* Compensation - Yes, this is also a con. Specifically, the compensation is not adequate given the sacrifices you will make. As an Area Manager, you will routinely (off-peak) put in 50 hour weeks. Additionally, you may be working nights with no differential (your pay is the same). Due to Amazon's growth, mandatory overtime will be called frequently during off-peak season and you will be doing over 60 hours those weeks (you receive no overtime - you are exempt from labor laws). During peak (defined as November and December) you will put in 60 - 70 hours each week. Start doing the math and the pay per hour worked falls below acceptable levels.
* Working Conditions - Here's a shout-out to all of those working in FCs not in Phoenix (where they have air conditioning). During the summer months, the FC’s heat index remains above 100 day and night. It is not uncommon to be asking associates to meet their productivity goals while the heat index is at 110. Your pickers or stowers will be drenched in sweat looking like they are about to be a heat casualty. They get five extra minutes for break - that is all. You WILL feel like you are running a third-world sweatshop.
* Advancement - If you do not have an MBA and are not in the Pathways program than you are a second-class manager. Pathways do not work nights, and they will automatically promote regardless of performance. This is a fact, not an opinion. I have worked with some excellent Pathways managers, and I have worked with some absolutely dreadful ones. The bad ones are not fired, but instead moved around to allow them to fail in a different area. If you do not "drink the kool-aid" you will be labeled as "negative". Senior leaders do not want to be challenged or questioned. Do not approach them with your concerns and do not attempt to be an advocate for the associates under your care. You will quietly be ignored and not considered for any promotion above the AM level even if your performance reviews and associate surveys are excellent.
* Work/Life Balance - This is hit hard in just about every Amazon review on the site. See the above compensation con for hours worked. Also realize that you will very likely end up working nights. If you have a family, this will be incredibly disruptive as you will be on an opposite schedule even on your days off. There is not set rotation off of night shift. You can ask, but there is no guarantee and I have worked with AMs that have spent four years and counting on nights even though they have a family and have been requesting days since their first year. If you are single, this may not be a big deal. Also realize that you will be working weekends, either a Saturday or a Sunday. If your kids are in school, you only have one day a week to spend time with them.
* Your real job – As an AM for a large shift, you are being hired to babysit. You will spend a vast majority of your time issuing documented warnings to your associates that are underperforming. When they make an error, you will go find them slap their wrist. When they are off-task for a few minutes, you will go find them. You may have 50 – 100 associates and you are going to spend your time making sure they stay on task and follow procedures. You will focus on the negative all of the time because that is the nature of working in an Amazon FC where numbers are king. You will gain plenty of experience dealing with people. But you will not learn any technical or in depth operations skills. Actual operations decisions will be made in meetings without your input. Hiring and even firings of your direct reports will often be made without your input and sometimes knowledge, thus exacerbating the feeling that you were hired only to babysit, not run an operation.
*If you remain in the Reserves – Lastly, for you JMOs coming off of active duty that are staying in the reserves, it can be difficult to work at Amazon while actively drilling. If you are working nights, have fun staying up all day during your weekend drills (your body will be on a reverse cycle). Since your shift includes a weekend, you will need to apply for military LOA. Amazon will freely grant this. However, they will cut your paycheck. I found it humorous that during peak when I was working 70+ hours a week, my paystub would still calculate 40 hours per week in order to keep the pay consistent (remember, you are exempt and do not receive overtime). The second you actually miss a day for training, your pay is cut by 10 hours – so now they start counting hours. It’s not against the law, but I just found it less than favorable. My current position (and the one prior to Amazon) both assumed I would make up any work missed and not miss any deadlines- that is the nature of an exempt position.
