Amazon workload prompts suicide attempt

An Amazon employee has sustained injured after he jumped off the company’s main building in Seattle, in what apparently was a suicide attempt because of the American web shop’s intense workload.

Transfer handled badly

Amazon has been known as a difficult employer: several programs have focused on the company’s workload, with long hours and a high pace. Apparently, employees are motivated to get ahead in the company structure on the back of their fellow employees.

That intensity now supposedly led to a suicide attempt of a man who had filed for a transfer, but ended up in an “employee improvement plan” instead. This plan often leads to termination if there is no visible improvement. One of the employee’s emails shows that he felt Amazon handled his transfer request badly.

After a New York Times piece from 2015, in which a journalist went undercover, absolutely destroyed the company’s workload, Amazon has made steps towards improvements with decreased workload, it says.