一線員工曝光亞馬遜裁員內(nèi)幕
JASON DEL REY
2024-06-11
圖片來源：PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALEXANDRA SCIMECCA/FORTUNE; ORIGINAL PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES; AMAZON
5月中旬，一個壞消息讓亞馬遜（Amazon）全球客服人員措手不及：更多輪裁員已經(jīng)到來。這次被裁的對象是中層管理人員。
在亞馬遜位于歐洲的一間辦公室里，一位高級客服要員在一次小組會議上告訴員工，重組將解除所有中層管理人員的職務(wù)，但由于他沒有使用“裁員”這樣的字眼，因此最初人們并不清楚受影響的員工是會完全失業(yè)，還是只是被重新分配工作。員工們疑惑地面面相覷，試圖弄清到底發(fā)生了什么，最后他們終于意識到，一些出席會議的人員實際上剛剛被解雇了。
一位長期從事亞馬遜客服工作的經(jīng)理告訴《財富》雜志：“最后，我們才勉強明白，我旁邊的同事被解雇了。我從未感到如此難堪。”
大約在同一時間，在世界其他地方，一些長期經(jīng)理試圖登錄亞馬遜計算機系統(tǒng)，但卻發(fā)現(xiàn)登陸失敗。至少有這樣的實例：一位經(jīng)理聯(lián)系公司的信息技術(shù)部門尋求幫助，結(jié)果卻得知他們應(yīng)該尋求人力資源部門的幫助。還有一些經(jīng)理在被辭退通知沖擊后回到電腦前，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)根本沒有道別的機會：他們已經(jīng)無法登錄系統(tǒng)。
在過去兩年時間里，隨著Alphabet、Meta、微軟（Microsoft）和賽富時（Salesforce）等公司在疫情引發(fā)的招聘狂潮后緊縮開支，科技企業(yè)進(jìn)行了多輪裁員，而此次不留情面的裁員只是其中之一。自2022年秋季以來，亞馬遜已解雇數(shù)萬名員工。一些業(yè)內(nèi)人士表示，自從安迪·賈西（Andy Jassy）接替杰夫·貝佐斯（Andy Jassy replaced Jeff Bezos）擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官以來，這種商業(yè)慣例變得更為普遍。
對于亞馬遜的客服人員——這家市值近2萬億美元、以“客戶至上”為榮的企業(yè)的一線員工——來說，裁員具有特殊意義。當(dāng)遠(yuǎn)程辦公和成本削減顛覆了既定的工作模式，隨著第一波生成式人工智能浪潮可能從根本上重塑許多職業(yè)，亞馬遜客服經(jīng)理面臨的困境可能預(yù)示著全球企業(yè)員工隊伍即將發(fā)生的更廣泛的變化。
從美國到哥斯達(dá)黎加，再到印度，亞馬遜呼叫中心和虛擬辦公室的員工之間的旁聽對話和消息中，已經(jīng)充斥著亞馬遜這個部門下一步將何去何從的問題。亞馬遜是否會繼續(xù)將更多的客戶互動外包給第三方公司？現(xiàn)有員工是否在不知情的情況下使用新軟件工具（管理層強迫其使用）訓(xùn)練人工智能從而替代他們？他們的工作離完全自動化還有多遠(yuǎn)？
《財富》雜志采訪了12位亞馬遜客服員工和經(jīng)理，他們都要求匿名，原因要么是亞馬遜的政策禁止他們在未經(jīng)許可的情況下接受媒體采訪，要么是因為他們不想冒失去公司提供的遣散費的風(fēng)險。在整個談話過程中，出現(xiàn)了一個共同的主題：員工們認(rèn)為，他們的工作前景比過去更加不穩(wěn)定，比以往任何時候都更加艱難。
亞馬遜發(fā)言人瑪格麗特·卡拉漢（Margaret Callahan）對《財富》雜志表示，企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者和團隊有權(quán)自行做出人員配置和投資方面的決策，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層一直在應(yīng)對一系列前所未有的事件，包括全球疫情，以及由此引發(fā)的消費者需求和勞動力市場不可預(yù)測的變化。
