According to internal documents from the e-commerce and tech giant Amazon, the company purposefully forces six percent of its office employees out of the company each year, a metric Amazon calls “unregretted attrition.”
The Seattle Times reports that according to internal Amazon documents, the e-commerce giant attempts to remove six percent of its office workforce from the company every year. Amazon uses a series of processes in proprietary software to meet the turnover target among its lowest-ranked office workers, a metric which Amazon calls “unregretted attrition.”
New Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, photographed on March 24, 2014, inherits both challenges and rewards from mentor Jeff Bezos
In this Dec. 17, 2019, file photo, Amazon packages move along a conveyor at an Amazon warehouse facility in Goodyear, Ariz. Amazon’s pandemic boom isn’t showing signs of slowing down. The company said Thursday, April 29, 2021, that its first-quarter profit more than tripled from a year ago, fueled by the growth of online shopping. It also posted revenue of more than $100 billion, the second quarter in row that the company has passed that milestone. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
The documents appear to reveal that Amazon’s systems and processes closely resemble the management practice known as “stack ranking” which grades employees’ performance against their peers rather than measuring their performance based on their job description or performance goals.
Amazon reportedly expects more than one-third of employees placed on performance improvement initiatives to fail but has previously said that these initiatives are not meant to punish employees. The Seattle Times describes the internal Amazon ranking process writing:
Amazon recommends that managers of teams of more than 50 people distribute performance ratings on a curve, with 20% of employees rated “top tier,” and the lowest-performing 5% rated “least effective,” according to images of presentation slides for a training given to managers seen by The Seattle Times. The presentation is undated but appears to be from late 2020 or early this year, based on slides describing the 2021 performance review timeline.
Through the company’s internal personnel dashboard, called Ivy, Amazon’s human resources department requires managers to “initiate documented coaching” with low-ranked employees or else see the issue elevated to their boss, according to the presentation.
Ivy is “the single most-trafficked site” within the company, with three million hits daily, according to a recent Amazon job posting. Ivy launched roughly 18 months ago, according to Anderson, but its existence has not been previously reported.
Anna Tavis, a New York University professor of human capital management, commented on Amazon’s system stating: “It’s the old stack ranking with a new, automated twist to it. They’re automating the most important management function: employee development and coaching, helping people get better and perform.”
Many Amazon employees are reportedly not a fan of the ranking system. One former Amazon manager told the Seattle Times: “When you have to ‘Sophie’s Choice’ your employees, it’s not cool.”
Read more at the Seattle Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com