urging workers to join the GMB union. Another, thrown over a fence, read: "The wrong Amazon is on fire." Workers are planning a larger demonstration between 4pm and 8pm London time.

In 2022, Amazon increased its starting salary by 50p, bringing it to a minimum of £10.50 to £11.45 an hour. The UK minimum wage, which is £9.50 an hour as of 26 January 2023, is due to rise to £10.42 in April 2023. But warehouse workers say it falls short of the rising cost of living due to high inflation. Employees want Amazon to pay a minimum of £15 an hour, and they also want to improve working conditions. Amazon workers are raising concerns about long hours of work, high injury rates, an unrelenting pace of work, and aggressive control of employees through technology within the company.

A spokesman for the tech giant told CNBC in a statement that the employees involved represent "only a fraction of 1% of our total UK workforce." A spokesman said the pay of Amazon warehouse workers in the UK had risen by 29% since 2018 and pointed to a £500 lump sum paid to staff to tackle the country's cost-of-living crisis.

Inflation rose sharply due to the increased cost of energy resources and disruptions in the supply chain caused by the military special operation Russia on. In To Ukraine December 2022, consumer prices increased by 10.5% compared to 2021. In response Bank of England , it raised interest rates to contain rising spending and keep the UK growing inflation.

The action in the UK occurred on January 25, 2023, when Amazon is cutting thousands of employees around the world. In mid-January 2023, the company began laying off 18,000 workers in an attempt to reduce some of the expansion it undertook during the COVID-19 period and prepare for a possible recession in 2023^[2]

2022

Dismissal of 10,000 employees in November

1.544 million employees

First staff reductions

Drivers strike as petrol prices rise

On March 16, 2022, Amazon couriers held a rally in Los Angeles demanding that the company follow the lead of DoorDash, Uber and Lyft to help offset rising gasoline costs for its drivers. Read more here.

2021

$0.5 million fine for refusing to report COVID-19 infections among employees

In mid-November 2021, Amazon was ordered to pay a fine of $0.5 million for hiding from employees the number of cases of coronavirus infection COVID-19 at workplaces in California. This is the first fine related to the California Right to Know Act (AB 685), which was passed in 2020 in response to the pandemic.

It was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. Amazon agreed to pay the fine and improve how it tracks cases and notifies workers and local authorities. health care USA The company should also inform its warehouse workers in California about the exact number of new cases of COVID-19 in their workplaces when such cases reappear.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the fine came after a complaint filed against Amazon alleged the company failed to properly notify warehouse workers and local U.S. health officials of new cases of COVID-19, often leaving authorities and its employees in the dark. According to AB 685, employers are required to warn workers who have potentially been exposed to COVID-19 within one day, and must also report to local health authorities states within 48 hours if they meet the definition of an outbreak of coronavirus infection.

As the US continues to fight the pandemic, it is imperative that companies do their part to protect workers now and especially this holiday season! Californians have the right to know about the potential impact of COVID-19 in order to protect themselves, their families and their labor collectives, said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Amazon has come under fire for its treatment of workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, warehouse workers in Michigan were outraged that the company did not notify them that their colleague was sick with COVID-19. At the same time, workers in New York staged a strike in response to internal negligence towards the pandemic. The company declined to say how many of its warehouse workers fell ill across the country, and only in October 2020 revealed the number of cases. As vaccines have become available to just about everyone, Amazon has lifted mask requirements for vaccinated employees and plans to allow corporate workers to return to the office in 2022.^[3]

Recruitment of 125 thousand employees

On September 14, 2021, Amazon plans to hire 125,000 permanent warehouse and logistics workers in the United States ahead of holiday shopping, promising higher wages, new benefits and hiring bonuses to attract staff in a tight labor market. As a result, the total number of employees of the company will approach 1.5 million people.

Amazon said that these jobs offer an average starting salary of more than $18 per hour, which is higher than the minimum wage of $15, and some positions include bonuses of up to $3 thousand.

Many retailers and logistics companies have difficulty finding workers and are raising wages and expanding benefits in response to staffing shortages. According to the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in July 2021 there were 879 thousand unfilled vacancies in retail trade and 222 thousand vacancies in the transport and warehouse industry.

This is a very competitive labor market and by far the biggest contributor to the inflationary pressures we see in business. We spend a lot of money signing contracts and various incentives for employees, "Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said.

Companies expect strong demand this holiday period and are staffing ahead of the holidays. Retail sales this holiday season are up 9% from 2020, while e-commerce sales are up 15%.

We take our responsibility as an employer seriously and want our employees to succeed and thrive, "Amazon's global retail business chief executive Dave Clark said.

Amazon's business has grown sharply during the pandemic, as many buyers, spending more time at home, increased the number of purchases through. Since Internet the beginning of the pandemic COVID-19 , the company has hired more than 450 thousand employees in the United States and now has 950 thousand American workers.

In another sign of its growth, Amazon said it will open more than 100 new facilities in September 2021 to package and deliver goods to customers, including regional air hubs for its growing fleet of cargo planes. Amazon opened more than 250 properties in 2021.^[4]

Amazon to pay full university tuition to its employees

As it became known on September 9, 2021, Amazon will fully pay for university tuition for its employees. For these purposes, the company allocates $1.2 billion until 2025.

Amazon will pay tuition The Wall Street Journal for employees who already earn a bachelor's degree in, USA it said. Also at Amazon's expense, it will be possible to buy textbooks, get an associate's degree, complete a high school program or get a certificate in English. Previously, the company paid 95% of the costs of certification programs and did not offer four-year training.

Amazon will support, among other things, training in technology, engineering and healthcare. The company does not require employees to refund tuition or fees if they leave mid-course or shortly after completion of the program.

In addition, Amazon will pay for advanced training courses that will help employees become data center specialists, IT engineers and interface designers. The names of specific educational institutions are not given.

