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“The story of Beth is the story of [many] of the executives at Amazon,” a source said. “For the most part, they haven’t had to examine their privilege, so it’s counter to their worldview to think about...people...coming in at...real disadvantages.”https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
Because my deepest wish is that you read this story yourself. It’s about a group of people who had very intense journeys with Amazon over the past year. We would love for you to experience those stories, as we did in nine months of reporting, without knowing the endings.
— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) June 15, 2021
14 employees who've worked in diversity & inclusion roles at Amazon told me that Amazon's HR head has been a main barrier to the company becoming an equitable workplace for all employees.
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
"Beth is actively a gatekeeper and a blocker in this work."https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
This quote jumps out at me from a stunning piece of journalism about the ultimate customer-centric tech company. If only tech leaders would value the ‘essential workers’ as much as their tech. https://t.co/q3nPzSuifG pic.twitter.com/JeeV0e46G4
— Mark Little (@marklittlenews) June 15, 2021
"What happened inside shows how Jeff Bezos created the workplace of the future and pulled off the impossible during the pandemic — but also reveals what’s standing in the way of his promise to do better by his employees.” https://t.co/yiTwavLIJv
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) June 15, 2021
Planned human obsolescence. https://t.co/lF8bfIqN3X
— Schooley (@Rschooley) June 15, 2021
I always tell people: HR does not exist to protect you or other workers. It exists to reduce your employer’s legal exposure. https://t.co/F45Pe5f6KD
— jon ben-menachem (@jbenmenachem) June 15, 2021
just normal company things https://t.co/QBtYaxD7Kr pic.twitter.com/sN2vPAiKQv
— Eric Levenson (@ejleven) June 15, 2021
Exclusive: What happened in New York City’s only Amazon fulfillment center amid the pandemic shows how Jeff Bezos pulled off the impossible — and reveals relentless turnover, inadvertent firings, racial inequities and an employment model under strain. https://t.co/7h2lPKk64R
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 15, 2021
For all their criticisms of the HR leader, sources said her actions are a reflection of a corporate culture that’s obsessed with customer satisfaction, but that has been less interested in the kind of empathy necessary for sustained success in DEI work.https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
Sounds like a bad day for Amazon HR https://t.co/3Oz5WGenM1
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) June 15, 2021
Imagine being so shitty that you make WALMART look like the good guys https://t.co/09UjK4J18T
— Yichao (@michaelyichao) June 15, 2021
On another occasion, sources told me that the HR leader opposed letting warehouse workers apply to a new technical training program saying "This isn’t McDonald’s. You don’t go from making fries to corporate.”
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
The HR leader denied saying this https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
Years ago, diversity staffers reportedly confronted @amazon’s HR leader (who is white) with data showing black employees hit a promotion ceiling in the corporate hierarchy. Her reply? “These people should pull themselves up by their bootstraps like I did.” https://t.co/ls67ez1aFW
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 15, 2021
Amazon’s founder didn’t want hourly workers to stick around for long, viewing “a large, disgruntled” workforce as a threat, Mr. Niekerk recalled.
— Anthony DeRosa ? (@Anthony) June 15, 2021
Guaranteed wage increases stopped after 3 years and provided incentives for low-skilled employees to leavehttps://t.co/GY4CkAUZKW
When something is cheap and fast, it's good to stop and ask: "Who's really paying for this?" My wife and our colleagues have spent many months asking this of Amazon. Here are the answers -- I'm proud of them and to work for a place that supports this level of reportorial effort. https://t.co/T5Iwgp9Cqh
— Ron Lieber (@ronlieber) June 15, 2021
“For those of us with experience, we know that data tells the story and is key to focusing on the right things,” another diversity employee told Recode. “We hope we are hitting home runs, but in most cases we are working off of anecdotes.”https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
As a related aside, the scale:
— Raju Narisetti (@raju) June 15, 2021
--Most of Times Square could fit inside this one Amazon JFK8 warehouse.
--It covers 15 football fields.
