If there’s one thing Amazon is notorious for, it’s making life difficult for its employees. More and more workers are airing their grievances about the inhumane working conditions, punishing quotas, and unbelievable behavior by management.
This time, the company decided to lure new staff with significant signing benefits, only to reveal that it’s just another false promise. Redditor FlabertoDimmadome made a post on the Anti Work subreddit about how their brother was recently fired just one day before his $3000 hiring bonus.
The thread quickly went viral by striking a nerve with hundreds of employees who started sharing their own experiences. Bored Panda has collected some illuminating and troubling stories where people shed light on toxic practices by the companies they worked for. Scroll down to see what they’re all about and tell us what you think about them in the comments!
This Redditor recently shared how Amazon fired their brother right before his expected hiring bonus
Image credits: Adrian Sulyok (not the actual photo)
Image credits: FlabertoDimmadome
The story inspired others to share their own similar experiences
This post may include affiliate links.
I know it would be terrible for you but all just walk out ! We did this years ago! it took a few months but we a won union contract!
Interviewed at a place and was told I had a waiting period to get HC. Told them I understood, couldn't accept any kind of wait, and thanked them for the interview. They got mad that I ended the interview instead of tried to negotiate.
Go to labor and industries, they will help him get his pay. The law is 72 hours after your last shift.
In just a few days, FlabertoDimmadome’s post amassed more than 41k upvotes and 2k comments full of people’s dissatisfaction with how they or their loved ones were being treated by different businesses. Like thinking you were a part-time worker and finding out HR lied to you and internally hired you as seasonal. Or being promised a permanent position only to learn your employer never intended to go through with it.
No wonder people are getting fed up with senseless and upsetting measures some companies take just to save money. A survey by the global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry revealed that 94 percent of retailers are struggling to fill empty positions, even though nearly a third say they have implemented referral programs, and 29 percent offer sign-on bonuses.
"Retail hiring is intensely competitive today, and to win the war for talent, companies must create a positive employer brand that is genuine and consistent for all employees," retail expert Craig Rowley said. "Right now in the U.S. there are an inordinate amount of job openings overall, so retailers have to be creative in how they attract and retain talent."
However, genuineness and consistency seem to be the things firms mentioned in this post truly lack. Plus, as we see from the thread, sometimes signing bonuses look good only on paper since companies might think of sneaky tricks to make employees' lives even more challenging.
Who the hell calls and says that to a long tenured employee? "Your vacation is permanent???" What an animal...
Good on whoever gave you the heads ups and smart of you to figure out how to make them give you your vacation.
Jeff Bezos’ online retail giant, Amazon, has been mentioned countless times not only in the comments but also in the headlines. Susan Harker, Amazon’s top recruiter told the New York Times that "this is a company that strives to do really big, innovative, groundbreaking things, and those things aren’t easy." You see, "when you’re shooting for the moon, the nature of the work is really challenging. For some people, it doesn’t work."
Well, "for some" is quite an understatement. Amazon chews through the average worker in eight months, journalist Steven Greenhouse wrote. "That’s an unmistakable sign that Amazon’s jobs are unpleasant, to put it kindly, and that many Amazon workers quickly realize they hate working there because of the stress, breakneck pace, constant monitoring and minimal rest breaks," he added.
Golly, people need to BOYCOTT this scumbag "company." Just stop buying from them but noooo, they're just too lazy to research prices. I have bought a grand total of $30 of stuff from them in my whole life. I don't support evil brands like that. If Hitler ran a retail company, it would be Amazon.
According to Greenhouse, the workers continue to endure terrible work conditions, long hours, and terrible requirements all while Jeff Bezos said he is committed to making Amazon "Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work".
"Evidently, Bezos fails to realize that any company whose workers leave after eight months on average is light years from being Earth’s Best Employer. As for being Earth’s Safest Place to Work, Bezos shouldn’t insult workers’ or the public’s intelligence by making such a claim, considering the rate of serious injuries at Amazon’s warehouses in 2020 was nearly twice that at other warehouses across the US."
You can get it in writing that if you are let go after a certain time period but before you're getting the bonus, then they still have to pay it. Like you get it after 6mo, but if they let you go after only 5mo, you still get it. It's hard, but people have sued about this and won
There's an excellent alternative for book buying called BetterWorldBooks. A portion of every sale goes to literature programs and book donations to prisons & schools. They're world-wide. I bought several books from the UK through them. Of course none of the owners has a pen¡s-shaped spaceship though.
Kohl did the same thing to me - but they didn't even have the common decency to tell me I was done. I kept checking the schedule for weeks. I finally talked to the store manager and he told me I was let go. Bastards
I'm sorry, but this is more of a USA problem than an Amazon problem. Here in the UK Amazon is seen as a good employer, offering pay and other benefits equal to or better than many other companies. However, as most working conditions such as pay, working hours, breaks, holiday entitlement and sick leave are defined by law, companies simply cannot treat their staff here like they do in the US. I am sure that Amazon is not the only company that takes advantage of the USA's lax or nonexistent employment laws. Most companies will abide by their country's laws in the cheapest way possible and unfortunately the USA makes this very easy by not having many employment laws in the first place.
They're still massive tax avoiders who offshore their profits, meaning it's taxpayers who suffer, want to know why local services and the NHS are suffering? Companies like Amazon and Starbucks.
