The truth abt Dive and Saves

Without disclosing too much… after an insulting “dive & save” comp adjustment in August 2021 from my old team (half of what I asked for despite a consistent YoY TT ratings for my tenure. The original contract my previous leaders set up put 50% of the “total $” they touted in the PCS letter to my base salary permanently and the other 50% being paid out in 8 installments as a 1x “retention bonus”.

I changed teams after that and was looking for a new job but kept hesitating moving forward with FB who pays the most or any other company that reached out. I told my manager I was pissed, felt undervalued, that I was demotivated bc when has AMZN ever looked out for anything except their bottom line. I told her I didn’t feel like I had a choice and already had a trip planned with time off in Jan and was planning to look after.
She called me today and asked if I could get on a call with her and my skip. They told me they wanted to award me a past performance cash bonus 150% of my original ask and additional RSUs that vest immediately my next vesting period in May.. all in all, it ended up being 235% of my original ask for a raise . Yes they are cash bonuses (other than the RSUs) but They said it won’t affect my new pay adjustment during forte this year since the bonus was for the past performance.

Point being — KNOW YOUR VALUE AT THIS COMPANY. The labor shortage has caused AMZN to reckon with the fact that constantly hiring new people is more expensive than retaining the good tenured employees they already have. Look at similar comps in your field, have a good track record behind you, and be confident talking to your manager or HRBP about it, especially if you feel underpaid. Now is the time Amazon is feeling the pain of so much attrition and willing to take unconventional measures. Again - this is 2nd comp adjustment since August 2021: no promotion. I’ve been promoted too and this has been WAY
tech more effective in getting a substantial raise.
Also worth researching if there’s a demand in the global labor market for your job right now because the labor market and coincidentally AMZN have the biggest vacancies right now in recruitIng/hr and the technology sector primarily software engineers. Although I’m sure anyone whose worth a damn at Amazon and has been there more then 1.5 years has a shot to ask for what they feel their worth if you feel underpaid.
#tech
#salarynegotiation #amazoncompensation #amazonbonus #Amazon