--Runs nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
--Employs 5,000 https://t.co/90MfClsSdK
Incredible deep dive into the huge Amazon warehouse on Staten Island and how the company's profits skyrocketed during the pandemic. https://t.co/nAPDue2Kdv
— Anne Barnard (@ABarnardNYT) June 15, 2021
In the NYT Amazon story: Alberto Castillo tested positive after working mandatory OT & eventually had brain damage. His wife said disability payments were at first halted & a general manager at the Amazon facility said they didn't keep track of infections. https://t.co/vVAW5Uo5TO pic.twitter.com/NKDnA8oP2S
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) June 15, 2021
Thread: In February, we published an investigation on allegations from Black Amazon corporate employees about bias inside the company (https://t.co/AoCUdWuPqm)
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
I've since tried to learn why these issues fester. A common thread has been Amazon's HR dept.https://t.co/GgyQqMcK3w
Amazon using an Obama alum, tried to beat media coverage of the person organizing for Covid protections by calling him “inarticulate”
— ?Sydette Cosmic Gorgon ?? (@Blackamazon) June 15, 2021
Amazon execs quit it was so racist https://t.co/ZBFLCb7Bnj
"Amazon’s founder didn’t want hourly workers to stick around for long, viewing 'a large, disgruntled' work force as a threat".... "Company data showed that most employees became less eager over time and Mr. Bezos believed that people were inherently lazy."https://t.co/Gko3PSkys0
— Shelf Awareness (@ShelfAwareness) June 15, 2021
At the core of NYT's sweeping, deeply-reported investigation of the HR chaos in Amazon warehouses during Covid surge: the company's explicit preference for high turnover and an expendable workforce. #fulfillment https://t.co/ZCrdlToJRM pic.twitter.com/iX6ihdzHf2
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) June 15, 2021
Exclusive: this investigation took us all the way to Bezos and the heart of Amazon’s employment model. We have a lot of new information, and Twitter convention says I need to start shooting it out this second. But I don’t feel ready. (Thread.) https://t.co/7cpC7Bk2oE
— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) June 15, 2021
While Alberto Castillo, a 42-year-old husband, father and Amazon worker, was in the hospital suffering from Covid-related brain damage, Amazon sent him an email ordering him back to work. A new investigation into NYC's only fulfillment center. https://t.co/DNmmqu3WAT
— Lauren Katzenberg (@Lkatzenberg) June 15, 2021
Pretty excited to have contributed a few drops of reporting to this extensive investigation about the human toll of Amazon's explosive growth during the pandemic.
— Alexander Villegas (@AlexRamiroV) June 15, 2021
Give it a read, and if you work for Amazon, hit us up and let us know what you think. https://t.co/dYaRe15UWs
Please remember this the next time a recruiter contacts you about an amazing opportunity at Twitch or AWS ? https://t.co/POyS15s9SI
— Elizabeth Sampat (@twoscooters) June 15, 2021
Others want to see more accountability when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion work at Amazon.
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
“I don’t think broadly that senior leadership wants to do the wrong thing. But with things that are a business imperative, there are consequences."https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
NEW: In a new feature, I report on the years-long internal battle to make Amazon a more diverse, inclusive & equitable workplace.
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
I spoke to 14 DEI experts who've worked for Amazon & say the HR division & HR leader have long been barriers to their work https://t.co/GgyQqMcK3w
In short, Amazon employees say the company is at an inflection point. Several said they want to stay but they also reiterated a common belief: that uncomfortable change at Amazon often only comes as a result of external pressure.https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
A source said the white HR leader once told staff that Black employees who hit promotion barriers should "pull themselves up by their bootstraps like I did."
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
The HR leader has denied making the remarks.https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
Will you break your Amazon addiction after reading this brutal report based on nearly 200 interviews, company documents, legal filings, government records, warehouse feedback boards? @nytimes https://t.co/jlaVGycULb
— Kim Severson (@kimseverson) June 15, 2021
“Reporters interviewed nearly 200 current and former employees, from new hires at the JFK8 bus stop to back-office workers overseas to managers….”
— Liz Essley Whyte (@l_e_whyte) June 15, 2021
This level of reporting shines in this investigation. Clear mastery of both good and bad happening at this warehouse. ?????? https://t.co/17uMBjTROv
Employees also stressed that other companies are moving diversity work out from under HR.
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
“DEI is emancipatory work and at times needs to challenge the company itself,” a current Amazon employee told Recode. “HR acts like the company’s bodyguard..."https://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
An unprecedented look inside Amazon from @jodikantor @KYWeise & @gr_ashford https://t.co/7vq3oDPRYA
— Ben Smith (@benyt) June 15, 2021
Since my February piece, I've learned that Amazon has further restricted access to internal data that DEI experts say they need.
