“Standing Up For Us Plebs.” Amazon Leaders Reject Policy To Push Employees Out.
Leaked memo shows Amazon Music’s senior leadership didn’t want to go along with Amazon’s plan to manage out the bottom 6% of their workforce.
The leaders at Amazon Music had enough. Amazon wanted them to push their low performers out of the company, forcing them to manage out 6% of employees each year. Their division started 2021 on track. But as the pandemic persisted, they simply didn’t have enough people to nudge out. Or, as they put it, there was “insufficient pipeline to meet goal.” So instead of going along, they protested to Amazon Music vice president Steve Boom.
“Unregretted attrition” — or URA as it’s known inside Amazon — is cold-hearted, corporate-speak for losing employees you’re happy to see go. Amazon, growing fast, accepts it won’t hit on every hire. So it forces managers in some divisions, like Music, to make sure the bad fits leave. And in true Amazon fashion, it quantifies that goal, so everyone goes along. As the pandemic’s worn on, though, some divisions have struggled to hire, and managers are feeling squeezed, asked to push out their solid performers. The situation is now reaching a breaking point inside Amazon, where Music leadership’s protests indicate a reckoning…
