Corporate employees of Amazon were asked on Monday to volunteer their time to the company’s warehouses to assist with grocery delivery as it heads into its annual discount spree known as Prime Day.
In a Slack message reviewed by the Guardian that went to thousands of white-collar workers in the New York City area from engineers to marketers, an Amazon area manager called for corporate “volunteers to help us out with Prime Day to deliver to customers on our biggest days yet”. It is not clear how many took up the offer.
Let’s see Mr and Mrs Bezos out there volunteering first. It’s a wholesome honeymoon activity!
And here’s a reminder that it’s actually illegal to volunteer at the same company you’re employed at. Specifically to prevent situations exactly like this, where employers attempt to pressure their employees into volunteering, so they don’t have to pay overtime. If you’re working for your employer, you’re required to be on the clock.
Given, that only works if the rules are actually enforced. And this administration has done a good job of dismantling agencies that would be enforcing this.
Easy, you’re a salaried employee and “seasonal duty: light warehouse work”
Boom, it’s part of your job.
There are specific requirements for being exempt from overtime, even for salaried employees. There are three big exemptions, and each one has multiple requirements; You need to meet ALL of the requirements for any exemption in order to be legally exempt. I’d advise you to check the requirements here, because employers regularly misclassify workers and lie through their teeth about it to avoid paying OT. Intentional misclassification is one of the most overt ways that employers steal wages, but also extremely common in many industries.
Also, there’s a blue-collar clause that says all manual labor positions are non-exempt. So if they’re dumb enough to write manual labor into your job description, you’re non-exempt no matter how highly paid you are.
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Data is beautiful and goddamn infuriating.
beautifuriating
Its not hard to maintain those requirements though. Sure its used to mislabel positions like you say, but plenty of correctly labelled positions are abused as well. Salary means extra work with no pay regardless of whether you meet the requirements.
I think you’re mistaking volunteering for a different task as them not being paid - these employees are salaried, they’re being paid for this. It’s basically just doing 2 hours of warehouse work instead of 2 hours of their usual corporate job. Potentially some people would have to do additional work after hours to make up for work they didn’t do in those two hours, but I assume busier people wouldn’t volunteer.
You need to read about how salary positions work in the states. Its entirely legal to fire someone who’s on salary for refusing to volunteer extra unpaid time. They also aren’t owed overtime in a lot of cases although there was law passed that limits that to only affecting higher earning people.
Would somebody please think of the billionaires!?
Sorry, I was distracted be the profits.
Arrr! The profits do be!
The funniest thing about this is that Prime day is a “holiday” of their own making. It’s not like it’s the Christmas push caused by consumers.
One of the core rule of business is that you don’t sell what you do not have. Because that is basivally the definition of fraud (at least one of them).
If you don’t have the manpower to deliver “Prime Day”, don’t offer “Prime Day”, as simple as that.
Dude. Like half of our GDP is about selling shit that we pretend exists.
Well if it’s voluntary and the staff gets paid their usual wage - one would assume a higher one than the warehouse folks get - I don’t really see the problem. It doesn’t make sense to try and hire folks for just a few days of peak workload. Not if you can manage it by shifting some folks around. Heck, I’m sure some will appreciate the change of scenery.
If theres one thing we all know desk jockeys appreciate its the opportunity to do manual labor
Well not everyone, obviously. But that’s why it’s voluntary.
I’ve certainly done stuff that’s outside of the scope of my personal job. Our company owner actually scrubs the toilets in our building and that guy owns an actual yacht 🤷♂️
It’s voluntary but somehow gets taken into account when promotion or pay raise is discussed.
Yes in theory but no in practice. Another way of putting this is “will they appreciate your extra 10%” and the answer is always no.
Daily reminder that the only way to beat inflation is to get another job somewhere else. If you’re staying long enough for this to matter, then you’re leaving money on the table.
There are many other actual holidays a sufficient staff can handle busy days
I’ll volunteer some more work if you volunteer some more pay
Is Amazon too poor to pay their employees now?
Well did you see that wedding? That shit don’t pay for itself.
I have a salaried job, and from time to time when there’s a big order we are asked to help out the manufacturing team, which is paid hourly. It tends to be repetitive assembly-line stuff, but it can be a fun change from the office work.
It’s not unusual during specific times to redeploy people temporarily where they are needed more. The alternative is to hire a bunch of seasonal staff. You have to train them anyway, but at least by redeploying existing people you at least know they are reliable.
