Employee Separation & Retention

Amazon employee separation and retention:

• Regarding voluntary turnover, Amazon offers a wide array of leave according to the Article “Inside Amazon’s Worst Human Resources Problem”. These forms of leave include paid or unpaid, medical or personal, and legally mandated or not. This helps with job satisfaction, offering employees paid leave whenever a problem in their life may arise. Employees apply for leaves online, on an internal app, or through automated phone trees. 

• According to this same article, Amazon granted leave to an employee who was facing a domestic violence crisis. Under state laws, employers must offer unpaid leave to protect these types of victims. Amazon approved her leave, but later fired her for being behind on work and deadlines. The state attorney general's office took upon her court case with Amazon’s leave system mentioning that it was a “failure” and that the company was in violation of state law. 

• Job dissatisfaction was at a high for Amazon employees when an investigation discovered that Amazon had been underpaying new parents, patients dealing with medical issues, and other workers on leave. Employees were angry because Amazon focuses on customers over their employees and workers took a back seat to customers. This is why workers on leave were being underpaid because their well0being is not most important to the company, which can create voluntary turnover. 

• In the article by Jodi Cantor, an Amazon employee reaching out asking about disability payments was reverted to phone trees, auto-replies, and voicemail messages. Amazon uses almost too much technology to keep track of their workers that they can feel a lack of support from their supervisors. 

• To combat voluntary turnover, this article states that the head of human resources for Amazon warehouses said that the company has now prioritized employee welfare by expanding its H.R. staff and cited internal surveys showing higher worker satisfaction. 

• During the pandemic when voluntary turnover was at a high, Amazon offered benefits like a temporary $2/ hour raise, double pay for overtime, and unlimited paid time off. 

• This same article states that regarding involuntary turnover, Black associates at a major Amazon warehouse were almost 50 percent more likely to be fired, whether it was for productivity, misconduct, or not showing up for work, than their white peers, records have shown. This puts Amazon at the front of a procedural justice issue when letting employees go.