當(dāng)《財富》雜志告訴亞馬遜，亞馬遜員工和經(jīng)理估計，最近有幾百到600個職位被裁減時，這位發(fā)言人只證實裁減了100多個職位。
在美國，亞馬遜向最近被解雇的客服經(jīng)理提供了60天的工資和福利，以及遣散費。如果公司其他部門有合適的職位，一些人可能會被重新分配到亞馬遜的其他職位。亞馬遜表示，這種情況已經(jīng)發(fā)生。
她在一份聲明中表示，接受《財富》雜志采訪的12名員工的觀點和軼事“與亞馬遜從數(shù)千名客服員工中定期調(diào)查收集到的數(shù)據(jù)不符”。她說：“總體而言，我們的大多數(shù)一線客服員工都表示工作滿意度很高，事實上，今年的滿意度比去年有所上升。”
“底層員工”
截至3月底，亞馬遜的全職和兼職員工總數(shù)達(dá)150萬，其中客戶服務(wù)代表處于不尋常的中間地帶——既不完全屬于倉庫工人和送貨司機的行列，也不完全屬于工程師、銷售人員和其他辦公室人員的范疇。
客服員工只是亞馬遜150萬員工中的一部分。圖片來源：DAVID RYDER—GETTY IMAGES
被裁掉的亞馬遜經(jīng)理都是受薪員工，如果在美國內(nèi)部得到晉升，他們的年薪可能在6萬到8萬美元之間。（亞馬遜發(fā)言人表示，這一區(qū)間低于平均水平，但拒絕提供更多細(xì)節(jié)。）員工們告訴《財富》雜志，他們沒有加班費，但根據(jù)工作要求，有時需要每周工作50到60個小時。根據(jù)他們的表現(xiàn)，他們也有資格獲得部分亞馬遜股票。
在較低級別的崗位上，亞馬遜客服代表（簡稱CSA）按小時計酬（在美國從15美元出頭到20多美元不等），當(dāng)在線自助服務(wù)工具無法滿足客戶和亞馬遜設(shè)備用戶的需求時，他們需要通過電話、電子郵件、聊天和社交媒體等方式回答客戶和亞馬遜設(shè)備用戶的問題并處理投訴。雖然一些客服代表在呼叫中心工作，但許多客服代表居家遠(yuǎn)程辦公。2022年，亞馬遜將更多員工從呼叫中心調(diào)到遠(yuǎn)程工作崗位，據(jù)報道是為了節(jié)省房地產(chǎn)成本。員工們表示，亞馬遜還將一些客服工作外包給第三方公司。
盡管亞馬遜的長期宗旨是“竭力成為地球上最以客戶為中心的公司”，但無論在亞馬遜工作多久，客服員工普遍感覺不那么溫暖舒適。一位長期從事客戶服務(wù)工作的經(jīng)理說：“我們是底層員工，是有成本的。”
一位最近被裁掉的長期經(jīng)理說：“我們肯定被視為公司的成本，他們經(jīng)常提醒我們這一點。”
與亞馬遜的大多數(shù)業(yè)務(wù)一樣，客服團隊也是在節(jié)儉和高效的文化氛圍中開展工作的（即使在公司辦公室，亞馬遜的員工福利設(shè)想也更傾向于提供免費香蕉，而不是谷歌（Google）的免費美食）。然而，據(jù)知情人士稱，近年來，加大努力從客服團隊中縮減成本的舉措更為明顯。所有接受《財富》雜志采訪的客服經(jīng)理和員工都表示，以禮品卡或小禮品形式獎勵客服代表的預(yù)算本來就很少，在過去幾年里已經(jīng)大幅削減或取消了。
一位員工說：“他們削減了我們所有的活動參與預(yù)算：一切與提高團隊士氣、緩解壓力、讓我們覺得自己屬于公司的預(yù)算都被削減了。”
盡管一線客服代表以及與此類預(yù)算直接相關(guān)的經(jīng)理們聲稱活動參與預(yù)算被削減了，但是亞馬遜發(fā)言人對此說法提出了質(zhì)疑，。
亞馬遜此前曾對《財富》雜志表示，此次重組旨在幫助縮小高層管理人員與客戶之間的差距。但一些經(jīng)理和一線客服代表在接受《財富》雜志采訪時表示，他們擔(dān)心留下的經(jīng)理的工作量會增加，而且一線客服代表的客戶升級可能會在重組中被遺忘。
尖酸刻薄的謾罵造成心理健康損害
員工表示，在裁員的同時，亞馬遜讓客服代表更難像以前那樣輕松地為客戶提供優(yōu)惠。其中一些員工還表示，隨著亞馬遜銷售額的增長，詐騙者及其受害者也在增加。濫用亞馬遜退貨政策的客戶可能也是部分原因。
