Amazon employees in dismay over return to the office policy
- Thread starter GON
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As both an applicant and a hiring manager I have turned down and had many candidates turn down offers. You keep interviewing until someone both accepts AND shows up. Many accept positions and then turn them down again before they start - many reasons - current employer offers more money, buyers remorse, whatever.
Wait, wait, wait!!!!
I've been told the last 36 months that the employee is in command of the business!!!
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Two things. As I've seen my own co. become a multi billion dollar privately held company (history shows this is a recipe for failure), I've seen big changes. You used to have a CIO who actually could sit next to a help desk rep, and do the job. Really. I'm not joking. No different than a forklift driver who becomes president, and can do every job from his office down. These folks do exist, and I have seen it with my own eyes. They tend to be within private businesses, or imho medium businesses under 5 bil of revenue.
Today, a comment was made by a colleague, we seem to have about 7 managers for every grunt worker. Managers are paid to think. It is difficult to see if they're thinking about their next investment property, why they got a new Maserati while their coworker got the Rivian, or planning the co. strategy.
When the pandemic hit, the Daves of the world got to work at home, despite being untrustworthy and likely to not get any work done. When the pandemic eased, managers thought, wow, not only did we make it, we had record revenue growth 2020-2022! This is a terrible time for Rolexes to be unobtainable and a Corvette Z06 $75k over list, as my bonus needs to find a spending place.
But now it's back to reality, and the Dave's have got to go.
Today, a comment was made by a colleague, we seem to have about 7 managers for every grunt worker. Managers are paid to think. It is difficult to see if they're thinking about their next investment property, why they got a new Maserati while their coworker got the Rivian, or planning the co. strategy.
When the pandemic hit, the Daves of the world got to work at home, despite being untrustworthy and likely to not get any work done. When the pandemic eased, managers thought, wow, not only did we make it, we had record revenue growth 2020-2022! This is a terrible time for Rolexes to be unobtainable and a Corvette Z06 $75k over list, as my bonus needs to find a spending place.
But now it's back to reality, and the Dave's have got to go.
Good points.
I feel as though there is this weird capitalism worship thing that goes on sometimes. It’s almost talked about like a God that has moral tenets and demands rather than just a financial system. I am most definitely a fan of capitalism however I will not let it drive my morals. Money is a tool. Capitalism is how I get said tool. Morals are my compass. But maybe I’m just weird.
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You're not weird. There are many people today, I think many more than when I was growing up, who simply have "too much" wealth. So much that they can't possibly spend it all, not even if they give it to children and grandchildren. I don't really know why they're so revered, they won, sure, but it's the admiration for them that I can't figure out. How many basketball, football, and hockey teams can a person buy? lol
That is capitalism you are speaking of. It doesn't end with the business owners/managers. Capitalism is also the freedom to work where you want, in the field you want for your reasons- as long as you are qualified and can get hired there. And you are not being forced by a communist or socialist government to do what they want. Yes, capitalism is still the best system on the planet we currently have.
People just get too wrapped around the idea it only applies to the rich.
Owen Lucas
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Facebook also recently changed their in house evening dinner hours to 6:30 from 6:00, which is when the final work shuttle leaves. So it's either eat dinner and walk or take the shuttle home.
I agree with you it’s all about freedom and I served this country with the intent to protect that freedom. I just feel like people talk about it without regard for morality or in place of it.
I will not do something that is sound financially but morally repugnant. “It’s just business” is usually meant as a moral get out of jail free card.
If you do not own the company and they tell you to go back to work then you have to go back to work or quit. It's as plain and simple as that. I have worked at home and in the office. 2 days a week in the office and 3 days at home would be a good fit. My wife works 20 hours part time from home Monday Tuesday and Wednesday and loves it. I have been retired for 16 months and cannot complain.