The program is for employees who work at Amazon for a minimum of 90 days. Those who work part-time - 20 hours a week - can only count on paying half the cost of studying at a university. It is assumed that up to 750 thousand employees will be able to use the program. In the future, the company plans to attract tens of thousands of additional employees who will work in fulfillment centers and delivery networks.

Amazon is ready to take such expenses in order to reduce the "turnover" in ordinary positions and present additional advantages in a very competitive labor market in the United States. Earlier, two of the largest retail chains in the United States, Walmart and Target, announced free training programs.^[5]

Recruitment of 55 thousand employees to offices

In early September 2021, Amazon announced an increase in the number of corporate and technical employees by 55 thousand. The build-up is taking place as part of the company's ongoing global expansion. By September 2021, Amazon employs 1.34 million people.

Of the 55 thousand jobs, 40 thousand will be created by the United States. The remaining 15 thousand vacancies will be equally distributed among branches in India, Germany and Japan.

Amazon continues to grow rapidly and has positive results in many areas from which, more opportunities are needed to keep up with demand in retail, cloud and advertising, among other business areas. The company's new bet on launching satellites into orbit to expand broadband, called Project Kuiper, will also require a large number of new hires, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement.

The total hiring will come from positions in engineering, scientific research and robotics. As a result of the expansion of the staff of corporate and technical specialists Amazon, which as of September 2, 2021 has 275 thousand employees, will increase by 20%. The annual job fair from the company will begin on September 15, 2021.

Andy Yassi also said that the company hired about 50 thousand people in the United States after in March 2021 announced the hiring of 100 thousand new employees for full and part-time employment in its order processing centers and delivery networks to cope with panic buying during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The announcement of the new recruitment follows the company investing $1.4 billion in the construction of 85 thousand square meters of new office space in the United States for its separate technology centers, which were intended for technical and corporate employees of Amazon.^[6]

Amazon tracks mouse movements on employees' computers

In mid-August 2021, it became known that Amazon monitors keyboard presses and mouse movements of its employees. We are talking about the customer service department, whose employees the company decided to carefully monitor in order to identify unscrupulous among them. This is stated in an internal document referred to by Vice.

While Amazon has considered implementing a solution that captures all keystrokes on any worker's keyboard, the tool the company chose is not designed to accurately record what workers are recruiting or monitoring their communications. Instead, the system generates a profile based on the employee's natural keyboard and mouse movements and then constantly checks to see if the same person appears to be in control of the employee's account to catch hackers or impostors who can steal the company's customer data. The move highlights the tools companies are increasingly able to use as work from home or remotely continues during the ongoing pandemic, as well as the challenges Amazon has already faced in stealing customer data.

We have a security gap, since we do not have a reliable mechanism for checking that users are the ones they pretend to be, the document says.

It indicates a high risk of data leakage, which arises with an increase in the number of employees working at home, because the company cannot identify the employee. To this, it is worth adding that Amazon operates in regions that the company calls high-risk zones with high levels of corruption and crime.

The bar chart in the document lists the countries where Amazon operates and faces the most incidents involving Amazon security threats. In the first place is India Philippines - more than 120, followed by - less than 70, and then - USA almost 40. The chart does not provide further details of what exactly happened as a result of these incidents.

The document later provides several examples of use, including one where a customer service employee can move away from their computer without locking it. In this example, their roommates might have become interested in what public figures buy on Amazon and then review that information using an internal search tool, the document said. In another case, a customer service employee can buy for $50, a so-called Rubber Ducky USB device that lets you enter keystrokes at superhuman speed and steal thousands of customer records in less than an hour. In the third case, a hacker could buy a password and a multifactor authentication device from a support employee, and then log in and steal the data.

Amazon's security, financial, legal and other services teams have reached a consensus on the use of the cybersecurity company BehaviorSec's product.

Behavioral biometrics uses the characteristics of human behavior to authenticate identity based on how it uses digital devices and applications, such as mouse movements, typing rhythm, touch and flick gestures, or how the user holds the device.^[7]

Amazon has installed smart cameras in cars to control drivers

In early August 2021, it became known that Amazon uses artificial intelligence cameras in cars to determine the amount of remuneration for its drivers, as well as whether they can remain working for the company. Read more here.

Amazon started using "meditation booths" for workers in stock

In late May 2021, Amazon began using "meditation booths" for workers in warehouses and logistics centers. The AmaZen meditation booth is a small room where employees can retreat and watch soothing videos, meditate and de-stress. Read more here.

Hiring 75 thousand employees with an average salary of $17 per hour

In mid-May 2021, Amazon announced that it plans to hire 75 thousand employees to work in warehouses and in the delivery network in the United States and Canada. The company is ready to provide a bonus of $100 to those employees who provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

New vacancies involve an average salary of $17 per hour, while the usual starting salary is $15 per hour. As part of the salary increase, the amount of payments for more than half a million employees in the United States increased from $0.50 to $3.

We have created 100,000 jobs and are adding another 75,000 to help meet customer demand and support existing employees in fulfilling orders for the most necessary goods, Amazon said in a statement.

Amazon is hiring workers for new jobs in the U.S., including California New Jersey, Pennsylvania Washington , and Michigan. In addition to the bonus for vaccination from coronavirus the company will pay employees supporting payments in the amount of $1 thousand. Amazon did not require Amazon employees to be vaccinated, but offered a bonus of $80 to those who provide proof of its passage.

For that purpose, Amazon began rolling out vaccination clinics to warehouses in Missouri, Nevada and Kansas in March 2021. Since then, Amazon says, clinics have opened in more than 250 warehouses in the U.S. and Canada, reaching more than half a million warehouse workers and delivery services.

According to Business Insider, which cites information from Amazon managers, the company's worker turnover targets affect hiring and force HR professionals to go to hire people "to be fired."