對亞馬遜客服員工來說，完成日常任務(wù)更具挑戰(zhàn)性，而且常常伴隨著謾罵。
一位長期從事客戶服務(wù)的經(jīng)理說：“我們變得如此嚴(yán)苛，而且一味追求節(jié)儉，以至于即使是客戶的合理訴求都很難得到幫助。”
雖然亞馬遜為電子商務(wù)行業(yè)創(chuàng)造了免費退貨預(yù)期，但該公司的退貨流程有時會伴隨著摩擦，員工們說情況已經(jīng)變得更糟了。一位員工表示：“亞馬遜的客戶服務(wù)已經(jīng)大不如前了。”
一些亞馬遜內(nèi)部人士表示，在首席執(zhí)行官安迪·賈西的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，裁員變得更加普遍。圖片來源：F. CARTER SMITH—BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
長期員工表示，這種以成本為中心的環(huán)境氛圍加劇了亞馬遜客服代表的心理健康危機（部分人士認(rèn)為）。他們說，在疫情爆發(fā)早期就發(fā)生了巨大轉(zhuǎn)變，當(dāng)時只能居家訂購的客戶開始對電話客服人員大發(fā)雷霆，這種情況面對面從未發(fā)生過。
客戶希望亞馬遜客服員工被強奸或被殺如今也屢見不鮮。夾雜著臟話的謾罵已成為常態(tài)。
一位亞馬遜的老員工說：“有很多同事告訴我，‘我想我不會站在公共汽車前面，但如果有公共汽車開過來，我可能也不會動。’”
經(jīng)理們已經(jīng)注意到了這一點。
一位長期從事客戶服務(wù)的經(jīng)理告訴《財富》雜志：“我非常擔(dān)心向我匯報工作的員工的心理健康狀況以及他們所承受的壓力。”
亞馬遜發(fā)言人瑪格麗特·卡拉漢表示，公司“非常關(guān)注員工體驗，并竭力加以改進(jìn)”。她補充說，亞馬遜為那些處理“難纏”客戶或經(jīng)歷辱罵性互動的員工制定了相應(yīng)的計劃并提供相關(guān)資源，如果提出的警告不能遏制客戶的辱罵行為，客服代表可以終止與客戶的對話。
亞馬遜還反駁了長期員工和經(jīng)理關(guān)于他們比過去更難為客戶提供優(yōu)惠的說法，但指出公司在過去兩年中一直在努力，以便在全球不同市場保證優(yōu)惠政策的一致性。
亞馬遜的卡拉漢說：“我們并非盡善盡美，但當(dāng)錯誤出現(xiàn)時，我們不僅會努力與客戶一起補救，而且還會將這種情況作為學(xué)習(xí)機會，推動我們不斷改進(jìn)工具、流程和政策。”
新?lián)鷳n：你是否在訓(xùn)練聊天機器人替代人類工作者？
雖然其中一些問題已經(jīng)存在多年，但新問題正在亞馬遜的客服運營中引發(fā)重大沖突，而對人工智能的擔(dān)憂在一定程度上也要歸咎于此。最近，亞馬遜領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者強制要求客服代表使用一種全新的內(nèi)部專用軟件工具來解決客戶問題。這款名為AC3的軟件程序已經(jīng)開發(fā)了多年，但直到最近才被禁止使用之前的工具。
根據(jù)一線員工和經(jīng)理的說法，該程序的首要問題是速度慢、漏洞多。部分客服代表告訴《財富》雜志，該程序可以將客戶互動時間延長到以前平均水平的兩到三倍。舊工具可以讓客服代表輕松瀏覽客戶的亞馬遜歷史記錄，而現(xiàn)在的工具則重在提示員工遵循問答流程。
在一個強調(diào)效率目標(biāo)的崗位上，軟件問題會讓一線客服代表焦慮不安。員工們告訴《財富》雜志，如果一直達(dá)不到業(yè)績目標(biāo)，就會影響工作保障和晉升資格。甚至一位認(rèn)為該工具大有前途的經(jīng)理也承認(rèn)，該工具還未準(zhǔn)備就緒就被推出了。
這位經(jīng)理說：“這款工具有缺陷。”
