According to leaked documents obtained by Engadget, only one-third of Amazon’s new hires stayed with the company for more than 90 days before quitting, being fired, or being laid off last year. The report is the latest indication that Amazon is having serious retention issues. The company estimates that attrition costs nearly $8 billion per year across its global consumer field operations team.
An internal company reported, that the company’s attrition rate is enormous and costs it billions of dollars per year.
According to the report, which is based on internal Amazon research papers, slide decks, and spreadsheets, employees are twice as likely to leave by choice rather than being laid off or fired.
Additionally, it states that the problem affects the entire organization and is not limited to warehouse workers; from entry-level positions up to vice presidents, the lowest attrition rate for one of the company’s 10 tiers of employees was almost 70%, and the highest was a startling 81.3 percent.
It is well known that Amazon’s warehouses and other fulfillment centers experience higher turnover than the rest of the industry. The report does not explicitly state which class of employees had the highest attrition rate.
The New York Times reported that about 3% of the company’s hourly workers left each week, and internal memos that were leaked and obtained by Recode reveal that the company is concerned about literally running out of people who would be willing to work for it in the coming years (and even sooner, in some areas).
While some Amazon warehouse workers have clarified why people don’t necessarily want to stay in those roles, Engadget reports that managers are also leaving due to issues with “development and promotions,” or otherwise advancing their careers at Amazon.
