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In today's big story, Big Tech is pulling back on the freebies for its employees . The perks help recruit and retain talent and keep employees working at the office. Some Amazon employees aren't buying it. It's not all bad news for Amazon employees, though. Some Amazon employees support Jeff Bezos' controversial WaPo decision.
Persons: , David Arky, Tyler Le, Insider's Lara O'Reilly, Rob Price, Hugh Langley, Sydney Bradley, It's, Matt Garman, Frederic J . BROWN, BI's Jyoti Mann, Ashley Stewart, Garman, Stave Huffman, Spencer Platt, Natalie Ammari, Tesla, Meta, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Harris, Trump, you'll, Jeff Bezos, Bezos, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, Milan Sehmbi Organizations: Business, Service, Microsoft, SEC, Big Tech, Meta, Citibank, Tech, Services, Getty, Amazon Web Services, Amazon, BI, Google, Semiconductor, Intel, Washington Post, Apple Locations: OpenAI, AFP, New York, London
AWS CEO Matt Garman has been sent a letter from employees protesting his pro-RTO comments. Over 500 employees have signed a letter, sent on Wednesday, urging Garman to reconsider the plans. AdvertisementAmazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman is facing backlash from some employees over his comments about its return-to-office policy, according to an open letter obtained by Business Insider. The policy is stricter than at Amazon's peer companies and, by some accounts, stricter than Amazon's office work policy before the pandemic. The letter has been signed by 523 staff from Amazon and AWS, with 172 of those including their names.
Persons: Matt Garman, Garman, , Matt doesn't, Elizabeth Rutledge, Garman's, Andy Jassy, Margaret Callahan, we're, Amazon's, Jyoti Mann, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Service, Web, Business, AWS, BI, American Express, Amazon Locations: jyotimann
Amazon recently launched Cedric, an internal AI chatbot, to boost employee productivity. Cedric is a "general purpose AI chatbot" that is "safer than ChatGPT," according to an internal document obtained by BI. Cedric's goal is to help Amazon employees increase their productivity and job satisfaction as external AI tools are not available for security reasons, the document added. Earlier this year, Amazon formalized internal guidelines that ban external AI tools, including ChatGPT, for business purposes. Approved for 'highly confidential data'Cedric is one of the many AI tools Amazon recently launched or is building internally.
Persons: Cedric, , It's, Amazonians, it's, JP Morgan Chase, Claude, Cedric doesn't Organizations: Amazon, Service, BI, ChatGPT Enterprise, Enterprise, Microsoft, ChatGPT, Apple, Samsung, chatbot, Cedric, Software, Amazon Web Services Locations: OpenAI
Amazon recently launched Cedric, an internal AI chatbot, to boost employee productivity. Amazon has repeatedly warned employees not to use third-party AI chatbots, including ChatGPT. Cedric is a "general purpose AI chatbot" that is "safer than ChatGPT," an internal document obtained by BI said. Earlier this year, Amazon formalized internal guidelines that ban external AI tools, including ChatGPT, for business purposes. Approved for 'highly confidential data'Cedric is one of the many AI tools Amazon recently launched or is building internally.
Persons: Cedric, , It's, Amazonians, it's, JP Morgan Chase, That's, Claude, Cedric doesn't Organizations: Amazon, Service, BI, ChatGPT Enterprise, Enterprise, archrival Microsoft, ChatGPT, Apple, Samsung, Cedric, Software, Amazon Web Services Locations: OpenAI
Tech workers have some interesting nicknames. Go to newsletter preferences Thanks for signing up! AdvertisementThe tech industry is no stranger to corporate jargon and word salad. Fortunately some terms in the industry, specifically what its companies call their workers, are much more straightforward. AdvertisementFrom Metamates to Amazonians, here are popular nicknames for employees at various tech companies:
Persons: , John Mulaney Organizations: . Tech, Service Locations: San Francisco, Amazonians
Read previewAn internal Amazon document details the company's new policy requiring corporate employees to work out of the office five days a week. AdvertisementThe internal "Frequently Asked Questions" document shared with employees describes how the new RTO policy will work. It has ended a policy that gave employees the option to work up to four weeks per year fully remote. Amazon provides a variety of commuter benefits and services to give employees flexibility for their commute to the office. AdvertisementWe will continue to work with employees with disabilities to identify the workplace accommodations/adjustments they need.
