Appalled

I was recently hired on to work nights at my local FC location. I come from working at a FC for the Home Depot, and I will be completely honest, their level of professionalism and their standards for quality are pretty darn high. Coming to Amazon, knowing that they are "#1 in their industry", I was expecting these standards of professionalism to at least equal to that of The Home Depot, at least where direct fulfillment is concerned.

Let me say this: I am absolutely APPALLED by the complete lack of professionalism with Management and HR in this whole warehouse.

First of all, I noticed a trend starting with my first day in the building at their hiring event, where I was drug tested and filled out my I9 information. This was the first instance where the person directing that days events (the hiring event here), was not the person who was "supposed" to be directing the event or giving the employees their information for employment.

Ok, first day, things happen and people need to be covered. No problem.

2nd time I went into the building, it was for Orientation. This time, we had a few people from the "staffing" department come in and take names, give our group a brief breakdown of what was to be expected of the day and who was going to come in and educate the employees. The staff specifically stated that they would have someone else come in and direct the orientation, then people from various departments come in and speak about their department and how things work at Amazon, INCLUDING HR, Safety/Hazmat, and AR. (I'm thinking, cool, this will be just like tHD). WRONG. Apparently, everyone who was supposed to come in and speak were busy with other things (everyone? how convenient). So, that left my orientation group with Staffing employees to direct the presentation and half ass through it because it was quite obvious that they didn't know half of what they were talking about with various subjects (ESPECIALLY safety! See my comment below about Hazmat).

The THIRD time was on my actual first day, when we were supposed to have trainers come out and educate everyone on proper safety in the building as well as a guided tour. Well, guess what? We weren't trained by "trainers" whose sole job it is in the building to educate on safety and procedures in the building. There was one woman their, and apparently she didn't have the time, as she pulled two ICQA associates to run the program. The ICQA employee for my group not only a) mentioned several times throughout the class that she "normally doesn't do this". I get it, you're on the spot honey. BUT to spend 3/4 of our time telling us what we didn't need to know? She literally during the tour said "this (i.e. emergency wash station) is over there, but we aren't going that way so you'll need to find it on your own" and "I'm not entirely sure where each department meets on either side of the building for an emergency, you'll have to ask your manager" and several other instances where she pointed out key information about the building, but then turned around and said "but you don't need to know that." Ok, tell me what I DO NEED to know!

Just all around shoddy training. It wasn't just her fault though. The training materials (in this case, graphics and information on flip sheets), left something to be needed in safety training. With other jobs that I have had, I have literally had to sit and go through interactive computer courses on safety habits and procedures, and I know enough operational equipment, HAZMAT, PPE, and well as physical safety including ergonomic lifting and proper clothing to write my own book on it. YOU DON"T TELL SOMEONE TO "LIFT IN THE POWER ZONE/ZONE OF SAFETY" WITHOUT EXPLAINING TO THEM WHAT EXACTLY THAT IS AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT. Half ass everything is what my fellow newbies and I received during orientation and our first day.

Ok, I can assume that everyone I'm training with already knows this stuff, but judging by how quickly I was hired and how many young people I am working with, that it is safe to assume that this is a first real job for many of my coworkers, and I think that not only is it completely UNFAIR to improperly and inconsistently talk about safety and procedure to a new employee but potentially dangerous. Not only are you potentially setting them up for possible failure or disaster here in THIS workplace, but elsewhere in future occupations, because once a person is trained a certain, it can be difficult to train them back. I still give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but in our CURRENT place of employment? The situation is dire.

One staffing employee at orientation pulled up a few slides describing different HAZMAT symbols and hazards. He stared at them for a few seconds, then said "this is HAZMAT information, but you won't really be needing that..." AGAIN with the tell me what I do need to know then!

He then pulled up an image of an SDS sheet, and instead of explaining what it was WHILE pointing at it with a lazer, he went on to talk about these "safety slips" that you can fill out and give to management if you see a hazard. The problem here is, he completely glossed over what an actual SDS was, and was calling these "safety slips" SDS sheets. What the heck, now we are going to further confuse employees?

