More than a dozen current and ex-Amazon corporate employees say its Black staff often face direct and insidious bias that harms their careers and personal lives
Interviews with diversity managers and internal data obtained by Recode indicate that Black Amazon employees are promoted less frequently … Tweets: @jordanweyenberg , @delrey , @delrey , @delrey , @delrey , @delrey , @delrey , @delrey , @voxdotcom , and @nishachittal Tweets: Jordan Weyenberg / @jordanweyenberg : “Earns Trust” is an absolute disaster and always has been. Catch-all for “we just don't really like you” and if it was used against me I can only imagine how it impacts folks already so disadvantaged, but I literally never worked with any Black colleague consistently in 4.5 years https://twitter.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : It is 6,000 words and I say that for no other reason than to help show that we worked hard to include the nuance and context that such a topic needs and deserves. I hope you'll read it. https://www.vox.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : “We struggle to bring [Black] folks in,” an Amazon diversity manager told me. “And then when they...get here, it's harder to get promoted, harder to get top-tier rated, & easier to get lowest tier...so folks don't wanna stay.” https://www.vox.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : All of the 10 Black current & former Amazon employees I spoke to say either they, or Black colleagues they know, were brought into the company at lower levels than peers with similar expertise. The acquisition of Atlanta-based Partpic stuck out for many. https://www.vox.com/... https://twitter.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : Amazon: “We disagree with this characterization of Amazon's culture & believe...it misrepresents the facts & is based on the views of a small # of individuals.” I stand by my reporting. Thankful for those who spoke & those who couldn't but encouraged me https://www.vox.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : THREAD: I spent months talking to Black Amazon employees, in & out of diversity teams, to understand why some feel Amazon's practices and leadership principles have been used as tools of discrimination. I'm grateful for their trust. Here's what I found https://www.vox.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : Internal data & interviews w/ diversity employees indicate Black Amazon employees are promoted less often & rated harsher than non-Black peers. Amazon disputed the data in the piece but wouldn't provide alternative info. https://www.vox.com/... Jason Del Rey / @delrey : Other employees allege that some of Amazon's leadership principles, like “Earns Trust,” can be weaponized against Black women, including in performance reviews. “What does it mean? It's a catchall,” Chanin Kelly-Rae, a former AWS diversity head, said https://www.vox.com/... @voxdotcom : For employees at Amazon, the “level” you're assigned when you're hired determines job importance and salary. Starting at the right level impacts your entire career. Why some current and former employees say Amazon's “down-leveling” targets Black workers: https://www.vox.com/... Nisha Chittal / @nishachittal : A big story from @delrey: he talked to over a dozen Amazon corporate employees who said there was a culture of racial bias https://twitter.com/...