Persons: , Andy Jassy, We've, Amazonians, you've, that's, I'm Organizations: Service, Monday, Business, Amazon, Puget Sound, Global Real, Design, Employees, IT Services Locations: U.S, Arlington, Europe, Americas
While working there, I never felt indifferent toward the company; I either loved or hated it. Amazon felt like an engineer-driven company because technical engineers had control over entire projects versus being assigned small tasks by non-technical managers. As a senior engineer, I ran a training on "customer obsession," one of the main "leadership principles" that define Amazon employees. Because there are so many principles, managers could use them in contradictory ways. Amazon on-call shifts were frustrating and exhaustingAt Amazon, most of our product decisions were based on customers.
Persons: , I've, you've Organizations: Service, Amazon Vancouver, Amazon, Meta, Business, Amazon Web Services, Alexa, . Locations: Amazon Vancouver, Amazonians, Amazon
Small team, limited scopeThe hedge fund makes trades based solely on news from Hunterbrook Media, its media sister company, sometimes getting advanced copies of the articles and placing trades before publication. AdvertisementThe hedge fund, however, has just one sole full-time employee. Before a story is published on Hunterbrook Media, the firm's general counsel reviews it to make sure there's not any insider information — such as leaked earning figures — in it. AdvertisementIf the general counsel and the executives green light the story to be shared, then it goes to the hedge fund — in other words, Dunlevie and Horwitz — prepublication. Opportunities few and far between so farInvestigations from Hunterbrook Media so far have less than a 50% hit rate on turning into trades for the hedge fund.
Persons: , Nate Anderson's Hindenburg, Carl Icahn's, Nathaniel Horwitz, Matt Murray, Paul Steiger, Bethany McLean, That's, Courtney Dunlevie, Horwitz, Sam Koppelman, Brian Koppelman, Dunlevie, Horwitz — prepublication, isn't, It's Horwitz, Matt, Pulitzer, Tony Horwitz, Geraldine Brooks, Cash, Hunterbrook, Marc Lasry, David Fialkow, Matt Cherwin, we're, " Horwitz Organizations: Service, Business, Hunterbrook, Hunterbrook Media, Wall Street, Barclays, Commonstock, Phoenix Suns, Avenue Capital, Catalyst, JPMorgan Locations: Italian, Korean, Brazil
Amazon is warning employees not to use third-party generative AI tools for work, according to multiple internal guidances viewed by Business Insider. Amazon's internal third-party generative AI use and interaction policy, viewed by BI, warns that the companies offering generative AI services may take a license to or ownership over anything employees input into tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Amazon's internal generative AI policy states employees can use third-party models for work if they obtain director and legal approval and comply with any applicable security reviews. Amazon's spokesperson Adam Montgomery said the company has been developing generative AI and large machine learning models for a long time and employees use its AI models every day. "We have safeguards in place for employee use of these technologies, including guidance on accessing third-party generative AI services and protecting confidential information," Montgomery said.
Persons: Amazon's, Adam Montgomery, Montgomery, Ashley Stewart, Eugene Kim Organizations: Business, BI, Microsoft Locations: OpenAI
Read previewA small number of Amazon employees are discussing unionizing over the company's return-to-office policy. AdvertisementAmazon's RTO policy is unusually strict. Some Amazon employees recently took to the Slack channel to announce their resignations specifically over the return-to-hub policy. "Tomorrow is my last day at Amazon," one of the employees wrote in December. Unionization among corporate tech employees is rare.
Persons: , RTO, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Service, Business, Amazon, Amazonians Locations: Staten Island
The company is laying off "several hundred" employees across Prime Video and Amazon MGM studios. "As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization." In April 2023, Amazon Studios (now Amazon MGM Studios) and Prime Video teams cut about 100 people — a tiny fraction of Amazon's 27,000 layoffs last year. As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization. Prime Video is one of the most popular benefits for Prime members, and one of most widely used entertainment destinations in the world.
