Why dismiss it as anecdotal? He is giving you, I presume, a real life insight into his sons employment with Amazon. I cant see why he would lie about that unless he is an Amazon shareholder. Dont be so dismissive yourself.
Facebook, Amazon etc....
- Thread starter Raoul
- Start date
Why dismiss it as anecdotal? He is giving you, I presume, a real life insight into his sons employment with Amazon. I cant see why he would lie about that unless he is an Amazon shareholder. Dont be so dismissive yourself.
Found this interesting bit about Glassdoor reviews about Amazon v Walmart...
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susana...who-work-for-amazon-really-feel/#2ff5ecbd3305
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susana...who-work-for-amazon-really-feel/#2ff5ecbd3305
I actually read the article, it was so biased and lame it was pathetic. This bit actually made me laugh.
My body ached, and my fitness tracker showed I walked at least 10 miles most days.
Despite being a keen marathon runner, the physical effort left me feeling dizzy, and I worried I might keel over if I kept pushing myself as hard as I needed to meet my targets.
Despite being a keen marathon runner, the physical effort left me feeling dizzy, and I worried I might keel over if I kept pushing myself as hard as I needed to meet my targets.
So you can run a marathon yet covering ten miles in a 11-12 hour shift leaves you exhausted. That is literally one mile a hour LOL.
3.8 is not particularly impressive. Your son is a middle manager. We've had this discussion before and you were informed then as now that middle management is not who we are talking about when we talk about treatment of employees.
He was running a ponzi scheme in the book/movie. Not really a great example to use.
Its repugnant for you to sit on your computer at your job selling insurance to golf pros or whatever job it is that allows you to post 30 times a day and then laugh at poor people who have to take physically grueling jobs because they aren't a part of the professional managerial class.
His son is a middle manager. It's not relevant any more than the accountant for a coal company's experience is relevant to a miner.
3.8 is actually very impressive. I have worked at some decent companies that don't score that high. Actually the only one I can find that matches it is PWC and they are one of the best employers for IT in Tampa.
My son is not a middle manager, he is in Ops management directly responsible for the hourly paid staff in a distribution center.
BTW - he typically covers 17+ miles per shift.
Yes that's middle management. I know exactly what he does.
He is a level four which is pretty much the bottom rung of the ladder. Levels 1-3 are all hourly paid. I think the lowest you could consider to be middle management would be level six.
Gotta call out 17 miles a day. How exactly did that number get calculated?
Also, Glassdoor rankings are as reliable as Rotten Tomatoes movie ratings. They give some insight, that's it.
He wears one of those step/distance trackers. If anything glassdoor gives lower than reliable reviews because the disgruntled are more motivated to bitch online. I change jobs very regularly and glassdoor has always been somewhat accurate in my experience.
You can't even keep your stories straight. Embarrassing and as I said earlier, repugnant.
It's not the hunger games, mike. There is no reason any employer should overwork their workforce to this end.
Ummm...what about the real-life cases reported in the article?
Fair call on Glassdoor. You're in the States after all. My experience of them is NZ based and everyone is 3.4-4.0. All of which have been better than some great London companies I was previously at. I don't think the scores pull through work-life balance accurately.
Step trackers are hugely ineffective to calculate distance though. I'm sure the lad walks a lot, but 17 miles is close to a nonsensical figure in my opinion. It would be almost impossible to get any work done.
Nothing you quoted there contradicts anything. Level four area managers at Amazon get signing bonuses and stock options. They are also the lowest level salaried staff in a distribution center, so definitely not middle management.
They maybe inaccurate but how was the guy moaning about ten miles per shift calculating his steps?
Its an article with a few cases out of literally hundreds of thousands of people that work at Amazon. They pay above market plus benefits which comparable jobs do not offer. A lot of people do the job and enjoy it, a lot can't hack it and a few are vocal about it.
If he got a thirty thousand dollar signing bonus he's fecking management. And not Mcdonalds shift manager either. He's middle management. His experiences are irrelevant to the issue of Amazon's treatment of actual blue collar employees.
No you are 100% wrong. Just for your education, although you're in logistics and know all about Amazon so this shouldn't be new to you.
Level 1 & 2 - Hourly paid associates.
Level 3 hourly paid assistant managers.
Level 4 salaried area managers working on the floor.
Level 5 salaried area managers working on the floor.
Level 6 salaried Ops managers with Level 4&5 managers reporting to them
Level 7 senior Ops mangers
Level 8 GMs.
Level 4&5 are junior managers not middle managers.
Probably measuring the distance between his tears hitting the ground?
Honestly no idea, didn't bring him up.
do you think you win Level 4&5 are junior managers not middle managers point with this line
Now you are just repeating yourself. If your idea of "can't hack it" involves not passing out or having paramedics on standby. Then you are seriously deluded.
Its not a case of winning its a case of being accurate. You tried to discredit what I wrote by implying my son is a middle manager and therefore disconnected from the blue collar hourly paid staff. The reality is he has worked on the floor supervising the hourly paid staff for over two years. He works longer shifts than the hourly paid staff and generally covers a lot more ground. His job is to motivate, help and discipline the associates. His experience is about as relevant as it gets to this discussion.
he works 36 hours a week and gets two months of vacation and gets paid six figures. you are insane if you think that anyone who has that profile can be in any way connected to blue collar workers
How does this work ? How many actual days a week does he work 12 hours and how many off days does he get ?