We can hire people we know we're going to fire just to protect the rest of the team, "one manager shared.[8][9]

2020

Amazon allocates $0.5 billion for bonuses to all employees amid strike threat

At the end of November 2020, it became known that Amazon allocated $500 million for bonuses for its employees for work during the festive season, that is, from December 1 to 31. The company took such a step amid threats of a strike by employees in Europe and the United States related to remuneration for work during a dangerous period associated with the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The head of logistics at the company said a $300 bonus is earmarked for employees from Amazon's operations department who will work full-time. For partially employed employees, a surcharge of $150 is intended. Bonuses will be received by warehouse workers and courier drivers. For freelance drivers who work through the Amazon Flex service, a bonus of $100 is assumed, provided that during December 2020 they work at least 20 hours.

At the end of November 2020, Amazon introduced bonus payments (up to $3,000) for hiring to ensure the required number of people to work during the holiday period. This led to disagreements with employees of the company, to whom Amazon provided $10-25 coupons to buy turkey for Thanksgiving. Also in June 2020, Amazon canceled additional payment to employees for work during a pandemic, which also caused discontent in the team. We are talking about an additional $2 per hour for work in dangerous conditions.

That led UNI union federation officials to report strikes by Amazon employees in more than 10 countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany. Most likely, the revision of the holiday bonus payment system is caused by the company's desire to reassure outraged workers.

According to Bloomberg, by the end of November 2020, there are over 1.2 million employees worldwide to whom Amazon is ready to provide payments. In the first 10 months of 2020, Amazon hired nearly 430,000 employees.^[10]

Arrest of 5 employees for stealing an iPhone worth 0.5 million euros

In mid-November 2020, a group of five Amazon employees were arrested on charges of stealing an iPhone from a logistics center in Madrid (Spain). In total, they are believed to have managed to steal goods worth 500 thousand euros.

The arrests came after an internal investigation by Amazon itself. It was initiated by discrepancies in the logistics system: it turned out that the weight of some parcels sent to customers was different from the expected weight of the actual order. The identified inconsistencies prompted Amazon to install hidden cameras in the logistics center.

As a result of the investigation, it was found that a group of workers secretly replaced new iPhones such as the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro at the last moment and sent them with other packages. It is assumed that orders were placed by an accomplice of these workers.

Three of the five involved in the thefts were arrested on dismissal from work, the fourth was detained while working, and the fifth voluntarily surrendered to the police. All five have been fired by Amazon and are awaiting trial. The workers were found with ten iPhones that were supposed to be sent soon, as well as a large number of stickers with unique IMEI (international mobile equipment identifier) numbers that were torn from the boxes to interfere with the investigation.

The investigation is ongoing and further arrests have not been ruled out. Police are trying to find out where the iPhones sent to the accomplice are. It is known that the group stole goods worth half a million euros, because the popularity and high price of the iPhone make them an excellent target for theft. The latest case is far from the only one - in March 2019, an iPhone worth 3 million euros was taken out of Amsterdam's Schipol airport, and in May 2020, an Apple Watch worth 530,000 euros.^[11]

Almost 20 thousand Amazon employees infected with COVID-19

At the urgent request of the activists in early October 2020 Amazon , she disclosed information that coronavirus COVID-19 about 20 thousand employees of the company had been confirmed since March.

Amazon has faced criticism from workers and unions who accuse the company of posing a health risk to its workers. The company, however, said that the level of coronavirus infection is lower than expected. Amazon's analysis showed that the infection rate among the company's 1.4 million employees, including its Whole Foods subsidiary, was 42% lower than expected based on the US population.

An analysis of cases of coronavirus by state showed that the highest infection rate of Amazon employees was in Minnesota, where 3.17% of the company's employees were detected with COVID-19, which is twice the infection rate among the wider population. However, the data do not provide an absolute number of infected workers in each state and do not allow for accurate assertion of whether workers in warehouses were more vulnerable.

Athena Group Director Denmark Rajendra said in a statement:

Amazon has allowed COVID-19 to spread through its facilities like wildfire, risking the health of tens of thousands of people who work for Amazon, as well as their family members, neighbors and friends. Without a doubt, Amazon is a public health threat.

Amazon's blog says the company provides its employees with comprehensive health insurance and pays for free time for any employee who is forced to comply with quarantine. The company also introduced support for new methods of disinfection and other measures necessary to reduce the spread of coronavirus.^[12]

Amazon hires 100,000 employees

On September 14, 2020, it became known that Amazon is hiring 100,000 new employees at full and part-time rates in the United States and Canada. The package offers a starting wage of $15 an hour, and new jobs involve benefits and bonuses. The company also said in an official statement that new employees will have access to training programs.

The invitation for new workers to collaborate comes after Amazon hired 33,000 corporate and technology employees in early September. It plans to open 100 new manufacturing buildings in September, including delivery stations, sorting centers and other facilities, the company said in a statement. In addition, earlier in September, the company announced plans to provide jobs for 7,000 people in the UK. The company also made similar announcements in Ireland and South Africa. The news highlights Amazon's growing need for labor to collect, package and deliver goods to customers.

During isolation from COVID-19, online shopping services have become indispensable for many households. This contributed to a sharp increase in the company's shares: growth was about 70%, as a result of which Amazon's market value rose to $1.56 trillion.

According to the financial statements, in the first 6 months of 2020, the number of full-time and part-time employees increased by about 10% to 876,800. In addition, in the second quarter, the company spent a total of $4 billion to finance the activities necessary to combat the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, ensure the safety of employees and provide them with additional compensation. Amazon Senior Vice President of Global Operations Dave Clark noted that all new employees have received safety training and are ready to perform work duties without exposing customers and themselves to the risk of contracting COVID-19.^[13]

Amazon couriers hang smartphones next to sorting points to get order first

In September 2020, according to Bloomberg, it became known that Amazon couriers in the struggle for orders began to hang their smartphones near sorting points, thus hoping to "grab" a fat order faster. The smartphone hanging next to the base station is synchronized with another delivery phone, and it can learn about the distribution of the order, as they say, "online."

This is because there are too many couriers with the beginning of the crisis, and there are apparently too few orders, and competition for them has grown sharply. Since the application distributes orders to the nearest courier located at the Amazon order sorting point, more and more delivery people prefer to "deceive" the system by having their phones very close to the sorting station, supposedly they themselves are nearby. At the same time, the courier has only two minutes to "pick up" the order that hit his smartphone, otherwise he will leave another employee nearby.