Persons: Mike Hopkins, Hopkins, Amazon's, Jen Salke, Freevee, We've, we've, Amazonians who've, Mike Organizations: Service, Prime, MGM, Amazon MGM Studios, Business, Hollywood Reporter, Bloomberg, Hollywood, Amazon Studios Locations: Americas, Hollywood
Here's the full memo from Hopkins:Team,We've taken significant steps towards our long-term vision of making Prime Video the first-choice entertainment destination for customers worldwide, and I'm proud of everything we've accomplished as a team to date. And, through our acquisition of MGM, we've increased our investments in theatrical films and driven growth in MGM+ and our licensing and third-party production businesses. As a result of these decisions, we will be eliminating several hundred roles across the Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios organization. It is hard to say goodbye to talented Amazonians who've made meaningful contributions on behalf of our customers, team and business. Prime Video is one of the most popular benefits for Prime members, and one of most widely used entertainment destinations in the world.
Persons: We've, we've, Amazonians who've, Mike Organizations: Amazon, Hopkins, MGM, Prime, Amazon MGM Studios Locations: Americas
Limp regularly appeared at Amazon hardware events, which are typically held each fall but sometimes occur more than once a year, to announce new products. Amazon said Limp would remain in his role for the next few months and the company will announce his successor in the coming weeks. Amazon is set to unveil new products at its annual event Sept. 20, hosted at the company's Northern Virginia headquarters, known as HQ2. "It pains me to have to deliver this news as we know we will lose talented Amazonians from the Devices & Services org as a result." In January, Limp said Amazon remains "fully committed" to the Alexa unit despite the job cuts in the division.
Persons: David Limp, Amazon's, Limp, Andy Jassy, Jassy, , Annie Palmer Organizations: Amazon.com Inc, Amazon, CNBC, Wall Street, Devices, Services Locations: Seattle, Virginia
Washington, DC CNN —Amazon has warned some of its US-based office workers that it is keeping a close eye on their in-person attendance at work, sending emails to those it believes are not complying with its return-to-office policies. Still other Amazon employees, however, claimed they received the email despite complying with the policy, and some said they did not receive the corporate email despite never going in to the office. In response to CNN’s request for comment, Amazon said it sent a follow-up email to employees clarifying who was meant to receive the original message: those who have rarely used their workplace ID badges to enter an Amazon office building. Amazon’s signal to workers that it is tracking their attendance comes after more than 1,000 of its corporate employees staged a walkout in May to protest the office policy. Still, even as Amazon chided certain employees this week for not showing up in person, some expressed an indifference to the warning.
Persons: , , Meta, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: DC CNN, Amazon, CNN, Google Locations: Washington
Some Amazon staff got an email warning them about their office attendance records. The email and internal ticket also suggest that Amazon may be tracking individual office attendance records, even though it previously said it only saved "anonymized" data . Another said this is "peak absurdity" since most employees who received the warning email have been complying with the rules. One of the points added to the internal ticket said future communications should not include "gaslighting-like language" because "it does not come across well." As a reminder, you can find FAQs about working from the office on Inside Amazon News and My HR.
Persons: they've, I've Organizations: Amazon
Ukrainian women trained for war can kill Russian soldiers with office supplies, a military leader said. "We have women who can kill individuals with office supplies, you know," Biletska said in an interview with war correspondent Tim Mak. "Like a pencil or a pen... it's not just guns or rifles, but the objects available in an office supplies store." More than 60,000 Ukrainian women now serve in the country's military, according to US embassy statistics. Ukrainian women on the front lines told The Invisible Battalion Project that they fear sexual violence at the hands of Russian soldiers.
Community: Inside Amazon's little-known Slack channel. And that's playing out inside an internal slack channel called #focus-and-pivot-info for employees put on performance improvement plans — also known as PIPs. Go behind-the-scenes of Amazon's little-known Slack channel here. Right as tech companies shrink their headcounts, AI is gaining popularity in the workplace, writes Insider's editor in chief for business, Matt Turner. Thousands of anonymous tech employees fretted over the future of tech compensation.