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I imagine for most non-Americans, none of this makes any sense. The only affordable way to have health insurance in the US is through your job. Trying to buy it privately would cost you 50-75% of your income. Without health insurance, you have to pay for every doctor's visit, test, prescription, etc. yourself, which is many 100s. Also in the USA, you do not automatically get paid days off. Some jobs will make you work a whole year, sometimes two years, before you are entitled to ONE WEEK's vacation. In much of the USA, you can fire someone without any reason. So someone can work many months without health insurance and without vacation, and without a sign-on bonus, and you can be fired before any of those things kick in. Companies are only obligated to provide health insurance if you are full time, so big companies like Walmart and Amazon hire people full time with promises, but then only give them 30 hours a week work, which is not full time, so the benefits never kick in.
Its always the us, probably probably the worst labor laws among the developed countries
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Jeff Bezos is a terrible person, and wouldn’t care if any Amazon employee lived or died. I refuse to use them. I won’t even watch their streaming service. F**k Amazon. F**k Jeff Bezos.
The Whole of the working population in America should just NOT go to work for 2 days- to lobby the government to bring in some employment laws, can you imagine - the whole of the USA at a standstill for 2 days?? Only needs for somebody to put the date on at least one social media platform!
I must assume that all these Amazons they're talking about are in the US. Here in Canada, they wouldn't be able to get away with that kind of garbage. We have labour laws that cover EVERY company, whether they're unionized or not, and employers simply cannot just fire you without a damned good reason, and even then there are certain procedures that need to be met.
U.S. Government Accountability Office: More than 4,000 full-time warehouse workers at Amazon, the e-commerce giant founded by the world's richest man, depend on food stamps to make ends meet in nine states.
Just many reasons why affordable health insurance should not be tied to your job.
reading all these entries - you know what stops abuses like these? Strong unions stop abuses like these.
Also complaining to your State’s Board of Labor or CHRO! ❣️
Load More Replies... Most states are an at will employment, which means the employer as well as the employee have the right to terminate employment at anytime for any reason.
Why are there no laws against this this is a form of slavery but your free to leave any time and they can figuratively kill you at any time. These places should be held accountable for the things they do but we all know why they are not policed. The reason is is that they are controlled by rich men and everyone is afraid of them Including the Government! There is just so much corruption everywhere. Capone only got caught because of tax evasion. These bastards are cooking the books also maybe a financial investigation should be implemented. The people who run these corrupt businesses have no morals at all they don't care because they are rich!
I'm sorry, but this is more of a USA problem than an Amazon problem. Here in the UK Amazon is seen as a good employer, offering pay and other benefits equal to or better than many other companies. However, as most working conditions such as pay, working hours, breaks, holiday entitlement and sick leave are defined by law, companies simply cannot treat their staff here like they do in the US. I am sure that Amazon is not the only company that takes advantage of the USA's lax or nonexistent employment laws. Most companies will abide by their country's laws in the cheapest way possible and unfortunately the USA makes this very easy by not having many employment laws in the first place.
They're still massive tax avoiders who offshore their profits, meaning it's taxpayers who suffer, want to know why local services and the NHS are suffering? Companies like Amazon and Starbucks.
Load More Replies... I imagine for most non-Americans, none of this makes any sense. The only affordable way to have health insurance in the US is through your job. Trying to buy it privately would cost you 50-75% of your income. Without health insurance, you have to pay for every doctor's visit, test, prescription, etc. yourself, which is many 100s. Also in the USA, you do not automatically get paid days off. Some jobs will make you work a whole year, sometimes two years, before you are entitled to ONE WEEK's vacation. In much of the USA, you can fire someone without any reason. So someone can work many months without health insurance and without vacation, and without a sign-on bonus, and you can be fired before any of those things kick in. Companies are only obligated to provide health insurance if you are full time, so big companies like Walmart and Amazon hire people full time with promises, but then only give them 30 hours a week work, which is not full time, so the benefits never kick in.
Its always the us, probably probably the worst labor laws among the developed countries
Load More Replies... Jeff Bezos is a terrible person, and wouldn’t care if any Amazon employee lived or died. I refuse to use them. I won’t even watch their streaming service. F**k Amazon. F**k Jeff Bezos.
The Whole of the working population in America should just NOT go to work for 2 days- to lobby the government to bring in some employment laws, can you imagine - the whole of the USA at a standstill for 2 days?? Only needs for somebody to put the date on at least one social media platform!
I must assume that all these Amazons they're talking about are in the US. Here in Canada, they wouldn't be able to get away with that kind of garbage. We have labour laws that cover EVERY company, whether they're unionized or not, and employers simply cannot just fire you without a damned good reason, and even then there are certain procedures that need to be met.
U.S. Government Accountability Office: More than 4,000 full-time warehouse workers at Amazon, the e-commerce giant founded by the world's richest man, depend on food stamps to make ends meet in nine states.
Just many reasons why affordable health insurance should not be tied to your job.
reading all these entries - you know what stops abuses like these? Strong unions stop abuses like these.
Also complaining to your State’s Board of Labor or CHRO! ❣️
Load More Replies... Most states are an at will employment, which means the employer as well as the employee have the right to terminate employment at anytime for any reason.
Why are there no laws against this this is a form of slavery but your free to leave any time and they can figuratively kill you at any time. These places should be held accountable for the things they do but we all know why they are not policed. The reason is is that they are controlled by rich men and everyone is afraid of them Including the Government! There is just so much corruption everywhere. Capone only got caught because of tax evasion. These bastards are cooking the books also maybe a financial investigation should be implemented. The people who run these corrupt businesses have no morals at all they don't care because they are rich!