Considering that couriers working in this mode often do not have enough money even for food, and there are more and more of them, they will not be envied.

Amazon hires 3,500 people in offices and allocates $1.4 billion for it

In mid-August 2020, Amazon announced that it was expanding offices in six "tech centers" and was ready to hire 3,500 people. Job expansion is expected in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, New York, Phoenix and San Diego, with Amazon investing $1.4 billion in the program.

Teams in the new offices will work across various sectors of Amazon's business, including AWS, Alexa, Amazon Fashion and Amazon Fresh. First of all, Amazon plans to increase the number of software engineers, data processing specialists and product managers. In New York, the company will build a new 630,000 sq ft office in the Lord & Taylor building on Fifth Avenue and add 2,000 new jobs in Manhattan.

So far, Amazon's investments have been knocked out of the picture, with many big tech companies renegotiating how employees return to the office. Amazon itself announced that employees can work from home until January 8, 2021, while companies such as Facebook and Google have allowed their employees to work remotely until summer 2021. Twitter decided that the company's employees may not return to the company's office in San Francisco and continue to work from home.

Amazon's decision to expand office space outside Seattle, where its main headquarters is located, is consistent with the overall trend, however. Technicians are phasing out work at major coastal technology centers, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. A recent survey found that 40% of professionals living in the area are willing to move to a less expensive city, provided they are allowed to work from home. Hiring more employees outside Seattle is supposed to allow Amazon to expand its talent pool and potentially lower salaries in other cities.^[14]

Amazon urges employees to remove TikTok app over security concerns

In mid-July 2020, Amazon urged employees to remove the TikTok app due to security concerns. Employees had to remove the app from mobile devices that have access to the company's corporate email by July 10. However, the company later told the media that the email was sent in error and does not actually change the company's TikTok policy. Read more here.

Hiring 100,000 employees to process online orders

On March 16, 2020, Amazon announced the beginning of an increase in headcount in order to meet the growing demand for online purchases amid the spread of the new coronavirus COVID-19. The company intends to hire up to 100 thousand people to process orders in warehouses and deliver goods.

According to Reuters, the number of employees working at Amazon varies depending on the season. By the end of 2019, the company had 798 thousand employees who worked full and part-time. What will be the staff of the Internet giant after the reception of 100 thousand employees is unclear.

We are seeing a noticeable increase in demand, and this means an unprecedented need for labor at this time of year,  "said Dave Clark, senior vice president of operations at Amazon.

To build staff, Amazon will increase its minimum wage from $15 to $17 until April 2020. The total cost of increasing wages in North America and Europe is estimated at more than $350 million. The salary increase will be valid until the end of April 2020 and will affect employees of warehouses and transport infrastructure of the company, as well as Amazon grocery stores.

Amazon also noted that the company will continue to consult with medical experts to ensure the safety of its workers.

Amid the rapid spread of the coronavirus, consumers in the United States, Europe and other countries are buying up food in stores in fear of quarantine or shortages of goods. Retailers aim to keep food and hygiene supplies in stock and have the right number of employees to work in stores or delivery centers. Therefore, Amazon and supermarket chains are increasing staff to process online orders.^[15]

2019

Amazon employees received 14,000 serious injuries at work

At the end of September 2020, it became known that the number of injuries sustained by Amazon workers in warehouses continues to increase despite the company's claims that it has invested tens of millions dollars in improving safety measures.

Amazon's workplace injury rate has been increasing year-on-year since 2016, an investigation has found. This is the conclusion reached by Reveal researchers, who analyzed the company's internal safety reports, as well as weekly injury rates from 150 Amazon centers.

Amazon "strongly refutes claims" that the company misled the public about workplace injury rates. Injuries sustained by workers often mean minor sprains, so the expression "serious injuries," according to Amazon, is not entirely applicable to describe the reality of what is happening.

Despite the fact that we often impose restrictions on employees so that they can continue to work with full pay and benefits, we do not believe that an employer should be punished if he encourages the employee not to work, if this is better conducive to his recovery, Amazon noted. - We are a company that tries to improve, taking into account the experience of the past, while we focus on developing programs that would create a safer working environment, and providing comprehensive benefits to maintain health, starting from the first day of work.

Internal company reports showed injury rates were higher at Amazon facilities, which are largely automated, as well as during discount periods. Amazon registered 14,000 serious injuries at its fulfillment centers in 2019, matching 7.7 serious injuries per 100 employees, according to Reveal. At the same time, the indicators increase annually.^[16]

Allocation of $700 million for IT training of 100 thousand employees

On July 11, 2019, Amazon announced the allocation of more than $700 million for retraining staff. The company wants to develop new skills from its employees that are needed in the digital age.

The training will affect about 100,000 Amazon workers in the United States, and the program is designed until 2025. We are talking about employees working in offices, technology centers, points of issue of orders, as well as retail stores and means of transportation.

Amazon plans to expand existing training programs as well as launch new ones. Trainings will be fully voluntary, and most programs will be free.

The training initiatives address artificial intelligence, machine learning and Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud solutions and software development.

The company is confident that retraining employees will help them move to more highly qualified positions or find completely new jobs at Amazon.

The goal is not to create a career ladder from worker to CEO. We want to give our employees the opportunity to develop their skills, "said Ardine Williams, Amazon vice president of employee development.

A report presented at the World Economic Forum in 2018 said that by 2022, at least 54% of employees in companies in any industry will need significant retraining and advanced training, taking into account artificial intelligence and other automation technologies.

Amazon has decided to grow its training programs because of the growing demand for specialists in machine learning, cloud and other technologies, according to Ardine Williams.