員工們告訴《財富》雜志，該工具還嚴(yán)格限制了亞馬遜客服人員可以訪問的客戶信息量和購買歷史記錄量。盡管幾位經(jīng)理表示，限制訪問權(quán)限可能是對客戶隱私的保護(hù)，但他們也承認(rèn)，這往往會使問題的解決變得更為復(fù)雜，而且實際上最終可能會讓有濫用亞馬遜退貨政策歷史的客戶受益，因為客服代表實際上會無視有用的歷史背景信息。幾位員工這樣形容他們的工作：在幫助客戶的過程中，就像一只手被綁在背后。
亞馬遜發(fā)言人表示，該公司將繼續(xù)投資于改善客戶和員工體驗的工具，并利用反饋意見加以改進(jìn)。
更糟糕的是，一些員工還擔(dān)心，該軟件工具的設(shè)計實際上是在幫助訓(xùn)練人工智能從而替代他們。一些員工認(rèn)為，現(xiàn)在要求客服代表遵循的新結(jié)構(gòu)化問答流程很奇怪，而且對于他們與客戶的日常互動來說在很大程度上是不必要的。根據(jù)一名員工的說法，另一個可能的線索是：在客服代表使用AC3為客戶解決退款問題后，屏幕上的最終消息是以客戶而非客服代表的視角書寫的。
一名客服人員表示：“以前是面向員工的，現(xiàn)在是面向客戶的。這幾乎就像客戶可以自己做這件事一樣。”
另一位現(xiàn)任長期客戶服務(wù)經(jīng)理向《財富》雜志表示，他們的上司也證實了這一點。
這位長期經(jīng)理在談到這款軟件時說：“它會學(xué)習(xí)。我們正在訓(xùn)練人工智能。這不是猜測。”
亞馬遜發(fā)言人沒有對員工通過該工具訓(xùn)練人工智能的說法發(fā)表評論。
考慮到人工智能的炒作周期目前主導(dǎo)著商業(yè)世界，沒有人會責(zé)怪客服人員往最糟糕的方面想。畢竟，該公司的亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)部門目前正專門針對呼叫中心推廣自己的人工智能聊天機器人服務(wù)。這些擔(dān)憂并非憑空出現(xiàn)的。
從最近的裁員，到經(jīng)常遇到的壓力和辱罵，再到對新工作工具的不滿，亞馬遜客服員工都在想，公司高管是否意識到了他們的困境，以及他們是否還能坦然地吹噓客戶至上。
一位長期經(jīng)理告訴《財富》雜志：“數(shù)年前，我很高興加入這家公司。我當(dāng)時認(rèn)為我們是革命性的。”
他們補充道：“如今，我們和其他人并無二致。”（財富中文網(wǎng)）
譯者：中慧言-王芳
5月中旬，一個壞消息讓亞馬遜（Amazon）全球客服人員措手不及：更多輪裁員已經(jīng)到來。這次被裁的對象是中層管理人員。
在亞馬遜位于歐洲的一間辦公室里，一位高級客服要員在一次小組會議上告訴員工，重組將解除所有中層管理人員的職務(wù)，但由于他沒有使用“裁員”這樣的字眼，因此最初人們并不清楚受影響的員工是會完全失業(yè)，還是只是被重新分配工作。員工們疑惑地面面相覷，試圖弄清到底發(fā)生了什么，最后他們終于意識到，一些出席會議的人員實際上剛剛被解雇了。
一位長期從事亞馬遜客服工作的經(jīng)理告訴《財富》雜志：“最后，我們才勉強明白，我旁邊的同事被解雇了。我從未感到如此難堪。”
大約在同一時間，在世界其他地方，一些長期經(jīng)理試圖登錄亞馬遜計算機系統(tǒng)，但卻發(fā)現(xiàn)登陸失敗。至少有這樣的實例：一位經(jīng)理聯(lián)系公司的信息技術(shù)部門尋求幫助，結(jié)果卻得知他們應(yīng)該尋求人力資源部門的幫助。還有一些經(jīng)理在被辭退通知沖擊后回到電腦前，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)根本沒有道別的機會：他們已經(jīng)無法登錄系統(tǒng)。
在過去兩年時間里，隨著Alphabet、Meta、微軟（Microsoft）和賽富時（Salesforce）等公司在疫情引發(fā)的招聘狂潮后緊縮開支，科技企業(yè)進(jìn)行了多輪裁員，而此次不留情面的裁員只是其中之一。自2022年秋季以來，亞馬遜已解雇數(shù)萬名員工。一些業(yè)內(nèi)人士表示，自從安迪·賈西（Andy Jassy）接替杰夫·貝佐斯（Andy Jassy replaced Jeff Bezos）擔(dān)任首席執(zhí)行官以來，這種商業(yè)慣例變得更為普遍。