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) June 15, 2021
Amazon's global diversity team has also been in a state of upheaval, with heavy turnover and restructuringshttps://t.co/48Hh7kEMFt
The same day @jodikantor et al drop their big investigation @nytimes into how Jeff Bezos treats workers (as disposable), his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, announces she's given away $2.74 billion over the first THREE months of 2021https://t.co/7667VzzG5xhttps://t.co/JGuqg1JfLB
— Emily Peck (@EmilyRPeck) June 15, 2021
Deep dive on Amazon's employment problems >> Amazon loses 3% of its hourly workers each week, meaning a turnover of roughly 150% a year!!
— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) June 15, 2021
Black workers at its huge Staten Island warehouse were almost 50% more likely to be fired than white workers there https://t.co/Bs676PgWlK
“In 2019, Amazon hired more than 770,000 hourly workers, even though the company…grew by just 150,000 that year…That meant the equivalent of Amazon’s entire work force — roughly 650,000 people at the start of the year — left and were replaced that year.” https://t.co/blVOKf1trK
— Christy Thornton (@llchristyll) June 15, 2021
There is no employer more significant to the American story right now than Amazon, and this deep dive inside its massive operation explains it better than anyone else has. https://t.co/45HzbfNSZ3
— Jack Nicas (@jacknicas) June 15, 2021
"Bezos didn’t want hourly workers to stick around for long, viewing 'a large, disgruntled' workforce as a threat"
— Jobs With Justice (@jwjnational) June 15, 2021
AMZ treats their workers like crap bc they *want* them to leave—it's official policy! It's also why AMZ's injury rate is 2x the industry avg.https://t.co/9j4cLU81cN
Amazon's turnover rate is 150% a year.
— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) June 15, 2021
They're so desperate for labor they cut off disability benefits for a worker who got brain damage on the job and pressured him to come back.
A $1.7 trillion company can afford to treat workers like human beings.https://t.co/h6yR82jZI5
“In 2019, Amazon hired >770,000 hourly workers, even though the company, including corporate staff, grew by just 150,000 that year.”
— Tech Won't Save Us (@techwontsaveus) June 15, 2021
“The equivalent of Amazon’s entire work force … left and were replaced.” Some are worried it will run out of workers .https://t.co/XvTK3mlzmK
The same day @jodikantor et al drop their big investigation @nytimes into how Jeff Bezos treats workers (as disposable), his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, announces she's given away $2.74 billion over the first THREE months of 2021https://t.co/7667VzzG5xhttps://t.co/JGuqg1JfLB
— Emily Peck (@EmilyRPeck) June 15, 2021
At the core of NYT's sweeping, deeply-reported investigation of the HR chaos in Amazon warehouses during Covid surge: the company's explicit preference for high turnover and an expendable workforce. #fulfillment https://t.co/ZCrdlToJRM pic.twitter.com/iX6ihdzHf2
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) June 15, 2021
This is great reporting. It conveys some balance, and doesn't just bash @amazon. One could teach an entire labor econ course off of the issues discussed -- incentives, turnover, monitoring, benefits, unions ...@nytimes
— David Neumark (@NeumarkDN) June 15, 2021
The Amazon That Customers Don’t See https://t.co/ghtjJxGlIL
You can’t make the best delivery logistics omelette in a pandemic without breaking some people. Read this fair and thorough piece by @jodikantor @KYWeise and @gr_ashford
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) June 15, 2021
The Amazon That Customers Don’t See https://t.co/4c7fZRthOM
In today's @nytimes I analyzed 83 counties where Amazon opened fulfillment and distribution centers. On average the yearly turnover rate rises 30 percentage points two years after Amazon opens compared with two years prior. https://t.co/gUFxSel9e9 pic.twitter.com/Qs7iKknqeK
— Scott Reinhard (@scottreinhard) June 15, 2021
absolutely infuriating: Amazon deliberately disincentivizes its hourly workers from staying with the company, capping automatic raises after three years and rarely promoting them to management
— Mark Stenberg (@MarkStenberg3) June 15, 2021