As noted by CNBC, the project launched by Amazon in the field of personnel become one of the largest in history. Amazon will cost about $7,000 per employee.^[17]

Amazon turns monotonous warehouse work into a game

In May 2019, it became known about the new motivation system that Amazon uses in its warehouses. The company, which is criticized for difficult working conditions for workers, proposed playing monotonous tedious work in a playful way, requiring considerable physical activity.

Several Amazon warehouses in the US and UK launched simple video games: PicksInSpace ("Details in Space"), Mission Racer ("Racer") and Castle Crafter ("Castle Builder"). The characters in them are living people working with orders. For example, the faster an employee collects an order, the faster his car will go.

The game is displayed on small displays at workplaces. The program tells you which item the collector should put in the trash. The game registers the completion of the task, which is monitored by the scanning device.

To further motivate staff and make work less tedious, Amazon allows warehouse workers to compare their results with colleagues. You can compare the effectiveness of both individual employees and departments, floors, etc.

As an incentive, employees are rewarded with virtual currency that can be exchanged for branded goods: T-shirts with the company logo or water bottles. The total number of personnel in the company's warehouses by May 2019 exceeds 250 thousand people.

According to the Washington Post, the new motivation system at Amazon is aimed at "gamification of low-skilled labor." Similar ideas are implemented in taxi ordering services. Uberi Lyft They reward drivers not with points, but with money. For example, the driver is set a goal of making 60 trips in a week or driving an extra distance.^[18]

In hypermarkets, Target launched games to encourage cashiers to scan products faster.

Equipping employees with vests to protect against robots

In January 2019, Amazon began handing out special vests to its warehouse employees to protect against collisions with robots.

The robot, approaching a person with a vest, receives a signal about the need to slow down in order to prevent dangerous contact.

In the past, workers have marked a grid of zones in which they will work so that a traffic-planning robot can intelligently route around this area, "Brad Porter, vice president of Amazon Robotics, told TechCrunch. - A vest allows robots to detect a person from a distance and skillfully update their travel plan to stay away from humans

Amazon's solution looks original as other companies using robots set up the safety of their operation by installing sensors and radars on the robots themselves rather than live workers. Thus, in the event of a failure of sensors on robots, they will still be able to detect the presence of a person nearby and prevent a collision.

Amazon has many warehouses and order distribution centers that have a high degree of automation. The company uses robots for their higher efficiency compared to employees.

Robots weigh about 130 kg, move at speeds up to 7.5 km/h and can carry loads weighing up to 280 kg, so in case of incorrect recognition of a person on the route, the robot can cause significant damage to it. Several incidents have previously occurred at Amazon facilities.

In 2018, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health ranked Amazon as one of the most life-threatening employers in the United States. By that point, seven employees had died in Amazon warehouses since 2013.

With a vest worn on a worker, robots will be able to detect the presence of a person and adjust their behavior. Bots will slow down and evade people, which will allow you to continue working.^[19]

Use of living Ukrainians instead of AI

In January 2019, it became known about the use by Amazon of Ukrainian IT specialists instead of artificial intelligence in the work of "smart" calls, which allow you to record and monitor in real time who enters and leaves the house. Read more here.

2018

24 Amazon warehouse workers admitted to hospital after robot opens bear repeller can

On December 5, 2018, a robot at an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey opened a can of bear repellent, resulting in 24 workers being hospitalized. One employee is in critical condition while another 30 people were treated at the scene, according to ABC News.

A preliminary study found that a repellent resembling a pepper spray to deter aggressive bears fell off the shelf and opened by accident, but witnesses reported that the toxic fumes broke free when the package was punctured by a vending machine. In a statement released on the day of the incident, Amazon explained that all sick employees "will be discharged from the hospital within 24 hours." Amazon management said the following:

The safety of our staff has always been our top priority and an incident investigation is under way. We would like to thank all the witnesses who helped those affected.

Amazon has long used robots at its facilities. They constantly help workers: from moving small goods around the warehouse to unloading stocks from trailers. Amazon updates the design and software of its robots every year so they can solve the problems automated technology has to deal with in warehouses.

Amazon has repeatedly been accused of being negligent in controlling working conditions in warehouses. Earlier this year, the National Occupational Safety and Health Board listed the company as one of the most dangerous places to work in the U.S. Modern industrial robots provide safer working conditions by reducing the risk of injury or adverse health effects, experts say. Under certain conditions, however, even these automated systems can threaten workers.^[20]

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 under a flurry of criticism

In early October 2018, Amazon raised its minimum wage after a flurry of criticism that hit the internet company over its treatment of staff.

Starting November 1, 2018, more than 250 thousand permanent Amazon employees, as well as over 100 thousand seasonal workers who will be hired before the New Year to process a huge number of orders, will receive a salary of at least $15 per hour.

The innovation concerns not only the United States. The company is also raising the minimum hourly wage  London in the agglomeration to £10.50 and elsewhere in Britain to £9.50 . Under the salary increase, 17 thousand full-time British workers and more than 20,000 seasonal employees will fall. The official minimum salary in Britain for people aged 25 and over is £7.83 an hour (data at the beginning of October 2018).

In the United States, by the beginning of October 2018, the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, it was set at the federal level almost ten years earlier. Individual states can introduce their lows - for example, in New York it is $9.7 per hour, and the state authorities intend to increase this figure annually until it reaches $15 per hour.

Amazon employees ' dollars earnings will be boosted after the public, lawmakers and unions criticized the management of the billions-earning company for wage mismatches. Thus, Senator Bernie Sanders noted that Amazon costs $1 trillion, and workers receive salaries below the industry average and "cannot provide themselves with honest work."

We listened to our critics, thought a lot about what we wanted to do, and decided that we wanted to be ahead, "said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, commenting on the increase in the minimum wage.[21]

Strikes across Europe

Thousands of Amazon employees in Germany who work in the company's warehouses went on strike in July 2018, demanding better working conditions, Reuters reports. One-day action takes place simultaneously in six Amazon locations^[22] have^[23] Europe].

The strike was organized by the service workers union Verdi, which requires the company to conclude labor contracts with employees that guarantee healthy working conditions in fulfillment centers.

