Where to begin...
Everything you'll read in the previous reviews about the Area Manager job and Amazon are true. You'll think that with years of supervisory/management experience that you can handle the job. The base salary, bonuses, and stock options look so good on paper that you feel like an idiot if you don't take it. But the fact is, as previous reviews state, they are a trap (relocation and sign on have to repaid even if you're fired), the stock options are drawn out over four years. The majority of AM hires won't see four years, so think about that. The 401k match is the same. So much of that fancy number on the offer letter is tied to a length of time in the company you probably won't make.
You are micromanaged into a fine dust everyday by your Ops Manager who is more than likely funneling down the same treatment that they're receiving from the Sr. Ops Manager. You will be called every 10 minutes to be asked about something you gave an update on the previous call 10 minutes earlier. The only way to get a temporary break from it is to take your lunches and breaks outside of the building. You will be called all the time, bathroom and all, to be asked 'what's going on in (insert department)'?
Despite having 'manager' in your title you are a front-line grunt, that is it. Your years of industry or military experience don't mean squat. You WILL be explained the simplest concepts in-depth by Ops and Sr. Ops. You have no say-so in how the actual operation is run, EVERYTHING is run by an Ops Manager. You will run every single operational decision you want to make by the Ops Manager first. It may or may not be listened to. You will be asked to explain why your department failed to make plan or rate despite you having had ZERO say in staffing, labor allocation, planning, work flow, etc.
Know that the hourly associates are treated with absolutely zero respect. They do not matter to senior management, at all. There is no attempt to make them feel as if Amazon is a place to make a career. They are required to do more and more every day. And if they don't or can't then they'll just bring in the next bunch of temps to take their place. Their performance is reviewed by the entire senior management team every week in what's called SPPR. Literally one bad day can put an associate on a written warning, one! Management attempts to appease them with things like a board to bring up complaints, ice cream every few months, or an annual picnic that less than a third will attend. And don't ever make the mistake of trying be an advocate for the hourly associates.
When you apply you may be subject to a bait and switch. A position in a popular city may be posted, you'll apply to that position, only for the actual location to be another city when you're offered. They have to do this for the smaller (very small) cities like Campbellsville, KY, Fernley, NV, and Coffeyville, KS. They'll sell you on the ability to transfer after 12 months. What they don't tell you is that it's completely up to the senior management at your site to sign off on it. And if senior management has some site specific rule, such as minimum time in the building, or they aren't full of AM's, your transfer will be politely declined with a smile. And there is nothing you can do about that.
The management team is a rotating door. Your associates (the ones that do actually care to talk to you) will tell you that you're at least the 25th manager they've had, depending on long how they've worked there. Yeah, I'll say that again, at least the 25th. Most Amazon sites have been open only since 2006. Let that sink in.
Don't bother getting too close to the other AM's. The quickest way to move up to Ops is by throwing other AM's under the bus. You'll recognize these AM's because they will send by out bi-weekly emails to the entire management team calling out any mistakes that you've made and what they've done or are doing to fix it. They look for a weak link. And the only way to get it to stop is to do it back to that person. It creates unnecessary competition and distrust.
3 days off sounds good...if it happens. Your shift will probably be called for mandatory OT at minimum once per month, and it will be at the last minute, and it MAY happen on a day that's not your scheduled OT day. Associates have to stay under 50 hours per week, even if they're called in for mandatory OT. That means you'll spend so much time being short because you have to send people home early.
And lastly...you will be required to do physical labor. And not just throwing a couple boxes here and there or picking in the aisles a bit to help. You will do the job that your associates do...a lot! It doesn't sound so bad until you realize that you've spent a huge chunk of your day having to do it... in addition to the countless flavor of the day projects assigned to you or all of the admin duties. Every day. Again, there's nothing wrong with a little manual labor, but a highly compensated and experienced people manager shouldn't have to spend several HOURS of their day doing what hourly associates are being paid $12/hour to do. It's a waste of their skills and talents.