對于亞馬遜的客服人員——這家市值近2萬億美元、以“客戶至上”為榮的企業(yè)的一線員工——來說，裁員具有特殊意義。當(dāng)遠(yuǎn)程辦公和成本削減顛覆了既定的工作模式，隨著第一波生成式人工智能浪潮可能從根本上重塑許多職業(yè)，亞馬遜客服經(jīng)理面臨的困境可能預(yù)示著全球企業(yè)員工隊伍即將發(fā)生的更廣泛的變化。
從美國到哥斯達(dá)黎加，再到印度，亞馬遜呼叫中心和虛擬辦公室的員工之間的旁聽對話和消息中，已經(jīng)充斥著亞馬遜這個部門下一步將何去何從的問題。亞馬遜是否會繼續(xù)將更多的客戶互動外包給第三方公司？現(xiàn)有員工是否在不知情的情況下使用新軟件工具（管理層強迫其使用）訓(xùn)練人工智能從而替代他們？他們的工作離完全自動化還有多遠(yuǎn)？
《財富》雜志采訪了12位亞馬遜客服員工和經(jīng)理，他們都要求匿名，原因要么是亞馬遜的政策禁止他們在未經(jīng)許可的情況下接受媒體采訪，要么是因為他們不想冒失去公司提供的遣散費的風(fēng)險。在整個談話過程中，出現(xiàn)了一個共同的主題：員工們認(rèn)為，他們的工作前景比過去更加不穩(wěn)定，比以往任何時候都更加艱難。
亞馬遜發(fā)言人瑪格麗特·卡拉漢（Margaret Callahan）對《財富》雜志表示，企業(yè)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者和團隊有權(quán)自行做出人員配置和投資方面的決策，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層一直在應(yīng)對一系列前所未有的事件，包括全球疫情，以及由此引發(fā)的消費者需求和勞動力市場不可預(yù)測的變化。
當(dāng)《財富》雜志告訴亞馬遜，亞馬遜員工和經(jīng)理估計，最近有幾百到600個職位被裁減時，這位發(fā)言人只證實裁減了100多個職位。
在美國，亞馬遜向最近被解雇的客服經(jīng)理提供了60天的工資和福利，以及遣散費。如果公司其他部門有合適的職位，一些人可能會被重新分配到亞馬遜的其他職位。亞馬遜表示，這種情況已經(jīng)發(fā)生。
她在一份聲明中表示，接受《財富》雜志采訪的12名員工的觀點和軼事“與亞馬遜從數(shù)千名客服員工中定期調(diào)查收集到的數(shù)據(jù)不符”。她說：“總體而言，我們的大多數(shù)一線客服員工都表示工作滿意度很高，事實上，今年的滿意度比去年有所上升。”
“底層員工”
截至3月底，亞馬遜的全職和兼職員工總數(shù)達(dá)150萬，其中客戶服務(wù)代表處于不尋常的中間地帶——既不完全屬于倉庫工人和送貨司機的行列，也不完全屬于工程師、銷售人員和其他辦公室人員的范疇。
被裁掉的亞馬遜經(jīng)理都是受薪員工，如果在美國內(nèi)部得到晉升，他們的年薪可能在6萬到8萬美元之間。（亞馬遜發(fā)言人表示，這一區(qū)間低于平均水平，但拒絕提供更多細(xì)節(jié)。）員工們告訴《財富》雜志，他們沒有加班費，但根據(jù)工作要求，有時需要每周工作50到60個小時。根據(jù)他們的表現(xiàn)，他們也有資格獲得部分亞馬遜股票。
在較低級別的崗位上，亞馬遜客服代表（簡稱CSA）按小時計酬（在美國從15美元出頭到20多美元不等），當(dāng)在線自助服務(wù)工具無法滿足客戶和亞馬遜設(shè)備用戶的需求時，他們需要通過電話、電子郵件、聊天和社交媒體等方式回答客戶和亞馬遜設(shè)備用戶的問題并處理投訴。雖然一些客服代表在呼叫中心工作，但許多客服代表居家遠(yuǎn)程辦公。2022年，亞馬遜將更多員工從呼叫中心調(diào)到遠(yuǎn)程工作崗位，據(jù)報道是為了節(jié)省房地產(chǎn)成本。員工們表示，亞馬遜還將一些客服工作外包給第三方公司。