A number of Amazon ad execs have taken top tier jobs at giants like Walmart and hot startups like LoopMe and TripleLift. They're bringing deep experience at Amazon Advertising building businesses from scratch to their new roles. In recent years, Samba TV, Cooler Screens, Walmart, and Netflix have all hired former Amazon Advertising staffers to crucial, revenue-driving roles centered around advertising. He said Amazon's ad execs have both relationships with advertisers, retail expertise, and operational experience in standing up an ad business from scratch. Insider identified ten former Amazon ad execs who have moved into C-suite roles.
Amazon Web Services CEO Adam Selipsky and human resources head Beth Galetti sent notes to staffers informing them of the job cuts. I wanted to let you know that conversations with impacted AWS employees started today, with notification messages sent to all impacted employees in the U.S., Canada, and Costa Rica. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees. To those to whom we are saying goodbye today, thank you for everything you have done for this business and our customers. In other regions, we are following local processes, which may include time for consultation with employee representative bodies and possibly result in longer timelines to communicate with impacted employees.
To prepare managers to discuss pay with employees, Amazon shares a lengthy Q&A guideline that addresses some of the most pressing questions, according to internal documents obtained by Insider. This includes base pay, variable pay, other cash, and equity in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs) or stock. A: We plan employee's total compensation in outlook years. Q: Why am I positioned at XX in my pay range and how can I increase my pay? Clearly and directly explain the reason there was no base pay increase:"Employee A, you are at the base pay max."
Further, as machine learning adoption has continued to accelerate, customers have yearned for lower-cost GPUs (the chips most commonly used for machine learning). While some areas of the economy have struggled over the past few years, Amazon Business has thrived. Some people have never heard of Amazon Business, but, our business customers love it. For years, Amazon customers had asked us when we'd offer them an online pharmacy as their frustrations mounted with current providers. More recently, a newer form of machine learning, called Generative AI, has burst onto the scene and promises to significantly accelerate machine learning adoption.
Further, as machine learning adoption has continued to accelerate, customers have yearned for lower-cost GPUs (the chips most commonly used for machine learning). While some areas of the economy have struggled over the past few years, Amazon Business has thrived. Some people have never heard of Amazon Business, but, our business customers love it. For years, Amazon customers had asked us when we'd offer them an online pharmacy as their frustrations mounted with current providers. More recently, a newer form of machine learning, called Generative AI, has burst onto the scene and promises to significantly accelerate machine learning adoption.
Some Amazon offices won't be ready to fully accommodate employees until September, an internal note said. The delayed office readiness dates for some locations show Amazon may have rushed its return-to-office announcement. Most offices around the Seattle headquarters area and those near the second headquarters in Arlington, VA, have readiness dates in May. The delayed office readiness of some locations shows how unprepared Amazon may have been for the RTO mandate announced in February. In an email to Insider, Amazon's spokesperson said the different readiness dates are needed to "make the necessary accommodations for everyone."
New mandate requires most office workers to come into the office at least 3 times a week starting in May. About 3 weeks since the announcement of the new policy, more than 29,200 Amazon employees have signed an internal petition opposing the mandate. Roughly 30,000 Amazon employees have joined that Slack channel, which was created shortly after the RTO announcement. In the petition, Amazon employees added internal data supporting continued remote work and dozens of comments explaining why they oppose the change. A 2013 Stanford University study of Chinese workers found that remote workers are 13% more productive than their in-office counterparts.
AWS HR VP Ian Wilson said Amazon is looking for ways to rehire some of the laid off employees. Amazon laid off over 18,000 employees in January. Amazon slashed over 18,000 jobs in January to deal with slowing growth and a volatile economy. Some of those laid off employees may soon get a call to return to the company. Wilson said re-staffing laid off employees has been "top of mind" for him, but it's been difficult because of Amazon's recent hiring freeze.
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