Amazon & Its Work Place

Industrial Psychology

Amazon & its Work Place

Many of us usually shop from Amazon for its great customer service and their reputable company. Amazon had recently become the most valuable retailer in the country but the life inside their corporate offices is largely a big mystery as said by their employees as said in this article Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace by Jodi Kantor David Streitfeld. In Amazon, their employees are told to forget their "poor habits" that were taught at their previous jobs. Employees are encouraged to question their colleagues and their surroundings. They are to tear apart one another’s ideas. Colleagues were also shown on how to secretly send feedback to one another’s bosses. The employees are to think beyond what they know and can possibly do. Moreover they are encouraged to think outside the box. For instance, one employee says when they "hit the wall”, they are expected to "climb the wall". This is a company that is known to be very fast paced and not many recruits last longer than a few years. Some say they were forced to leave and some left willingly. It's a term called "purposeful Darwinism". When employees go home, emails and text messages arrive to them after midnight asking them about why there were no replies. Many employees say that they were unfairly evaluated by their managers when employees had personal crises going on such as their health problems. But more importantly individuals are pushed away because they fail to be innovative. Managers took it as if they couldn’t handle the work that was given to them or they were being lazy. One of the employees were told by their boss that raising children would most likely prevent her from success at a higher level because of the long hours required by her job.  Amazon is a company that dares to be peculiar. The company authorized only a handful of senior managers to talk to reporters for this matter, declining requests for interviews.

Those who are newcomers and those who just graduated can find it a little tough and imitating to work for a company like Amazon. I can tell that these people might find it hard very hard at first because it is mostly about competition between colleagues and who can come up with better ideas. For new employees to go beyond what they know can be quite difficult. They might feel as if they are not good enough as the employees who have been working in Amazon for a while. Amazon has said that those who are losers in the field are to leave the job. In other worlds those employees who haven't given their best or doesn't meet Amazon’s expectations are to leave or to be fired. It is also unfair to those employees who have personal crises and can't deliver all their effort into the company. Women who come back from maternity leave can find it very hard to deal with all the work in the office and alongside think about their baby at home that they have left home. A lot of jobs aren't fair to their employees which trigger me the most because as a company or even a manager, they should take care of their employees so the employees can deliver what's expected of them. 

In this company, they want to do big things which is a big challenge for many employees. Sometimes it can interfere with their personal life. When a company expects so much from an individual, it can take a big toll on them. Suzanne Harper, one of Amazon's top recruiter said “When you’re shooting for the moon, the nature of the work is really challenging. For some people it doesn’t work.” From what Harper has said, I am taking that as for some employees the work load from their company is way too much for them to handle. Challenge in a workplace is not for everyone and can find it overwhelming. The way how this organization runs, does not meet the employee’s satisfaction. As said in interviews, the reason why several employees stay with Amazon is because it pushes them past what they thought were their limits. If they were to leave their job and work at another field, they can be ahead of the game at their new place because of the training and practice they received from with Amazon. Giving a big amount of workload while employees are not being paid enough is hard. They are pushing their team to do more for less money.

From what I understand, I don't see much teamwork because several are complaining and are upset with their job. It can cause them stress mentally and physically. The company is doing well but the employees are not happy because the job is very challenging and also because they lack teamwork. The managers or those who have several amount of work experience at Amazon are not helping the new comers but actually just placing a bunch of workload in their face. When something is very challenging, their peers should help them and show them ways on how to approach it. Their senior colleagues can also tell them how they have dealt with it when they first came to the work field. They're expected to question each other and challenge each other instead of helping each other. In a way it can really help those who want to grow very rapidly in the field but also can affect those who hasn't been into the work field yet. Amazon is just pushing into getting technology in the modern office by giving the employees a bunch of challenges to overcome in very little time. 

In the article, I came across a quote that stated that employee satisfaction is very low at amazon. Olsen, a previous employee in Amazon’s book company said “Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.” Olsen only lasted two years in the book marketing role because all he saw was people weep after walking out of the office or a conference room. Their hard work wasn’t being seen. It is very sad that these people are not enjoying their jobs and the former employees of Amazon are talking about how bad their job was. When an employee is not happy with their job, they will not deliver their best work. When employees don't deliver their best work, the idea of doing big things in the company does not move up or get accomplished. Without the employee's satisfaction in a workplace, it is very hard to achieve customer satisfaction. I work for CVS pharmacy as a pharmacy technician and sometimes I am overwhelmed of the huge lines and several prescriptions I have to fill. Sometimes I feel as if I am getting no help and being told to do things. I constantly run around because we are usually short staffed and the schedule is very off at times. The workers get backed up and costumers get very angry because they are not receiving their medications on time and they have to stand in huge lines. I then tell myself that if I give up then these customers will be in the pharmacy forever and will not stop complaining and shouting. Customer satisfaction is very important because at the end of the week when your scores come in, the scores can end up being very high and then you realize the hard work you do pays of at the end of the day.