盡管亞馬遜的長期宗旨是“竭力成為地球上最以客戶為中心的公司”，但無論在亞馬遜工作多久，客服員工普遍感覺不那么溫暖舒適。一位長期從事客戶服務(wù)工作的經(jīng)理說：“我們是底層員工，是有成本的。”
一位最近被裁掉的長期經(jīng)理說：“我們肯定被視為公司的成本，他們經(jīng)常提醒我們這一點。”
與亞馬遜的大多數(shù)業(yè)務(wù)一樣，客服團隊也是在節(jié)儉和高效的文化氛圍中開展工作的（即使在公司辦公室，亞馬遜的員工福利設(shè)想也更傾向于提供免費香蕉，而不是谷歌（Google）的免費美食）。然而，據(jù)知情人士稱，近年來，加大努力從客服團隊中縮減成本的舉措更為明顯。所有接受《財富》雜志采訪的客服經(jīng)理和員工都表示，以禮品卡或小禮品形式獎勵客服代表的預(yù)算本來就很少，在過去幾年里已經(jīng)大幅削減或取消了。
一位員工說：“他們削減了我們所有的活動參與預(yù)算：一切與提高團隊士氣、緩解壓力、讓我們覺得自己屬于公司的預(yù)算都被削減了。”
盡管一線客服代表以及與此類預(yù)算直接相關(guān)的經(jīng)理們聲稱活動參與預(yù)算被削減了，但是亞馬遜發(fā)言人對此說法提出了質(zhì)疑，。
亞馬遜此前曾對《財富》雜志表示，此次重組旨在幫助縮小高層管理人員與客戶之間的差距。但一些經(jīng)理和一線客服代表在接受《財富》雜志采訪時表示，他們擔(dān)心留下的經(jīng)理的工作量會增加，而且一線客服代表的客戶升級可能會在重組中被遺忘。
尖酸刻薄的謾罵造成心理健康損害
員工表示，在裁員的同時，亞馬遜讓客服代表更難像以前那樣輕松地為客戶提供優(yōu)惠。其中一些員工還表示，隨著亞馬遜銷售額的增長，詐騙者及其受害者也在增加。濫用亞馬遜退貨政策的客戶可能也是部分原因。
對亞馬遜客服員工來說，完成日常任務(wù)更具挑戰(zhàn)性，而且常常伴隨著謾罵。
一位長期從事客戶服務(wù)的經(jīng)理說：“我們變得如此嚴(yán)苛，而且一味追求節(jié)儉，以至于即使是客戶的合理訴求都很難得到幫助。”
雖然亞馬遜為電子商務(wù)行業(yè)創(chuàng)造了免費退貨預(yù)期，但該公司的退貨流程有時會伴隨著摩擦，員工們說情況已經(jīng)變得更糟了。一位員工表示：“亞馬遜的客戶服務(wù)已經(jīng)大不如前了。”
一些亞馬遜內(nèi)部人士表示，在首席執(zhí)行官安迪·賈西的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下，裁員變得更加普遍。
長期員工表示，這種以成本為中心的環(huán)境氛圍加劇了亞馬遜客服代表的心理健康危機（部分人士認(rèn)為）。他們說，在疫情爆發(fā)早期就發(fā)生了巨大轉(zhuǎn)變，當(dāng)時只能居家訂購的客戶開始對電話客服人員大發(fā)雷霆，這種情況面對面從未發(fā)生過。
客戶希望亞馬遜客服員工被強奸或被殺如今也屢見不鮮。夾雜著臟話的謾罵已成為常態(tài)。
一位亞馬遜的老員工說：“有很多同事告訴我，‘我想我不會站在公共汽車前面，但如果有公共汽車開過來，我可能也不會動。’”
經(jīng)理們已經(jīng)注意到了這一點。
一位長期從事客戶服務(wù)的經(jīng)理告訴《財富》雜志：“我非常擔(dān)心向我匯報工作的員工的心理健康狀況以及他們所承受的壓力。”
亞馬遜發(fā)言人瑪格麗特·卡拉漢表示，公司“非常關(guān)注員工體驗，并竭力加以改進(jìn)”。她補充說，亞馬遜為那些處理“難纏”客戶或經(jīng)歷辱罵性互動的員工制定了相應(yīng)的計劃并提供相關(guān)資源，如果提出的警告不能遏制客戶的辱罵行為，客服代表可以終止與客戶的對話。
亞馬遜還反駁了長期員工和經(jīng)理關(guān)于他們比過去更難為客戶提供優(yōu)惠的說法，但指出公司在過去兩年中一直在努力，以便在全球不同市場保證優(yōu)惠政策的一致性。
亞馬遜的卡拉漢說：“我們并非盡善盡美，但當(dāng)錯誤出現(xiàn)時，我們不僅會努力與客戶一起補救，而且還會將這種情況作為學(xué)習(xí)機會，推動我們不斷改進(jìn)工具、流程和政策。”