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My buddy's co flew 100 people to the Super Bowl, made the local news. The owner of the co. is the richest person in our fair city. I dunno where we rank today, we were once the 5th largest city in the USA, probably got bumped down by East Jibit over the last 20 years.
They have a catered lunch every day, retail value maybe $25 or so. My buddy says he brings his lunch but brings the catered lunch home for his family.
Buddy got a 10% raise this year, and a stupendous bonus. They have fun events where the owner walks around and hands out $1000 cash if you can guess a number between 1-10 that he is thinking off--nice odds.
But guess what? Nobody is happy, everyone is looking for another job, and the environment is caustic.
Do you want to work there? Maybe. Because first and foremost, you would be able to pay the bills.
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If it never occurred to your former leadership team that an employee might rebel, they weren't in management very long or weren't very good at it (or some combination of both).
In the end, this comes down to supply and demand. Dennis Rodman left Phil Jackson and the Bulls to take a vacation in Las Vegas mid-season because he could. There weren't 100 resumes in a file in Chicago with guys who could play defense the way that he did.
If the Amazon workers in question can be easily replaced by others who are equally talented and will show up in an office, we know how this ends. If they possess a unique skill set that is difficult to replicate, they have more leverage.
Regardless, @dnewton3 - CONGRATS on your retirement. I look forward to that day of being in a position where I can take or leave work. Well done!
Yup! Someone works for me for an agreed amount under certain conditions. After they work, I pay them, and at that point, they owe me nothing more and I owe them nothing more until they work some more for me. Don't show up to work I owe you nothing and I pay you nothing. Really, it's pretty simple.
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sigh, take or leave work, would be nice!
I think where even cos who pay high salaries, including mine, can recoup in shoddy health care contributions. Now this topic will get small business owners irate.
I've seen numbers, the fact is, it costs at least $16k or more, to provide health care to a single person. Couple not double, maybe 25k, and a family a little more. The brass tacks is how much is the employer willing to contribute? This number is amazingly shrinking over time. It must even make an executive mad.
So as a peon, I thank goodness my wife's employer does 88.25% and our deductible is $0.
Astro14, I imagine that you could work from home someday. So say the engineers..
I dunno, what kind of business is it? What about the work environment is caustic?
We were completely shut down for 3 months - zero patients being seen. Certain medical professionals could "pivot" to telemedicine and work from home but procedure-based professionals obviously could not. That was the first time I had ever thought about that particular limitation to what I do and the realization that working from home is not an option. No one in the chair means no income!
The ability to work remote really depends on the job duties, and the ability for them to be completed outside the office. I work in tech, and have a hybrid schedule. I'm in the office a few days a week, sometimes I work remotely, and some days I'm out at other branches of the university. Working remote vs. in the office really doesn't have an impact on how well employees produce. They either suck as a worker, or they don't. Most of the people who aren't productive remotely rarely are any better when they are in the office. The work either gets done and deadlines are met or it does not. My employer gets more work out of me when I'm remote. I'm used to waking up early, so I naturally start work earlier, and since I'm often working from my couch with my laptop, by the time I reach a finishing point for the day it is usually long after I'd normally be leaving the office.
I understand this isn't the case for everyone, but with all the technology available today, it is extremely easy to monitor whether or not employees are completing tasks while remote.
I understand this isn't the case for everyone, but with all the technology available today, it is extremely easy to monitor whether or not employees are completing tasks while remote.
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It's financial, which I suppose is already a cut throat industry, but from what I've heard, people just are not generally nice to one another. My point is the perks don't ever seem to pan out, as far as building loyal and happy workers. Of the 4 people who worked there that I'm connected to on linkedin, only my buddy is still there.
Employers are as loyal as the employee is.
I've never seen someone who is valuable to the company be laid off or not treated fairly.
Let it be known I have never worked at a large company and never intend to. If you do, if you want to, you should know that those places operate completely different. I don't know what attracts people to them, there must be an enormous salary difference, but there's also a huge risk in major layoffs frequently.