it does this *so that* its laborers leave constantly https://t.co/hbgpKJVn0m pic.twitter.com/OG72FVxl7Q
While Alberto Castillo, a 42-year-old husband, father and Amazon worker, was in the hospital suffering from Covid-related brain damage, Amazon sent him an email ordering him back to work. A new investigation into NYC's only fulfillment center. https://t.co/DNmmqu3WAT
— Lauren Katzenberg (@Lkatzenberg) June 15, 2021
This investigation is soul crushing and really worth your time, especially if you order things on Amazon. (Which you should avoid if you can!) https://t.co/NgcFu4x3Nc
— Rose Eveleth ▷▷ (@roseveleth) June 15, 2021
"That success, speed and agility were possible because Amazon and its founder, Jeff Bezos, had pioneered new ways of mass-managing people through technology, relying on a maze of systems that minimized human contact to grow unconstrained."https://t.co/W1sDGlbgt1
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) June 15, 2021
For 9+ months @jodikantor and @KYWeise and I have been trying to solve a riddle: how is it that Amazon, one of the most powerful companies in the world, whose hourly positions pay more than $15/hr + good benefits, burns through workers so quickly?https://t.co/p9nxNkU8Xt
— Grace Ashford (@gr_ashford) June 15, 2021
We have *lot* of new info on Amazon. Please read the article-- a real story, with twists. But here’s a roadmap of our findings on sky-high turnover, alarming racial inequities, mistaken firings, and how it all ties back to Bezos' ideas about lazy workers. https://t.co/8coY7cFIcK
— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) June 15, 2021
やっぱりAmazonは今の構造は続かない気がする。やっぱり今後5年を見据えてBig techで一番良いポジションにいるのはMicrosoftだと思うなあhttps://t.co/m9OzgjN4x0
— touya (@touya_huji) June 16, 2021
In some counties with fulfillment centers, Amazon is single-handedly destroying working conditions so much that the warehousing industry has to replace its *entire* workforce every year https://t.co/tDBApngCvW pic.twitter.com/qh3WaEik8R
— Ben Zipperer (@benzipperer) June 15, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Since I started covering Amazon ~3 yrs ago, its work force has grown by 700,000. It’s the iconic employer of our time. @jodikantor @gr_ashford and I dove deep inside Amazon to explore it’s relationship w its workers ?https://t.co/uQsqC5DmgD
— Karen Weise (@KYWeise) June 15, 2021
The @nytimes today revealed (again) Amazon’s extractive relationship with workers. The human and inhuman details in this story from @jodikantor + @kyweise are damning. Federal lawmakers should pay attention & start moving antitrust legislation, fast (1/x)https://t.co/BMZ8qPIWPB
— Dania Rajendra (@DaniaRajendra) June 15, 2021
Bezos “didn’t want hourly workers to stick around for long … Amazon provided incentives for low-skilled employees to leave.”
— Danielle Misiak (@DanielleMisiak) June 15, 2021
an incredible piece — “The Amazon That Customers Don’t See”https://t.co/2nnUKSiIzz pic.twitter.com/Z4V4Q0weQy
1/ This is fabulous: https://t.co/MGmLaXFAZU
— Tim Bray (@timbray) June 15, 2021
Outstanding reporting, writing, and presentation.
Never mind whether Amazon is treating people right; the question is whether it’s possible to go on operating at this scale, given a single-minded focus on efficiency above everything.
The Amazon That Customers Don’t See https://t.co/W9TAyTGGEE
— Petros Papaconstantinou (@PPapacon) June 16, 2021
The Amazon That Customers Don’t Seehttps://t.co/RWYmuxr1DC pic.twitter.com/nMe7BZYoin
— Ella Septima-Hamer (@jbrous41) June 15, 2021
A key finding of this story is that Jeff Bezos *intentionally* encouraged turnover among hourly Amazon workers-- an approach with massive consequences (thread)https://t.co/8coY7cFIcK
— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) June 15, 2021
https://t.co/doThM8mCa5 Confirms every awful thing that has been said about Amazon's treatment of its employees. It's a 21st century digital chain gang, that burns through manual workers the way that older businesses blew through machines on their factory lines.
— Marshall Auerback (@Mauerback) June 15, 2021
Amazon has invested billions in automation precisely because the company despises employing humans. They're just treating human workers like machines with the hope they one day will be. https://t.co/QzQtBBwySX
— Gillian Branstetter (@GBBranstetter) June 16, 2021