新?lián)鷳n：你是否在訓(xùn)練聊天機器人替代人類工作者？
雖然其中一些問題已經(jīng)存在多年，但新問題正在亞馬遜的客服運營中引發(fā)重大沖突，而對人工智能的擔(dān)憂在一定程度上也要歸咎于此。最近，亞馬遜領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者強制要求客服代表使用一種全新的內(nèi)部專用軟件工具來解決客戶問題。這款名為AC3的軟件程序已經(jīng)開發(fā)了多年，但直到最近才被禁止使用之前的工具。
根據(jù)一線員工和經(jīng)理的說法，該程序的首要問題是速度慢、漏洞多。部分客服代表告訴《財富》雜志，該程序可以將客戶互動時間延長到以前平均水平的兩到三倍。舊工具可以讓客服代表輕松瀏覽客戶的亞馬遜歷史記錄，而現(xiàn)在的工具則重在提示員工遵循問答流程。
在一個強調(diào)效率目標(biāo)的崗位上，軟件問題會讓一線客服代表焦慮不安。員工們告訴《財富》雜志，如果一直達(dá)不到業(yè)績目標(biāo)，就會影響工作保障和晉升資格。甚至一位認(rèn)為該工具大有前途的經(jīng)理也承認(rèn)，該工具還未準(zhǔn)備就緒就被推出了。
這位經(jīng)理說：“這款工具有缺陷。”
員工們告訴《財富》雜志，該工具還嚴(yán)格限制了亞馬遜客服人員可以訪問的客戶信息量和購買歷史記錄量。盡管幾位經(jīng)理表示，限制訪問權(quán)限可能是對客戶隱私的保護(hù)，但他們也承認(rèn)，這往往會使問題的解決變得更為復(fù)雜，而且實際上最終可能會讓有濫用亞馬遜退貨政策歷史的客戶受益，因為客服代表實際上會無視有用的歷史背景信息。幾位員工這樣形容他們的工作：在幫助客戶的過程中，就像一只手被綁在背后。
亞馬遜發(fā)言人表示，該公司將繼續(xù)投資于改善客戶和員工體驗的工具，并利用反饋意見加以改進(jìn)。
更糟糕的是，一些員工還擔(dān)心，該軟件工具的設(shè)計實際上是在幫助訓(xùn)練人工智能從而替代他們。一些員工認(rèn)為，現(xiàn)在要求客服代表遵循的新結(jié)構(gòu)化問答流程很奇怪，而且對于他們與客戶的日常互動來說在很大程度上是不必要的。根據(jù)一名員工的說法，另一個可能的線索是：在客服代表使用AC3為客戶解決退款問題后，屏幕上的最終消息是以客戶而非客服代表的視角書寫的。
一名客服人員表示：“以前是面向員工的，現(xiàn)在是面向客戶的。這幾乎就像客戶可以自己做這件事一樣。”
另一位現(xiàn)任長期客戶服務(wù)經(jīng)理向《財富》雜志表示，他們的上司也證實了這一點。
這位長期經(jīng)理在談到這款軟件時說：“它會學(xué)習(xí)。我們正在訓(xùn)練人工智能。這不是猜測。”
亞馬遜發(fā)言人沒有對員工通過該工具訓(xùn)練人工智能的說法發(fā)表評論。
考慮到人工智能的炒作周期目前主導(dǎo)著商業(yè)世界，沒有人會責(zé)怪客服人員往最糟糕的方面想。畢竟，該公司的亞馬遜網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)部門目前正專門針對呼叫中心推廣自己的人工智能聊天機器人服務(wù)。這些擔(dān)憂并非憑空出現(xiàn)的。
從最近的裁員，到經(jīng)常遇到的壓力和辱罵，再到對新工作工具的不滿，亞馬遜客服員工都在想，公司高管是否意識到了他們的困境，以及他們是否還能坦然地吹噓客戶至上。
一位長期經(jīng)理告訴《財富》雜志：“數(shù)年前，我很高興加入這家公司。我當(dāng)時認(rèn)為我們是革命性的。”
他們補充道：“如今，我們和其他人并無二致。”（財富中文網(wǎng)）
譯者：中慧言-王芳
The bad news blindsided Amazon customer service employees across the globe in mid-May: More layoffs had arrived. This time, it was middle managers.