"The message is clear - the online giant is getting richer, saving money on the health of its workers," said Stephanie Nutzenberger, Verdi's retail segment director.

The head of Amazon Jeff Bezos (Jeff Bezos) has become the richest man in modern history with a fortune of over $150 billion. He broke the founder's record (Microsoft Bill Gates Bill Gates), whose fortune in 1999, at the height of the dot-com boom, in terms of today's value dollar would be $149 billion.

Germany has become the third country in Europe where Amazon employees are currently on strike. Yesterday, 1.8 thousand employees of the company in Spain entered the same action. The strike is being held at the initiative of the Comisiones Obreras union, the demands of the Spaniards are the same as those of the Germans.

About 96% of Amazon's staff in San Fernando, where the company has storage facilities, went on strike, the union says. It is the largest Amazon warehouse in Spain and is near Madrid. The strike will last July 16, 17 and 18, 2018. Amazon itself insists fewer workers have joined the event.

Replacing highly paid employees with robots

In June 2018, it became known that Amazon began replacing its highly paid employees with robots. Previously, automation in the company concerned only manual labor in warehouses and distribution centers.

According to the Bloomberg news agency, instead of workers with six-figure salaries negotiating deals worth millions of dollars, Amazon has begun using special software. Such software predicts the products consumers need and sets the optimal price.

The company combines a large brand engagement team with a division directly managing automated sales. Several senior managers have left the company or been reassigned in recent months, and Amazon suppliers have begun using special software instead of interacting with employees, according to a June 13, 2018, Bloomberg publication.

According to the publication, Amazon began to automate the work of employees in retail a few years ago. To do this, an initiative was launched called Hands off the Wheel, in which the company shifted tasks such as forecasting demand, ordering goods and even negotiating prices to computer algorithms.

At first, computers were much inferior to people in terms of decision-making efficiency. For example, if a manufacturer notified Amazon of the launch of a marketing campaign, the manager could increase orders for the promoted product in anticipation of high demand that the machine could not predict. However, over time, algorithms improved, became more accurate and spread more and more throughout the company. It got to the point that managers claiming an action that was different from choosing a computer had to prove their case, which they often did not want to do.

Amazon realized that many expensive employees spent a lot of time working with what should be automated. The Zyfras do not lie: this model is more profitable, "says Elaine Kwon, who worked as a manager at the company in 2014-2016.

The tipping point came in 2015, when sales through a digital platform turned out to be more than the total value of goods sold by the retail team. After that, many brands decided to interact with the computer platform, and not with live sales specialists, since in this case they themselves regulate prices, images and product descriptions,

As a result, people working in Amazon's retail department have lost one of their key functions - negotiating with major manufacturers about placing goods at a special discount in the Discount of the Day section. Now, instead of contacting their Amazon manager, companies register on the site, and their applications are processed by the software.

Computers know what and when to buy, when to offer a deal and when not to do so. These algorithms, covering thousands of input parameters, always turn out to be smarter than any person, "said former Amazon director Neil Ackerman, who by June 2018 manages the supply channel at Johnson & Johnson.

In the future, Amazon will need even fewer people to run its retail business. According to supply chain management expert Joel Sutherland, who teaches at the University of San Diego, no one other than Amazon has the amount of resources and expertise to combine new technologies to reduce the amount of labor and improve the reliability and accuracy of operations.^[24]

How much directors and employees earn

In April 2018, Amazon filed documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealing the earnings of executives and ordinary employees.

The founder and CEO of the company, Jeff Bezos, earned about $1.68 million in 2017. This amount included a salary of $81,840 and $1.6 million in the form of payments for ensuring the safety of the manager. Bloomberg notes that Bezos' compensation package has not changed since 2012.

The average annual salary of Amazon employees for 2017 was $28,446 , which is 59 times less than the head. Payments to staff at Amazon are much lower than at Silicon Valley IT companies, notes The Register. For example, on Facebook, the average salary of employees exceeded $240 thousand.

True, Amazon employs 560 thousand people, many of them do not work in Silicon Valley, in addition, the company has many part-time employees (mainly in logistics centers). At United Parcel Service (a major Amazon partner), which specializes in express delivery and logistics, employees receive about $53,433 a year from an employer.

Amazon notes that employees work in more than 50 countries, and in each of them the company offers highly competitive wages and bonuses, such as stock bonuses, health insurance, pension savings, parental leave and continuing education courses.

How much the head of the cloud division of Amazon Web Services (AWS) Andrew Jassy earned in 2017 is not specified. In 2016, he was given a salary of $179 thousand, as well as $35.4 million in the form of shares in the company. Jesse was then the highest-paid top executive at Amazon, ahead of even Jeff Bezos.

By April 19, 2018, Bezos owns about 79 million shares of Amazon, or 16.3% of the total securities outstanding. In 2017, the company did not pay bonuses in the form of shares to the head.^[25]

Amazon workers urinate in bottles for fear of not fulfilling plan

On April 17, 2018, it became known that some Amazon employees working in the company's warehouses are so afraid of losing their jobs that they do not even spend working time going to the restroom.

The author of a book about low pay, James Bloodworth, went undercover to an Amazon warehouse in Staffordshire. Great Britain He found that workers who run around Amazon's huge warehouses staffing delivery items use bottles instead of a toilet because the bathrooms are too far away and a lot of work time needs to be spent getting to them.

According to The Sun, people urinated in bottles for fear of being reprimanded for being easy to work and losing their place just because they need to go to the restroom.

Amazon is known to monitor how quickly its warehouse workers find and package goods, the company also strictly regulates breaks and draws up work plans. Workers who do not follow the plan, or who take frequent breaks, receive warnings.

Almost three-quarters of staff at a processing and fulfillment facility in the UK were afraid to use the toilet because of a reluctance to spend working time on it, according to an anonymous survey. The survey, published on April 16, 2018, involved 241 Amazon warehouse employees in England.

One respondent said the amount of goods that needed to be packed had "skyrocketed" and that he was "not drinking water because there is no time to go to the toilet."

