Amazon's Ethical and Unethical Issues in disciplines of HR Management

By Jash Richhariya

"A lot of people who work there feel this tension: It's the greatest place I hate to work." 

That's what former Amazon executive John Rossman, author of The Amazon Way, told The New York Times.

Here are some of the Issues of Amazon regarding HR management.

1. Breeding unhealthy competition among co-workers

"You can work long, hard or smart, but at Amazon.com you can't choose two out of three," Mr. Bezos wrote in a 1997 letter to shareholders, according to NYT.

Fundamental to Amazon's culture is transparency about who is a high-achiever and who is not. Employees are expected to and often work long into the evening hours — emails that arrive after midnight are frequently followed by text messages asking for a prompt response.

According to the report, employees are encouraged to publicly rip apart their co-worker's ideas in meetings. Additionally, the Anytime Feedback Tool, a widget in the company directory that allows workers to send praise or complaints about their co-workers to their bosses, is often used to sabotage others. Since team members are ranked, and those with the lowest ranking are fired, it is in each individual's best interest to outdo their teammates.

                           

2. Lack of benefits

Unlike its tech peers such as Google and Facebook, which motivate employees to prioritize personal wellness with gyms, meals and other special benefits "designed to take care of the whole you," as Google describes it, Amazon does not give any hint that catering to employees is a priority.

Although successful midlevel managers receive competitive salaries, other workers are expected to demonstrate frugality (rule No. 9). This includes their bare-bones desks, cellphones and travel expenses, which they frequently must cover themselves. Instead, employees are told to refine their "customer obsession" (rule No. 1), always striving to satisfy customer demands.

Amazon requires new workers to repay part of their signing bonus if they quit before a year's time, and a portion of their relocation fees if they leave within two years, according to the report.

3. Unfair systems of ranking

Amazon holds annual Organization Level Reviews, where managers discuss and determine subordinates' rankings. Reviews begin with the discussion of lower-level employees in front of higher-level managers. Team leaders described preparing for the reviews as preparing for a court case, complete with paper trails to defend wrongful accusations or incriminate members of competing groups, or identifying sacrificial lambs to save more valuable players.

                              

"You learn how to diplomatically throw people under the bus," a marketer who spent six years in the retail division told NYT. "It's a horrible feeling."

Other large companies, such as Microsoft, General Electric and Accenture, have dropped the practice of stack ranking, or "rank and yank," largely because it leads managers to fire valuable talent solely to meet a quota. 

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