Amazing overall concept; horrible individuals in senior roles
Pros
- Most customer-centric company I have ever worked for. Amazon truly cares about its customers, what its customers wants and truly listens to customer feedback. Everything Amazon invests in, experiments and creates is for customer wants and needs. - Compensates VERY well. Base salary was very competitive for the role and the RSU grants were very generous, both initial and subsequent awards. - Fast-paced and dynamic environment. You were never bored at work. Fluid and constant-changing processes allows tons of opportunities for process improvement, innovation and problem solving.
Cons
- Career advancement rests entirely on Sr Team's perceptions instead of results or associate feedback. Making relationships with Sr Leadership is the most important factor in getting rated well/promoted. Heavily political. Managers with no results have been promoted to being the personal favorite of the General Manager. - Work/Life balance is nearly non-existent. Managers are expected to be on call 24/7 via email and phone when not at the Fulfillment Center. It was considered a badge of honor if a manager did not use their PTO or vacation time off in a given year. There was an Operations Manager who only took 2 days off when his son was born due to fear of the Sr Team perceiving him as not owning his role. - Cut-throat manager evaluations; no matter how much of a top-performing and contributing leader each individual manager is, someone has to be rated at the bottom through the current system. The difference maker is in the perceptions of Sr Team (see first point).
