Welcome to Hell....
Leaked documents detail an Amazon performance-improvement program that can leave ousted employees on a 'do not hire' list
Amazon uses a program called Pivot to reform, or fire, employees deemed underperformers.
The program has employees choose between leaving with a lump-sum payment or fighting to stay.
Dozens of employees who spoke with Insider said the performance-review system is stacked against them.
A key part of the way Amazon manages employee performance is unfair and often characterized by unattainable objectives, grueling workloads, vague and moving targets, and unrealistic deadlines, internal company documents and interviews with dozens of people familiar with the program show.
The documents, reviewed by Insider, detail for the first time a program called Pivot, a central cog in a broader performance-review system that some employees said is designed to meet firing quotas rather than revive careers.
"There isn't much oversight or any real rules," one employee who went through Pivot said. "It just makes it a lot easier to get rid of people."
The stakes are high because those who fail Pivot and leave are barred from future employment with Amazon, the people said. After one person left Amazon, a recruiter told them that they'd been on a "do not hire" list permanently. Insider spoke with more than 30 people for this story. They all asked not to be named because they feared retribution, but Insider confirmed their identities through cross-referencing their details with publicly available information.
"Like most employers, we provide managers with tools to help employees improve their performance and grow in their careers," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. "This includes resources for employees who are not meeting expectations and may require additional coaching. If an employee believes they are not receiving a fair assessment of their performance, they have multiple channels where they can raise this." The company declined to share how many people end up in Pivot or how many successfully emerge from the program.
Many companies have tough review systems. Goldman Sachs' approach typically leads to the annual culling of 5% of staff. But Amazon insiders said the internet company's process is particularly problematic because it is largely opaque and gives a lot of discretion to managers, who face intense pressure to cut a certain number of employees each year. Some managers previosuly told Insider that they even hire people just so they can fire them, though Amazon's spokesperson disputed this idea.
There are other concerns too. Larry Pearson, a partner at law firm Wigdor, is working with Amazon employees on lawsuits related to potential discrimination and retaliation by managers, including those that involve the misuse of the company's performance-review system. "Unfortunately," he said, "organizations the size of Amazon are vulnerable to managers carving out fiefdoms where such practices can go unnoticed."
Pivot is the last stage in this system, which Amazon uses to deal with workers whom managers have labeled as underperformers. The process begins with a coaching program called Focus. If managers aren't satisfied that performance has improved, employees end up in Pivot.
$30,000 payouts to leave
Pivot offers two options: Either leave Amazon with a payout or try to improve again and risk being terminated with a smaller payment. The company gives employees five business days to decide, documents reviewed by Insider and people familiar with the program said.
The first option results in what Amazon calls a tier-one payment based on tenure and base pay. Several such offers were for amounts of about $30,000. Employees can accept the sum and immediately leave, the documents show.
If an employee chooses the second option, they stay in their current role and "commit to demonstrating the required improvement" in performance by completing an "improve plan." That typically includes a task or series of tasks rooted in Amazon's leadership principles and usually involves compiling a written report, according to the documents.
While the improve plan contains objective goals such as deadlines, employees said the process lets managers move goalposts to produce the outcomes they want. "The responsibility for bringing your performance up to an acceptable level rests with you," the documents state. "Your manager will review your progress on a regular basis during 1:1s. Depending on your performance, the length of your plan could be lengthened or shortened."
'Doing two jobs'
If an employee successfully completes the improve plan, they exit Pivot and resume work. But staff who have been through the process said the goals were often unrealistic, requiring many hours of extra work each day.
"You're doing two jobs, essentially," one person who said they were forced out through Pivot added. This person said they were given a few weeks to complete a task that typically takes a year or more.
"Due dates are extremely unrealistic, and the goals are not transparent," another person who's been through Pivot said. "Managers can weaponize this."
Two people said their Pivot goals required the launch of multiple projects within a month, a much shorter time frame than similar projects. Some of these assignments depend on the work of other teams, which makes it harder to meet deadlines, these people said.
Pivot goals are also tied to vague language based on Amazon Leadership Principles, 14 of the company's top business values, the people said. For example, one Pivot plan Insider reviewed lists "Earn Trust" as an objective to be met through better communication with colleagues during meetings.
For those who fail to hit their goals, they can accept a smaller payout — usually around $11,000 in examples Insider reviewed. Or workers can appeal the decision and risk taking an even smaller payout if they are unsuccessful. That was about $5,000 in the documents.
Amazon's internal juries
Employees get three business days to choose whether to appeal the Pivot decision. Amazon used to allow people to appeal their placement in Pivot, but changed it in recent years to let them appeal only the outcome of their performance-improvement plan.
An appeal requires the employee to write a statement with supporting documents outlining how they have met performance expectations. A jury of either a single manager or as many as five Amazon staff is then picked to decide. The employee and the company both have a say in who will be on these appeal panels. For instance, Amazon sometimes provides a list of peers whom the employee doesn't know and the person can choose from that list.
Employees going through Pivot also aren't allowed any external legal support, people who have been through the program said. "You go in by yourself not understanding what you're up against," one person said.
One current Amazon manager said the juries typically have a strong bias toward the manager. If an employee wins the appeal, they exit Pivot and can join a new team, usually within 60 days. Amazon states in the documents that it cannot guarantee a role elsewhere. If a position isn't found, employees can stay on their current team with the manager who put them on Pivot or they can leave with severance.
