[HN Gopher] My husband went through the Amazon Pivot process. It...
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My husband went through the Amazon Pivot process. It was crushing
Author : intunderflow
Score : 28 points
Date : 2024-02-03 18:18 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.businessinsider.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.businessinsider.com)
| miles wrote:
| Three other recent stories from BI on Amazon Pivot:
|
| _I worked in Amazon HR and was disgusted at what I was seeing
| with PIP plans_ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38471744
|
| _A Former Amazon Worker Was Put a Performance Plan; Lost a
| Deposit on a House_ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37817021
|
| _Amazon shut down a Slack channel where 2k employees talked
| about PIPs_ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37960846
| rayiner wrote:
| Yikes at that guy losing a $110k deposit on a house after he
| got fired from Amazon. Major metro housing prices are a boot on
| your neck. When my wife and I bought our house in 2016 it was
| more than an hour commute each way, but it cost less than our
| annual income. Next door was an abandoned house with raccoons
| and a fox living in it. But the other day I was at the local
| university and saw a basement 1BR apartment (in DC) being
| advertised for the same as my mortgage on a 3BR house.
| digitallis42 wrote:
| Most PIPs are designed to provide a documented reason for letting
| someone go that can be used to contest any possible lawsuits.
| They are not necessarily designed to help people. Some are, and
| some managers believe in them.
| PerilousD wrote:
| Unless you are in an "at will" employment state or otherwise
| fall under those rules, then the company trots out "at will"
| (which you signed an agreement to) then the HR DRONES will
| state "You have no grounds to sue."
| bitzun wrote:
| In e.g. Texas if they fire you without properly documenting a
| flimsy non-protected-class-infringing cause, you may be able
| to draw unemployment. I don't know what the success rate is
| like for IT workers.
| silexia wrote:
| I am the founder and owner of a business with 270+ employees. I
| regularly give employees final warnings. The warning always is
| because of issues directly related to their job (not working
| their shift, failing at their regular duties somehow), not asking
| them to do more tasks beyond their job.
|
| If this description of Amazon's pivot process is accurate, then
| there is something very shady going on there. Probably just the
| bureaucracy terminating people who disagree with them and making
| sure they have legal cover for it. Lots of DEI programs pushed by
| Fortune 500 CEOs require doubling minority employee populations
| and also unless the company is doubling in size, require the
| termination of white people. They can't legally say that, so they
| make up weird programs like this to get to that DEI goal.
| Koala_ice wrote:
| Your commentary about DEI is pure racist dog-whistling. Go back
| to Facebook with that business.
| hasty_pudding wrote:
| People with families should probably not work at a FAANG.
|
| They have borderline inhuman performance requirements and the
| politics are absurd.
|
| Even top-notch Engineers can get caught up into some political
| BS.
|
| While the money is good it's a very unstable place. So with the
| increased reward comes increased risk.
|
| you would think smart people would create pleasant workplaces for
| themselves.
| edmundsauto wrote:
| I currently and have worked at big tech that is an amazing
| place to work. The performance bar is correspondingly high
| compared to comp, but leadership is not toxic like at Amazon.
|
| YMMV depending on team, but that applies everywhere. Your
| manager will almost always determine your experience.
|
| It's the equivalent of being a professional athlete. The
| expectations are insanely high but that doesn't mean it has to
| be inhuman.
| snapetom wrote:
| > In my opinion, this process is not designed to improve the
| employee.
|
| Sorry, but no shit. The boss wanted her husband gone. Period,
| full stop.
|
| Look, no matter how charismatic/great/competent you are, there's
| always going to be someone that doesn't like you. The article
| gives no history or indication about how long her husband had
| worked for his boss or their relationship prior. Maybe the boss
| is a psychopath, just came in and decided he didn't like the
| husband and wanted him out. Maybe it's a genuine personality
| conflict. Being put on a PIP is the way to do that.
|
| Is it fair? Is it good for the company? Of course not, but this
| is Amazon we're talking about. There are plenty of people lined
| up as replacements.
|
| Soft skills matter. If you can't please you're boss, if you're
| not aligned, you need to sense that and start looking for other
| options. Sometimes, though you'll still get blindsided.
| _heimdall wrote:
| Its not always about whether your direct boss wants you gone.
| I've seen the decision made from higher up in the org and/or HR
| based primarily (if not entirely) on compensation. The company
| needs you gone either because they want to backfill with a
| lower salaried hire, or you are in line for a large stock
| vestment.
| PerilousD wrote:
| Companies started this crap just after 9/11. I guess I was a
| boomer IT guy and never saw the point of unions HOWEVER very
| early in my career I saw that the "company loyalty" mindset ONLY
| benefitted the company. This was BEFORE the pension reforms and
| when the company I worked for in NY decided to leave for Chicago
| they offered me (IT admin) all kinds of benefits to move and
| folks that had literally MONTHS left to meet their 10year pension
| were almost to a woman told "goodbye" too bad so sad, no pension
| for you. 10 years later with the PIVOT crap starting and folks I
| knew particularly, those at 40 or older getting the shaft I was
| no longer so anti-union. Im retired now but, there is strength in
| numbers OR sue them. I sued about 15 years ago. Ended up with TEN
| times the severance I was offered even after paying the attorney
| retainer fee (not cheap) but her communications started DIRECTLY
| with the firm's C-Suite Managing Director Lawyer and NOT the HR
| drones. The head corporate lawyer was quick to make the pending
| suit "go away" since they knew they were in the wrong "at will
| employment" be damned. Join a union if possible and don't take
| "at will" as anything get a lawyer and follow through with a suit
| if you have to.
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