AMs generally do four 12 hours shifts. He did four nights in Seattle but they made a change and if you do Thu, Fri and Sat it is just three 12 hour shifts. Although he is scheduled for 12 hours he generally does 13-14 by the time all the admin and hand over tasks are complete. He does three shifts for ten months but during peak, Nov-Jan 1st, all AMs do 5-6 shifts a week.
Last edited:
To be fair, you've described a middle manager. The fact that Amazon may deem him a junior manager is of no issue. If he's earning 6 figures a year and supervising three levels of staff below him, he's middle management. Congratulations to him for that.
Amazon is notorious for having little or no upward career progression in that area of the business. There are huge jumps between levels the further up you go. They actively recruit in upper-tier talent, they don't grow it. They hire, hone and then create experts. Once they have them, they see little value in pushing them upwards. It's absolutely logical. But far from healthy.
They work employees to the bone. They're doing it to your boy. As tough as your son may be, spending up to 14 hours a day at work is not a life. He's on a treadmill that he may benefit from: Salary, industry insight, work ethic, overall skillset. But it's a treadmill that won't slow down. Ever.
By what I read above he's working;
3 x 13-14hr shifts for 10 months of the year. [39-42hrs a week]
4 x 12hr shifts for 2 months of the year. (more with handover?) [48hrs a week]
That's a stink load of work. I'm aware that Americans just take it as read that they have to work too many hours, but you've got to take global work conditions into account to judge his job and Amazon as a company. That's where most chime in.
Global trends are heading towards 30 hour work weeks and 4-day weeks. Amazon is leading the charge in the opposite direction at the lowest end of their employment pyramid.
With all that said, it sounds like he's doing well. I'm sure he's a good lad and will make the moves he needs to make going forward. Don't want this to seem like a take-down of an early career.
Tbf they need to be allowed that for us to take selfie and camera, as for contact well... it's a social app afterall.
What they do with it is a different thing
He’s getting a lot of shit after his statement he made on twitter.
Last edited:
I honestly don't think anyone gives a flying feck about FB and their use of data. The general public was long aware of their practices. It is the authorities who are now playing catch up with them in terms of regulations and lax rules.
Good post.
My son is not doing crazy hours, 39-42 hours a week is the norm in the US. He does get close to four and a half days off each week so there are benefits to the shifts he does. I would disagree on the lack of career progression. He is already fast-tracked to be level 6 by January 2019, and if he sticks around level 7 and maybe 8 will follow. There are also options outside Amazon and he gets pinged constantly on LinkedIn regarding other logistics positions.
As far as people struggling to adapt to working at Amazon that is as much to do with the people as Amazon's working conditions. They are upfront when you're interviewed about the fact you are on your feet for 10-12 hours. My son actually found it easy to do because his filler job after leaving college was working out doors in Florida on his feet pulling 16 hours shifts (his choice). When he started at Amazon working 12 hours in a controlled environment seemed like a vacation, although he faced some challenges.
That being said the associates do not do a lot of walking at the facilities built in the last three years. Pickers sit in one location and robots brings the shelves to them. Same goes for packers, loaders and goods inward. The area managers are the ones covering the most ground these days.
Last edited:
Well for starters he was a blue collar worker not so long ago. He also directly supervises the blue collar workers at Amazon. Some are his friends and he actually cares about the well being of his staff. His FB is full of associates from the facility he was at in Seattle, so I think he has good empathy for the blue collar workers. One of his current assistant managers is a former gang-banger and as never been given a chance. The guy has tear tattoos down his face yet my "dipshit" son saw through that and gave the guy a chance.
Last edited:
well if he has facebook friends then i guess thats checkmate
Mike, your keeness to be right is confuddling your Math mate. He can't be getting 4.5 days off a week, and be working 3 x 12-14 hour shifts. Americans are forced to work long hours. I hadn't acknowledged that at the top of the discussion is all.
I wish him all the best on his career path. I'd temper all of it by saying it's probably a pipe dream to hit Level 8. That would see him one level before Vice President, driving a Billion Dollar sector of the overall business. The simple fact of the matter is: In this day and age, people that work in those positions were never supervisors on warehouse floors.
Your point about external logistics companies will see him fare better. I'd go as far as saying that in order to move up a level past 6 at Amazon, he'll need to leave, develop for a decade, and then return at a higher grade. It's a huge industry. Sounds like he's on a solid run until Jan 19 though.
Works Thu, Fri, Sat nights. Sleeps until Sunday lunch, so half day off Sunday. Off Mon, Tue, Weds and Thur. Adds up to 4.5 days off to have hobbies and do chores. My wife has done three nights for 20 years as well, and alse enjoys teh 4.5 days off.
He will be on level six Jan 2019. He has a few friends that were new level 6s when he started two years ago that are now level 7s. A facility GM is level 8. Harder to come by but if you stick around and are a top performer there is a very good chance of progressing to level 8.
Last edited:
Your week has two Thursdays ?
People that adapt to nights can get away with a lie in or a couple of hours sleep on the day they start their shift rotation. My wife has been doing it a couple of decades. Bests case scenario you get 4.5 days off to do stuff. Worse case its 3.5 days if you need more sleep. I would take that over a five day work week and rush hour commutes any day of the week.
