Amazon - Performance Issues Arise Only When Transferring
My husband works for Amazon. He’s gotten nothing but positive feedback in the last year. However he just requested to transfer teams and all of a sudden his leadership is saying that he’s had performance issues and gave a negative reference to the new manager he would transfer to. Now the offer with the new team has been retracted and he’s worried about being put on a performance plan for reasons he was completely unaware of (and unfounded). I feels like they are just trying to keep him in his role. Any advice? I recommended that he go to HR but he’s reluctant and doesn’t want to burn bridges. He’s considering just leaving but would leave a large amount of stock on the table over the next few years.
Been there and done that. He better start watching his back because the countdown has already started. He might already be on focus, in which case leaving will make him URA anyways. Start interviewing, once he is confident, ask about his status "Can i transfer without VP approval", if not, just ride it out to collect the PIP money and make them pay
Is it common in Amazon to flag people as low performers or be on “focus” without performance discussions or documentation? Seems crazy to be blindsided like this! Thanks for rec
You dont need documentations for focus entry as far as Im aware. That said if your management start nitpicking about issues, you are probably well on your way. He needs to look out for documented 1 on 1 emails. Yeah learned too late that you need to click apply for the internal transfer when you inform your manager. At least Im in a better place now (with way higher TC)
He works at Amazon and doesn’t know the game? RIP.
He was totally floored.
Why do you think everyone hates Amazon. Alot of companies has stack rankings, alot of companies have PIP. It is that Amazon's PIP is not transparent, political, and not performance related. A manager can PIP you just because he feels like it, no justification needed, manager can just make stuff up. It is like living in a Communist country, there a party member can send you to the gulag because he feels like it.
If they even suspect they might have mental health challenges (depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc.), begin seeing PCP and psych immediately. As others noted, they are now on Focus (highly likely) and that likely can lead to Pivot stage. In which case, your spouse may want to be able to take FMLA as part of the leave process. … so get started now to lay the foundation.
He is already on PIP
There was never a conversation or any documentation of performance issues. Don’t you have to have that to be on a PIP?
He may not be on PIP but certainly is on Focus. Managers doesn't have to tell someone that they are in Focus. In pip , the person has to sign a document.