Ok, I understand that our particular building is lucky in that their are TOO many different things that we deal with that could be potentially dangerous. We don't deal with a lot of hazardous chemicals, though we have a few (products sold to customers such as hair dye and batteries), and we don't have a lot of operational equipment except for what is known here as a PIT vehicle (a type of operational forklift).

BUT if you are going to talk about safety, THEN TALK SAFETY! Be thorough, be clear about what you are talking about, and then give greater attention and detail to the topics that matter most. Hey, maybe a bit more information about the robots in our FC? For example, what to do if you see one on fire or if it malfunctions? Their has to be a better answer than "scream for help and wait for management". You can't seriously stand their and tell me to wait by a fire for someone else to take care of it...

My final note on my experience with this building...I really see no reason at all for management to be EVEN SHODDIER (if that could possibly be at this point, but alas, it proved me wrong...) for a night crew of ANY TYPE in ANY POSITION in ANY BUILDING at ANY COMPANY. 

During orientation, Staffing employees told all of us that we had a few days to change our temp passwords or that they will expire in 72 hours. Cool. I was going to go change it in the breakroom after orientation as per their suggestion. Towards the end they turn around and tell everyone that they can then just wait until their first day and when HR gives us our lockers, they (HR) or our management will then direct through changing our passwords. So I waited, as did 30 other people in my orientation group. Turns out, NO that is not a part of the first day (according to our lovely ICQA associate and Safety Trainer...) and that we need to take it up with HR. So ON MY LUNCH BREAK I decided to go to the only HR person on staff for the evening, and let me tell, she was a treat. Incredibly rude, incredibly unprofessional, and incredibly unhelpful.

When I ask her for help, she first states that "no, HR is absolutely not allowed to help employees with personal information, and that I was horribly misinformed by the daytime staff" who, and I'm not exaggerating, these are her words "need to really start getting their act together". So, when I asked if she could explain to me how to change it, she said "well you go to the HUB and change it" to which case I replied "I did and I spent ten minutes looking for it and I couldn't find it. Where is it located? In my profile? Somewhere hidden on the homepage? It's internal, so is it on the breakroom computer somewhere?" and she says "I have no idea you have to go on and look, or ask your manager". Ok, who is my manager? "It's so-and-so and they aren't here today. "So, what do I do?" "I don't know, guess you'll have to wait."

...are you kidding me. What the hell are you good for?

The icing on the cake was that I accidentally walked to HR with my backpack so when I went to the breakroom I had to go through security, and guess what? Forgot I left my phone in my bag, so I spent the last 10 minutes of my lunch dealing with them cataloging my personal device. Hey stupid! Betcha if you call my number you'll hear it ring! Considering you watched me walk up to the HR desk from the breakroom! (I understand it's their job, it's policy, I understand the risk, I am not really blaming the security staff for anything at all, only that my whole lunch was taken up by the hooey I had to deal with before).

Oh yes, breaks. Amazon, your break policies are horrible.

At tHD, I worked a solid 13 hour shift, and you know what made it manageable? TWO 30 minute lunches, plus THREE 20 minute breaks. A break every two hours. Does it seem generous? Because I have a health issue that requires me to eat quite frequently to keep my energy up (hyperthyroidism), so I was grateful for those breaks, as opposed to Amazons ONE 30 minute lunch and TWO 15 minute breaks. By the way, our 20 minute breaks including walking time between the front and back of the whole warehouse so that we could enjoy our legally authorized 15 minute break. You 15 minute includes the walk time, so we only really get a 10 minute break. If I am not mistaken, if an employee works 10 or more hours (which the shift does require!) we are entitled by law to have a 2nd 30 minute break.

So, I didn't clock back in for lunch, and left. First day! I'm going back in for my second night tonight, lets see if more can be added on to this story!

Am I angry? Yeah, I am. I have done packing before, I have been in a position where my shift requirement for units pack and shipped was a minimum 1200 during peak season at tHD. I personally love labor jobs, and love being active, but I need to know that I am SAFE, that I can TRUST management and HR, and that I am ALLOWED to take enough break time to be able to keep up my strength to do the best possible job I can for a company that clearly excels at customer service. I pride myself on being a hard worker and incredibly service oriented because I enjoy it, and the pay is well worth the physical work! But as many of us know already, employees relationships at Amazon need a complete 180 turn-around.