According to another participant, the planned indicators are growing every year. You need to pack two products per minute. It is very difficult to pack 120 goods per hour, he admitted.

In an interview with The Verge, Blackert said that Amazon's warehouse is similar to a prison or airport with security scanners installed in it, which check workers for prohibited items such as sweatshirts, sunglasses and phones.

The survey, compiled through employee feedback website Organize, also found that respondents became much more nervous after settling in at Amazon.^[26]

According to Organize, the increase in targets is detrimental to the mental state of employees - 55% of employees reported suffering from depression while working at Amazon. Over 80% of respondents said they would no longer work for this company.

Workers say they are being punished for being sick. One employee reported that she was feeling unwell during her pregnancy and still received a warning.

Amazon has denied the claims, saying the company guarantees employees free access to toilets and provides comfort in the workplace. In a statement to Business Insider, company representatives said the following:

"Amazon provides a safe and positive work environment for thousands of people in the UK with competitive pay and benefits available from day one. We have no evidence that the people involved in the survey work for Amazon, and we do not recognize these claims as an accurate description of what is happening in the company's offices. We are focusing on ensuring great working conditions for all of our employees, and in March 2018 Amazon was named the seventh most popular company that people in the UK are looking to get into. Amazon also offers excursions to the facility so customers can see directly what happens after they buy a thing from Amazon.

Strike in Spain

In March 2018, Amazon employees went on a two-day strike expressing dissatisfaction with wages and overtime.

According to The Associated Press, about 150 employees of Spain's largest logistics center (located in San Fernando de Henares on the outskirts of Madrid), owned by Amazon, took to the streets with lit fires, flags and banners.

Amazon's protesting workers are demanding better working conditions due to the increasing workload, as well as an extension of the collective bargaining agreement, which expired in December 2016 and has been extended for the duration of negotiations. The company reportedly wants to shift staff to a new contract, which workers say reduces payments by about a third and also does not guarantee overtime compensation and sick pay. In addition, unions say Amazon is reducing its workforce and reallocating the responsibilities of laid-off people to less qualified employees.

Amazon refrains from making informative comments and says workers are paid a "competitive" salary, which will be increased from April 2018. Workers argue that wages have not risen since 2016.

Unions called the strike a success and reported that 98% of workers at a logistics center opened in 2012 in San Fernando de Henares stopped working. In total, 1,500 people work there, working temporarily or all day. They pack products for customers in Spain and Europe. Due to the strike, Amazon is forced to reject some orders, and delay the delivery of goods.

The General Workers Union union hopes the strike will force company management to the negotiating table over a new agreement with employees. At the end of 2017, Amazon employees staged a strike in, and Italy France.  Germany^[27]

2017

Difficult working conditions for Amazon drivers

In December 2017, it became known that Amazon delivery drivers have to deliver up to 200 packages a day, they are paid wages below the minimum permissible, and they are also forced to cope with the need for bottles, since they do not have time to take a break.

Drivers told The Sunday Mirror they regularly work longer than the legal maximum of 11 hours a day, as well as breaking speed limits to meet the delivery plan, due to traffic jams, blocked roads or difficult weather conditions.

Britain's Driving and Transport Standards Agency (DVSA) has promised to launch an investigation after drivers complained about the conditions they have to face when delivering Amazon packages.

Law firm Leigh Day, which handled the case against Uber, represents seven drivers who say Amazon-collaborating agencies treat them badly.

Amazon does not work with drivers directly, they are hired by third-party agencies. Drivers use Amazon's mobile app and follow delivery routes drawn up by the company. The distribution and number of stops, as well as the volume of packages delivered for each day, are set exclusively by Amazon.

Amazon responded that routes are calculated using "sophisticated software" that takes into account traffic intensity and speed limits.

However, drivers who must meet the plan of up to 200 packages daily say traffic jams, weather conditions and speed limits make it almost impossible to deliver all packages in a timely manner.

Many miss lunch and are forced to relieve themselves of the need for plastic bottles, and in some cases drivers deliver packages after work - at 21:00 and later, since recipients are not at home during the day.

One worker told reporters that Amazon sent a letter to all managers asking them to make sure that drivers did not carry urine bottles with them.

Many drivers hired by Prospect Commercial to work for Amazon also express concern over their working conditions.

They stated that their working day is up to 12-14 hours, and the salary is only £103 a day, while they pay £200 a week for renting a van and car insurance.

The 50-year-old driver told the publication that he once brought home just £160 a week after paying for a car and fuel rental, the cost of which he was supposed to be reimbursed later. An Amazon spokesperson told The  Sunday Mirror:

More than 100 businesses across the UK provide jobs for thousands of people delivering packages to customers. We seriously intend to ensure that employees employed by our independent delivery service providers receive fair labor compensation, are treated with respect, comply with all applicable laws, driving rules, and drive safely. Our delivery providers must guarantee a minimum payment to drivers of £12/hour before deductions and bonuses, incentives and fuel refunds.

Prospect Commercial said that the company's employees work hard to provide good service and a favorable working atmosphere for self-employed contract drivers. In addition, it is alleged that the company provides competitive compensation to contract drivers who receive salaries above the state minimum, and this is regularly checked. ^[28]

The scandal of calling prostitutes from work computers

In December 2017, Newsweek journalists got into the hands of emails from employees of leading American IT corporations addressed to pimps and underground brothels in Seattle. Correspondence with those who earn money from the sex trade and services of prostitutes from Asia was conducted directly from work computers. Read more here.

Amazon sued $3.6 million from a fraudulent partner

In early December 2017, Amazon won a $3.6 million lawsuit against Beautyko, a company that sells clothing and fitness equipment in an online store Amazon.com.

In a lawsuit filed in district court USA in Western Washington in November 2017, Amazon accused a partner of fraud through its automated filing system.

