Oct 18, 2022 15:00:00

Confidential documents reveal a too harsh working environment that Amazon's turnover rate is more than double the usual rate and some occupations are intentionally restricted for promotion

According to Engadget, which independently obtained Amazon's confidential documents, Amazon is dismissing employees at a tremendous speed that far exceeds the industry average, and this personnel reduction is estimated at $ 8 billion (1.2 trillion yen) There seems to be some loss.

Exclusive: Amazon's attrition costs $8 billion annually according to leaked documents. And it gets worse. | Engadget

https://www.engadget.com/amazon-attrition-leadership-ctsmd-201800110.html

Amazon's confidential documents, which Engadget independently obtained, include several internal research papers, presentation slides, spreadsheets, etc. It is believed that this document was created to explain how the way employees are treated is detrimental to the organization as a whole and financially. In a confidential document, it seems that Amazon has been accused of not properly using data in its employee education and promotion efforts.

Of the reports included in the confidential document, the one announced in January 2022 evaluated employees on a scale of 10, and those who left Amazon were highly evaluated as `` regrettable personnel reduction ''. Employees with low scores are categorized as 'retirement reductions you won't regret.' According to the report, 'repentant personnel reduction', that is, the employee turnover rate highly appreciated by Amazon was 69.5 to 81.3%, while 'repentant personnel reduction' was less than half. . Therefore, the report points out that 'there is clearly a problem with employee retention.' In Amazon's 10-point evaluation of employees, it seems that warehouse employees are assigned to level 1, which is the lowest rating, and officers such as vice presidents are assigned to level 10, which is the highest rating.

A New York Times study found that Amazon's part-time employee turnover rate is about 150% annually. And according to a joint study by The Wall Street Journal and the

National Employment Law Project , Amazon's warehouse worker turnover rate is nearly 100%, which is nearly double the industry average. Yet another Recode survey warns that Amazon's high turnover rate is 'a momentum that will deplete the supply of available labor in the United States.'

Regarding the confidential document this time, Engadget pointed out that ``the problems of Amazon's workplace and culture are spreading beyond the warehouse to more areas.'' Also, in a confidential document, ``Managers of all occupations seem to feel stuck in their roles.The main reasons non-regular managers leave Amazon are career development and promotion.'' In fact, the second reason for leaving Amazon's non-regular employees is 'career development and promotion issues'.

Also, in an interview with the New York Times, former vice president of human resources at Amazon, David Niekerk, said, ``Amazon intentionally limits the promotion aspirations of hourly workers.'' It suggests that regular employees are intentionally hindered from promotion and career development. In fact, it seems that 39% of those who took up managerial positions at Amazon in 2021 were ``college graduates who have little experience of working or teaching people'', and the percentage of employees who were warehouse workers who were promoted to area managers etc. is small. It seems that it was 4 %.

On the other hand, the Consumer Talent Strategy, Management & Development (CTSMD) team, which oversees Amazon's internal human resource strategy, will exist at Amazon at least around 2019, including contract employees during that time. It has swelled to 615 personnel, and a budget of 90 million dollars (about 13 billion yen) has been allocated in 2022.

However, the confidential document also pointed out that most CTSMD-led programs do not use financial metrics as their primary indicator, and that the program's evaluation dashboard is 'inaccurate and obfuscates actual spending.' It seems that Another report in the confidential document also pointed out the problem of CTSMD, saying that it 'does not have a standard process for measuring the impact (business indicators) of training programs.'

Despite Amazon's bloated organisation, CTSMD has clearly failed to provide a clear direction in recruiting. Therefore, the report points out that it is clear that CTSMD has a significant economic impact on Amazon. Amazon managers rated level 3 to level 8 in a system that evaluates employees on a scale of 10 (the higher the number, the higher the rating) are estimated to spend an average of 113 hours a year on education. Assuming that the average annual income of Amazon's 120,000 employees is 110,000 dollars (about 16 million yen), it is calculated that 715 million dollars (about 100 billion yen) is actually wasted. increase. Education is essential to improve Amazon's organizational structure, but considering that failure to form a meaningful promotion process has led to ``repentant reductions in personnel'', ``an estimated 8 billion people due to personnel reductions'' We can attribute some of the dollar losses to CTSMD,' Engadget said. Another report included in the confidential document estimates that reducing personnel reductions by 15% will save $ 726 million (about 100 billion yen) annually.

CTSMD's learning and development programs seem chaotic and wasteful, but Amazon is said to be in the process of streamlining them under a new scheme dubbed 'Brilliant Basics.' Brilliant Basics was scheduled to be deployed to all businesses in June 2022, and in September 2021, a 60-90 minute pilot test was conducted with 2059 managers. However, it is also reported that the completion rate of the pilot test was 65%, and nearly a quarter of the total did not start the test at all.

Engadget has asked Amazon for comments on confidential documents, but no response has been received at the time of writing.