Amazon is one of the world’s largest companies. If you’re like most people, it’s probably not been that long since the last visit made to you by an Amazon truck. Behind those delivery trucks are massive warehouses full of products, and a logistics operation like no other. It’s impressive, to say the least! And it makes you and I getting the stuff we want SO much easier!
But to make all this machinery work, it takes a lot of people. A LOT of people - over 1.5 million! With any group this big, there are bound to be some issues, but does Amazon on the whole do right by its employees? Being headquartered right here in our state, we should see if getting a Paycheck from Amazon is a good thing…or if it’s not worth the pain.
Here are Five Fast Facts on getting a Paycheck from Amazon:
- 💸 The Pay - One of the most important parts of a job is the pay, and Amazon does well here. The average starting salary is $19/hr for many hourly front line workers, above many of their competitors. Corporate and tech workers have generous packages that include a 401k, extended leave time, and much better than average salaries. Sounds terrific to us!
- 👍 The Benefits - Amazon offers numerous benefits, including 100% payment of college tuition at partner schools, apprenticeships and career coaching, employee discounts, dogs-welcome policies, stock options, and more. Everyone should have dogs around more - it’s good for you!
- 🤔 The Controversy - However, not everything is rosy. Being such a huge company, Amazon is often the target of extra scrutiny, not to mention under extreme pressure to make bank. Imagine trying to navigate situations where a 0.1% improvement or decline is multiplied across over 1.5 million workers and over $1 trillion in sales each year! On that scale every little thing matters…literally.
- 📦 The Warehouses - There are a lot of complaints from workers about Amazon’s warehouses, particularly the safety record. Higher than normal injury reports in their 175+ warehouses around the country have prompted OSHA to formally investigate Amazon’s warehouse working conditions. Grab the popcorn, this one should be interesting!
- 🚚 The Drivers - The Internet is full of reports from Amazon drivers being forced to deliver in terrible weather like extreme heat or tropical storms, and to dark rural areas with snowy and icy roads. And then there’s the (potentially) crazy and dangerous people waiting at those addresses! And porch pirates. And hijackers. All of which are out of the driver’s control but can still result in the driver being written up and disciplined! And of course, the gem of the negative perspective: peeing in bottles in the truck because there isn’t time to stop for a break. 😱
🔥Bottom line: It’s safe to say that Amazon is an extremely influential company, for good or for bad. They provide a massive number of high-paying jobs, and we (of course!) love to see that. At the same time, we never want to see people get abused or have impossibly unreasonable expectations placed on them that only set them up for failure. As with most things, you have to take the bad with the good, but it seems that some accountability might help a company like this do better for their people…and hopefully in the long run that will benefit the bottom line, as well!
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