From court documents, excerpts from which GeekWire publishes, it follows that Beautyko sold Amazon physically identical products under different names and flooded the Internet giant's warehouses with unnecessary products that Amazon could neither sell nor return to the supplier.^[29]

Noticing the accumulation of goods from Beautyko, Amazon conducted an investigation and found out that the reason for the excess was manipulation of its automatic procurement system. Amazon contacted Beautyko to return the surplus, but the vendor refused to accept the product back. As a result, Amazon had to eliminate unnecessary products, which caused losses in the amount of $4 million.

Amazon does not accept fraud. The company allocates significant funds to maintain integrity on its trading floor. Among the measures taken are lawsuits against violators who resort to unfair practices. We intend to continue to act in the same way. Amazon is constantly innovating for the benefit of its customers and sellers so that they can shop and sell products with confidence in Amazon, the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, CNET is reporting another fraud lawsuit brought by Amazon. The defendants in it are Adam and Christopher Bowser from Massachusetts. The scam brothers offered expensive workshops, promising to teach secrets that would make a few thousand dollars a month on to trade Amazon, spending less than an hour a day on it. By the beginning of December 2017, the proceedings in this case continue.^[30]

Replacement of 75 thousand employees with robots in 2017

On December 4, 2017, Amazon said the company's headcount was up 40% year-over-year. At the end of 2016, Amazon was the eighth largest private employer in the United States. The Internet giant also announced plans to open a second headquarters in the United States, which will employ 50,000 employees.

According to Quartz, while maintaining the trend of replacing living people with robots, the number of Amazon employees involved in retail trade will decrease by about 1% in 2017 compared to 2016. Although this is a small percentage, 170 thousand people may lose their jobs.

The increase in the number of Amazon employees will not be able to compensate for the loss of personnel in retail. According to Quartz observers, Amazon will maintain its current growth rate in headcount and will hire 146,000 employees worldwide in 2017, bringing the staff growth to 43%. However, even taking into account this growth, total employment in Amazon's retail business and related areas will still decrease by 24 thousand people.

Quartz reports that in the first three quarters of 2017, Amazon replaced 55 thousand robots, and their number is growing rapidly. The company said that at the end of 2016 it had 45 thousand robots, by the end of the first half of 2017, 35 thousand robots were replenished, and in the third quarter of 2017 the company "hired" another 20 thousand. Quartz assumes that in the fourth quarter the number of robots will increase by another 20 thousand, which will total 75 thousand new robots in 2017. Although the reasons for these changes may be difficult to explain, it is easy to see a connection between the reduction of 24 thousand employees and the increase in the number of robot employees, Quartz believes.

Amazon's growth and efficiency (thanks to artificial intelligence and automation) are key reasons for good financial results. The company is increasing its investment in, and robotics Quartz suggests the machines could make up 20% of the total workforce at the end of 2017. The rise in automation is driving efficiencies, pleasing Amazon investors, especially compared to the overall retail situation to trade. While the S&P Retail index held steady in 2017, Amazon rose 57%.^[31]

Main article: How robots replace humans

Staff growth to 541.9 thousand people

By the end of September 2017, Amazon employs 542 thousand people, and the e-commerce giant plans to hire thousands more workers, according to BusinessInsider (BI).

It's hard to imagine a company with a staff of 382,400 could increase the number of employees by 77% in just three months. However, that's exactly what Amazon has done - by the end of September, Amazon's workforce had reached 541,900, an increase of 159,500 since the end of June.

Most of the increase in staff, about 90,000 people, is due to the takeover of Whole Foods in August. The unnamed number of employees out of the remaining 70,000 came in a takeover of Souq.com, a Middle Eastern major e-retailer bought by Amazon in the second quarter. Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told analysts during a quarterly conference. Excluding deals with Whole Foods and Souq.com, Amazon's staff is up 47%, Olsawki added.

As of October 2017, Amazon is the second largest company in the state USA - Walmart the company with a staff of 2.3 million people firmly holds the championship.

Amazon will continue to grow, however, with plans to hire another 120,000 seasonal workers to work in warehouses and customer service centers. The company also employs a whole army of office workers: about 14,000 vacancies are open on the Amazon website, 7,000 of which are software engineers. Another 2,500 sales jobs have also been posted, mainly to distribute Amazon Web Services cloud services to corporate customers. To accommodate its huge staff, the company is considering opening a second main office.

Interestingly, Amazon has grown most of its staff in the last 10 years - 9 years ago, the retailer was an employer for just 20,000 people, and 5 years ago, the staff was 81,000. The company doubled its staff in just 5 recent quarters, BI said in an October 26, 2017 publication.

2015: Former Amazon employees accuse company of ruthless working conditions

In mid-August 2015, The New York Times (NYT) published an article on the difficult working conditions at Amazon. The head of the company, Jeff Bezos, was quick to refute critical statements made by former employees of the Internet retailer.

In particular, ex-Amazon workers told reporters that the company's management ruthlessly fired everyone who did not show the required level of work efficiency.

Some Amazon employees had a colossal burden on their shoulders: they had to work overtime, including at night. One of the interlocutors of the publication, who worked for the company for about two years, said that almost all of his colleagues cried at work.

It also follows from the NYT article that Amazon employees were not allowed to recover from the disease, even if it was about cancer or miscarriages in women. Among the male half of the staff, there was a lot of dissatisfaction that, under pressure from bosses and colleagues, they could not devote time to the family, so they had to quit or at least think about it.

The publication interviewed more than 100 former Amazon workers, and many of them noted inflated demands on staff, disrespect for personal life and excessive workload.

Jeff Bezos responded to this publication with a letter sent internally.

'I don't recognise this

Amazon and I really hope you do too. The article describes the wrong Amazon that I know, and not those "Amazons," side by side with whom I work every day, "said the CEO

.

According to him, the publication describes Amazon as a company dominated by "soulless management practices," where there is no sympathy for people who have survived tragedy or health problems, where there is no place for fun and laughter and where only a soulless, gloomy workplace.

Jeff Bezos asked any employees who faced similar pressure at the company to report it to him promptly by email or human resources department.^[32]

Notes