7 ms·

A coworker of mine at Amazon was diagnosed with cancer, and as far as I can tell, he was treated with the utmost respect and decency. His team and managers made

by mjt0229 11y ago

A coworker of mine at Amazon was diagnosed with cancer, and as far as I can tell, he was treated with the utmost respect and decency. His team and managers made a lot of accommodation for him while he underwent treatment. Unfortunately, he eventually passed away - to my knowledge, he was still employed to the very end (I moved away and left the company for other reasons, but many of my friends/coworkers stayed and are still there today). So, I have an anecdote, and this story is an anecdote. I'm not saying that my friend's story offsets the story here (especially because I wasn't the cancer patient in either case). Let's slow down before we draw too many conclusions from either one.

s73v3r 11y ago
Even if this story is just an anecdote, it is completely and absolutely unacceptable that Amazon would let anyone be treated like that. This is the kind of story that should end with people being fired for incompetence.
- mjt0229 11y ago
  I don't disagree. I only point out that people should not assume that this is the norm based on the single anecdote.
  - LoSboccacc 11y ago
    The point is it anectode don't cancel out like that It's like telling that's acceptable to have a plane crashing for every other plane that arrives safely.
jobu 11y ago
From the Article: "You can’t claim to be a data-driven company and not release more specific numbers on how many women and people of color apply, get hired and promoted, and stay on as employees. In the absence of meaningful public data — especially retention data — all we have are stories." Unless Amazon is willing to release the numbers, then most people will tend to believe the bad stories (like Julia's) over stories like your friend's.
- mjt0229 11y ago
  That quote addresses a separate (but very real) question. Issues of diversity in hiring and promotion are really important, and clearly affect lots of companies. I agree that Amazon should release those numbers, and I would not be surprised if Amazon would come up lacking here. But to single Amazon out based on this anecdote is unfair.
  - rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
    Fair? There is no fair in reputation. You either have a good one or you don't, and it's always easier to lose it. It takes hard work to earn back what you've lost in the eyes of society, and if you're not willing to go the extra disrance for it, then you don't deserve it. Amazon has gone significant lengths for me as a customer. The fact they aren't addressing this issue with the same intensity should be telling.
    - saranagati 11y ago
      this whole nyt article has turned into a fucking witch hunt. what exactly is amazon NOT doing to address these issues? why should it be any business of yours on how they address the issues since you aren't involved (proverbial you, maybe you do work there)? the way things are going it makes absolutely no sense for amazon to post anything about the situation because whatever is said will be torn to shreds and people will demand more information. what exactly would you expect them to do to address the situation? I dont see people who currently work at amazon complaining. some say thats because they're scared to which could be true or maybe it's just that the people who are giving these stories happened to have a lot of things fall into place at just the wrong time to make it seem malicious. no one in these stories post about what they did to demonstrate that they were performing well or not, only that other things were happening in their life then they got bad performance reviews. you know what? thats actually a common thing, major life events happen and your work performance starts to become poor. why not ask how long a company should continue paying an employee who's performing poorly? it's something that I have never seen an answer to by anyone or any company. on top of that what if someone had been doing poorly for a good amount of time, then just before review time comes up when they're going to get a bad review, they announce that they are pregnant or sick. what should a company do then? as I said in the beginning, this whole thing has turned into a witch hunt and nobody cares to ask any of the questions that matter and allow any one or company to build off of.
trustfundbaby 11y ago
Thats like saying you flew an airline safely while I tell you my friend died in a plane crash on the same airline. Those anecdotes do not carry the same weight at all. Situations like the OP should not be happening ... ever.
swasheck 11y ago
I wonder how much of that was tied to your friend's position and ... perhaps even gender? Your friend only had one of the conditions enumerated in this story.
manish_gill 11y ago
Yeah, just like we should slow down before drawing conclusions from the NYT article. Or before drawing conclusions from the plethora of anonymous posts all over the Internet. Etc etc.

by mjt0229 11y ago

s73v3r 11y ago

Even if this story is just an anecdote, it is completely and absolutely unacceptable that Amazon would let anyone be treated like that. This is the kind of story that should end with people being fired for incompetence.

mjt0229 11y ago
I don't disagree. I only point out that people should not assume that this is the norm based on the single anecdote.
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  The point is it anectode don't cancel out like that It's like telling that's acceptable to have a plane crashing for every other plane that arrives safely.

jobu 11y ago

From the Article: "You can’t claim to be a data-driven company and not release more specific numbers on how many women and people of color apply, get hired and promoted, and stay on as employees. In the absence of meaningful public data — especially retention data — all we have are stories." Unless Amazon is willing to release the numbers, then most people will tend to believe the bad stories (like Julia's) over stories like your friend's.

mjt0229 11y ago
That quote addresses a separate (but very real) question. Issues of diversity in hiring and promotion are really important, and clearly affect lots of companies. I agree that Amazon should release those numbers, and I would not be surprised if Amazon would come up lacking here. But to single Amazon out based on this anecdote is unfair.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
  Fair? There is no fair in reputation. You either have a good one or you don't, and it's always easier to lose it. It takes hard work to earn back what you've lost in the eyes of society, and if you're not willing to go the extra disrance for it, then you don't deserve it. Amazon has gone significant lengths for me as a customer. The fact they aren't addressing this issue with the same intensity should be telling.
  - saranagati 11y ago
    this whole nyt article has turned into a fucking witch hunt. what exactly is amazon NOT doing to address these issues? why should it be any business of yours on how they address the issues since you aren't involved (proverbial you, maybe you do work there)? the way things are going it makes absolutely no sense for amazon to post anything about the situation because whatever is said will be torn to shreds and people will demand more information. what exactly would you expect them to do to address the situation? I dont see people who currently work at amazon complaining. some say thats because they're scared to which could be true or maybe it's just that the people who are giving these stories happened to have a lot of things fall into place at just the wrong time to make it seem malicious. no one in these stories post about what they did to demonstrate that they were performing well or not, only that other things were happening in their life then they got bad performance reviews. you know what? thats actually a common thing, major life events happen and your work performance starts to become poor. why not ask how long a company should continue paying an employee who's performing poorly? it's something that I have never seen an answer to by anyone or any company. on top of that what if someone had been doing poorly for a good amount of time, then just before review time comes up when they're going to get a bad review, they announce that they are pregnant or sick. what should a company do then? as I said in the beginning, this whole thing has turned into a witch hunt and nobody cares to ask any of the questions that matter and allow any one or company to build off of.

trustfundbaby 11y ago

Thats like saying you flew an airline safely while I tell you my friend died in a plane crash on the same airline. Those anecdotes do not carry the same weight at all. Situations like the OP should not be happening ... ever.

swasheck 11y ago

I wonder how much of that was tied to your friend's position and ... perhaps even gender? Your friend only had one of the conditions enumerated in this story.

manish_gill 11y ago

Yeah, just like we should slow down before drawing conclusions from the NYT article. Or before drawing conclusions from the plethora of anonymous posts all over the Internet. Etc etc.