A good friend of mine and also a working mother forwarded me
an article about one woman’s experience working at Amazon. (The article can be
found here) This article was in response to the NY Times article
recently posted,
explaining her experience when she had a baby and was diagnosed with cancer
during her tenure at Amazon. My friend
and I started reading comments on both articles sending snippets back and forth though G-chat and
commenting on the stories we were reading.
As a working mother precious hours have come back into my life from the
use of Amazon Prime. My doorstep is
littered almost daily with these prime boxes bringing almost anything to my
door from diapers to new shoes to sunscreen. I commented I wanted to find holes in the article
because “I really love my prime and I want to have a reason not to cancel.” Judging from the 5858 comments posted to the
article to date, most people are outraged about a company’s desire to have
their employees available 24/7 and with over 80 hour work weeks. Many people commented on their personal acts
of protest in canceling their prime accounts.
While the treatment of employees by Amazon is seen my most as immoral and
downright wicked, I can’t help but feeling like this is a snapshot of the
overall culture in the workplace. The
major difference between Amazon and other workplaces is its pride in this
culture.
“Motherhood can be seen as a liability” is a line that stuck
out to me in the article. I think the
author makes a great point here. Mothers
(and fathers) are often unable to sustain an 80+ hour work week and still care
for their children. Employees often
experience that having children will prevent them from putting in the hours
necessary for advancement. When time is
taken off for having children it often stalls your career or in the case of
many of the woman who posted the follow-up article put on a performance improvement
plan due to missing months of work and “falling behind” fellow co-workers. Shouldn’t we start to evaluate the
problem? While people are quick to point fingers at
Amazon and start their own personal strike from Amazon, the bigger problem
still exists. Most laws are written to
favor the employer. There is still no legally
mandated paid maternity or paternity leave; these are considered to be benefits
not rights to the worker. Salaried exempt employees can be forced to
work exuberant numbers of hours with no additional compensation. What other instances would be okay with
paying the same amount and getting less?
I know I would be mad if all of a sudden I went to buy my $3 dozen egg
container and only received one egg. Who
would be ok with paying $3 an egg instead of the usual 25¢? Isn’t that what is happening in the
workplace? Employers are paying an
employee $400/week for 40 hours as their salary but now the employer is
expecting 80 hours a week; the same employee is making 50% less for what? While we all balk at these practices nonetheless
we all comply out of fear or retribution.
We are more focused on creating a life than we are on living our lives.
In writing this post, I have reflected on my own household. I would be proud to declare that I work 7am –
3pm in my corporate job, my husband 7:30am – 4pm. We then come home and focus on our family, no
distractions just good solid family time.
Is that really the case? Recently,
my toddler picked up and old non-working computer that we have set aside a toy
and happily sat and banged on the keyboard.
I asked him what he’s was doing and he replied with “ I work” in those
toddler words that just instantly melt your heart. Where did he learn that? Obviously he learned
that from my husband and me, we’ve obviously been on our computers working
during the time that we define as “family time.” How many nights at my house consisted of my
husband and I sitting on our couch computers in our laps keeping an eye on
sleeping kids through the baby monitor catching up on emails or reviewing
documents. Many more nights that I would
care to admit.
Despite this, we are the lucky ones. We work for employers that are considered to
be “family friendly.” I’ve always been
allowed 12 weeks maternity leave however only 5 weeks are actually paid and
they are paid through short-term disability (don’t even get me started on how
pregnancy and having a child is a disability).
My husband has been fortunate enough to work for employers that gave him
2 weeks paid paternity leave and allowed him to take longer terms off using
vacation time. Despite our “family
friendly” employers no one balks when they get an email response at 11pm many
times they respond themselves. Many companies are in the news about how they
are expanding paternal leave and have new policies regarding work-life
balance. But in the words of one of the
NY time interviewees “work comes first, family comes second and trying to find
a balance comes last.” In the end of the
day it’s all about making money and the worker comes second….. or third.
The workplace should consider some of the skills required to
be a parent as marketable skills. As a
mother I have learned to multitask in a way that I never thought possible. I am more organized and more focused than
previously. I’ve also matured in a way
that I would not have otherwise in my opinion.
Anyone who has ever had interactions with a toddler will tell you that
can certainly teach you how to think outside the box. I’m more patient an area that many of my
co-workers would attest was a definite area for improvement. Just as everything in my work life comes into
my home life, everything in my home life comes into my work life.
I’m thankful for this
Amazon article and to every Amazon employee.
While Amazon maybe the extreme, the struggle of being a good parent and
a good employee is one of thousands of Americans. By highlighting the struggles of Amazon
employees, hopefully some change can occur. At what point do we value our lives
more than the number on our W2? Are we
going to sit on our death bed and contemplate the promotion we didn’t get or
will it be the missed sporting events?