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    firstlinegrinderHamilton Nolan
    9/29/14 1:43pm

    PIP's are the standard operating procedure to push people out the door at every tech company I've come in contact with.

    They're cowardly, spineless things, but at least you get a month's heads up that you need a new job.

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      cantfindmyrealacctfirstlinegrinder
      9/29/14 1:50pm

      Yeah, it sounds like maybe they are used more at Amazon? I have only known of a few ppl over my fairly long career who have ever gone through this process. Does Amazon have layoffs? I have seen many more RIFs than I have seen individual firings based off of PIPs.

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      firstlinegrindercantfindmyrealacct
      9/29/14 1:58pm

      I probably should have mentioned that I've been in tech sales primarily. PIPs have been standard because it's a fairly logical leap from sales metrics to PIP to firing.

      In areas less conducive to qualitative success metrics than sales, I would imagine PIPs are harder to use as a basis for individual firings.

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    3 seriousHamilton Nolan
    9/29/14 1:50pm

    Maybe this is just me, but now that Amazon is going to start collecting taxes in my home state, along with the willingness of big box retailers to price match Amazon, I won't be re-upping on $99 Prime. With employee dissatisfaction/mistreatment, negligible price benefits, and the increasing tide of devices aiming to sell me crap in their media walled-garden, I'm out on Amazon nearly whole-hog. Godspeed, Amazon.

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      3 serious3 serious
      9/30/14 12:41pm

      For the record - my online purchases over the two years don't even eclipse 2/3 of the "personal use" laws in my state. I hardly buy anything online as it is; Amazon just doesn't offer benefit.

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    TheCoolerking101Hamilton Nolan
    9/29/14 2:07pm

    Newsflash, PIPs are designed for ONE THING, to avoid lawsuits (mostly of the discrimination/harassment variety). They are used in every industry. From what I've read here, at Amazon they might as well be 60 day termination notices. I get that people don't like being placed under a microscope before being fired, but it's better than being fired without any heads up.

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      LeNoceurTheCoolerking101
      9/29/14 3:06pm

      And, return newsflash, a PIP is not a foolproof insulator against lawsuits. They are often pretty easily discredited.

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      TheCoolerking101LeNoceur
      9/29/14 4:24pm

      If there was such a thing as a "foolproof insulator against lawsuits," this would be a very different world.

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    JT_Pearland146Hamilton Nolan
    9/29/14 1:46pm

    What would you say you do?

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      Cam/ronJT_Pearland146
      9/29/14 2:00pm

      My dad, an 80's Silicon Valley vet, told me that scene is the most accurate portrayal of corporate PIPs.

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    Quantum SuicideHamilton Nolan
    9/29/14 1:56pm

    This sounds like exactly the kind of program a company would implement after spending hefty resources squashing all unionization efforts. Given Amazon's (well-earned) anti-worker reputation, here's hoping workers will solidify and finally vote to unionize.

    http://time.com/956/how-amazon…

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      Cam/ronHamilton Nolan
      9/29/14 1:44pm
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        ShantiLaenatusCam/ron
        9/29/14 2:01pm

        I was a vendor to Amazon for a while but no matter how we approached the subject, they would not pay in accordance with our agreed upon rates and payment schedule. We ended up threatening a lawsuit for non-payment after which they did finally pay but it was a good six months past the agreed upon time frame. Shortly thereafter we got a letter from their vendor management team saying our contract to provide services was being terminated due to non-performance. Bullshit. We had an SLA and they never once complained about the work we did for them. Assholes just thought we should do it for free.

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      Jerry-NetherlandHamilton Nolan
      9/29/14 2:20pm

      Terminated Employee: This is what I get in return for 30 years of service for my company? And they send some yo-yo like you in here to try to tell me that I'm out of a job? They should be telling you *you're* out of a job.

      Terminated Employee: You have a lot of gall coming in here and firing your number one producer. And then you're going to go home tomorrow and make more money than you've ever made in your life, and I'm going to go home without a pay check. Fuck you.

      Terminated Employee: I just... I guess you leave me dumbfounded. I don't know where this is coming from. How am I supposed to go back as a man and explain this to my wife that I lost my job?

      Terminated Employee: On a street level, I've heard that losing your job is like a death in the family. But personally, I feel more like the people I worked with were my family and *I* died.

      Terminated Employee: I can't afford to be unemployed. I have a house payment. I have children.

      Terminated Employee: I don't know how you can live with yourself, but I'm sure that you'll find a way while the rest of us are suffering.

      Terminated Employee: [on the verge of tears] Who the fuck are you, man?

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        Can I Retire Yet?Hamilton Nolan
        9/29/14 1:53pm

        The federal government calls their system PIP too, sounds like it works the same way. The difference is everyone cheers when they hear someone gets pipped because then you know that lazy ass motherfucker is finally on his/her way out.

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          takthCan I Retire Yet?
          9/30/14 12:43pm

          I've never known a lazy government worker to ever be fired, in fact I thought being lazy was in the job description.

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          Can I Retire Yet?takth
          10/01/14 10:38am

          Aren't you a treat. GFY.

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        SpottedHyenaHamilton Nolan
        9/29/14 2:02pm

        Blistex (the lip balm place) has those, and their PIPs are identical to Amazon's. You are not meant to succeed in it. Not a single person ever came out of one successfully. They're issued by upper management, whom you usually never meet and are told not to speak to prior to them.

        But then again, that company does not have one single black employee, and not a single non-white or female on their lower management or executive roster, so they're a little out of touch anyway.

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