That’s a big nope from me. If it’s not in the job description I was hired to do I’m not doing it unless we renegotiate my salary. This is how they take advantage of people.
Since you’re doing work that pays less, I guess you could negotiate a lower salary for the period of time you are pitching in. That’s only if you really want to stick to your principles.
No my time costs the same regardless of what I am doing. If I’m not making software for them I could be making it for someone else making the same or more. I don’t have time to waste in a warehouse. Don’t be a pushover
You are allowed to enjoy your job and take a little detour from what you do best to be a part of a team.
If you hate everybody and everything, sure, stick to your guns. But there is nothing wrong with being a team player
I’m already a part of a team doing my actual job
Nah, go there and then start organizing with the warehouse workers to get them paid as much as you’re being paid to do their job.
Why would I even be in a warehouse when I could be subsistence farming on a commune with Boris and Sergei?
Not op but I’ll do stuff from time to time that is well below my pay grade. Mind management understands that the pay difference and that I’m not doing my normal responsibilities if I’m helping out…
I mean, that’s why they called it volunteering, isn’t it?
You would say no, but some others might want to do it.
I thought we were boycotting bezos? Why are people still buying on Amazon?
Because we are in the smallest minority of people that care enough to change our shopping habits or willingly pay more for something to avoid Amazon.
I know literally nobody in real life that shares my views and most will think I’m a weirdo for being so vocal about avoiding certain companies, taking part in boycotts, or protesting.
I’d love to boycott Amazon, but we rely on them for food deliveries. Instead, I like to order things individually throughout the day. I don’t wait and collect orders, and send them at once, I send them as I think of them. That way each order is billed separately, making each order as expensive as possible, wasting just a bit of Bezos’ profit, and making sure his employees are working and getting paid.
Relying on amazon for food deliveries? Thats the dumbest shit I ever heard
There are some situations where you gotta do what you gotta do.
The dumbest shit is thinking that everyone has the same access to food as you do. Not everybody has a grocery store nearby, or a way to get to it.
And relying on Amazon food delivery is still the worst and dumbest shit you could ever do. You’re literally ordering individual food items throughout the day from them, what is wrong with you lmao. Furthermore you are enriching Amazon not the opposite like you tried to claim.
You don’t know what you are talking about. The selection is far better than the little grocery that’s near me, and the prices are far lower. In addition, it gets delivered directly to my house, they even bring the order in and leave it in the kitchen, so I don’t have to carry it home.
And who said I’m making individual orders throughout the day? Is that how you buy groceries? Whenever you need an individual item, you run to the grocery store for it? THAT’S the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard. I do what most people do, and make a list of things I need, and when it gets long enough, or reaches my budget, I place the order. I do often order non-food things individually from Amazon, just to make them pay extra for shipping. I get free shipping, so that comes out of Bezos’ pocket.
As for making Amazon richer? Yeah, I get it, but I’m not ready to go out and hunt down my own food on a daily basis - in one of the biggest cities on the planet. I have to actually BUY my groceries, and almost every option is enriching some massive evil corporation. But that’s life, my family has to eat. Basic survival before activism.
Better selection, lower prices, convenient delivery - so tell me again why this the dumbest shit you’ve ever heard of? Or are you just running your mouth without a clue of what you’re talking about?
Corporate people should spend some time periodically in the trenches anyway. Otherwise, they’re totally clueless about how everything works.
Yes, but not volunteered
It’s business hours Tue-Fri. Sounds like the volunteer isn’t for unpaid work, but for volunteering to do this instead of their normal duties for the week.
Tho I’m sure they’ll get dinged on their performance review if their regular work output reduces, so I’m guessing they will end up needing to put on unpaid hours to compensate.
I volunteer for stuff like this if it gets me out of meetings. I’ve donated over a gallon of blood at work.
Guys we don’t have enough delivery drivers for the holidays. Come on down and “volunteer” or you might just find yourself passed over for future promotions. You might think differently but you’re just a disposable peon. The night of the delivery you might feel a slight sting. That’s pride fuckin’ with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that shit.
Lol promotions. Sure boss, be right there. Wait for me.
“Promotion” means “not being fired”.
why would anyone volunteer to do amazon warehouse work
Desperate fear of termination. There’s like a 5% chance this will help.
I guess bezos had to recoup his wedding costs. Some that, for him, could be done in the time it took me to write this snark.
Hey, that’s socialism.