In one Amazon office in Europe, a senior customer service official informed employees during a group meeting that a restructuring would remove an entire level of middle management, but since he refrained from using words like “l(fā)ayoffs,” it wasn’t initially clear whether impacted employees would be out of a job completely or simply reassigned. As employees exchanged puzzled looks trying to decipher what exactly was transpiring, they finally realized that some in attendance had effectively just been laid off.
“In the end, we only barely understood that my colleague next to me was fired,” one longtime Amazon customer service manager told Fortune. “I’ve never felt that embarrassed.”
Around the same time in other parts of the world, some longtime managers tried to log into their Amazon computer system unsuccessfully. In at least one instance, a manager contacted the company’s IT department for assistance only to learn that they should expect outreach from HR instead. Other managers returned to their computers after being bushwhacked by news of their fate to find that there would be no goodbyes: The company had already locked them out of their systems.
The bare-knuckled job cuts are just one of the many rounds of layoffs made by tech businesses over the past two years, as companies like Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce retrench from a pandemic-fueled hiring spree. At Amazon, tens of thousands of workers across the company have been let go since the fall of 2022, a business practice that some insiders say has become more common since Andy Jassy replaced Jeff Bezos as CEO.
For Amazon’s customer service ranks—the frontline staff at a nearly $2 trillion business that proudly markets itself as “customer-obsessed”—the layoffs carry a special significance. At a time when remote work and cost-cutting have upended established work patterns, and with the first wave of generative AI threatening to reshape the very nature of many professions, the plight of Amazon’s customer service managers offers what could be a preview of broader changes coming to corporate workforces around the world.
Already, the question of what comes next for this division at Amazon is dominating side conversations and text threads between Amazon employees in call centers and virtual offices from the U.S. to Costa Rica to India. Will Amazon continue to outsource even more customer interactions to third-party firms? Are current employees unknowingly training an AI replacement under the guise of a new software tool that management is forcing them to use? How far off is complete automation of their roles?
Fortune spoke to a dozen Amazon customer service employees and managers, all of whom requested anonymity either because Amazon policies prohibit them from speaking to the press without permission or because they don’t want to risk losing out on severance that the company is offering them. Throughout the conversations, one common theme emerged: The workers believe the future of their work is more tenuous than it was yesterday and more difficult than ever before.
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan told Fortune that business leaders and teams are empowered to make their own staffing and investment decisions, and that leadership has been managing through an unprecedented series of events, including the global pandemic and the resulting unpredictable shifts in consumer demand and the labor market.
When Fortune told Amazon that Amazon employees and managers estimate that anywhere between a couple hundred and 600 roles were recently eliminated, the spokesperson would only confirm that more than 100 positions were cut.
In the U.S., Amazon provided 60 days of pay and benefits to the customer service managers who were recently laid off, plus severance. Some may be reassigned to another Amazon role if there’s a fit elsewhere in the company, and Amazon said that’s already occurred in some instances.
In a statement, she said that the opinions and anecdotes of the 12 employees who spoke to Fortune “do not match the data” that Amazon gleans from the thousands of customer service employees it regularly surveys. “Overall, the majority of our frontline customer service employees report having high job satisfaction, and in fact, it is up this year versus last,” she said.
The “l(fā)ow-level guys”
Within the vast universe of Amazon workers, which totaled 1.5 million full- and part-time employees at the end of March, customer service representatives inhabit a curious middle zone—not exactly fitting within the ranks of the warehouse workers and delivery drivers, nor entirely within the corporate realm of engineers, salespeople, and other office folks.
The Amazon managers who were laid off are salaried employees who might make somewhere between $60,000 and $80,000 a year in the U.S. if they were promoted internally. (Amazon’s spokesperson said that range is below the average, but declined to provide more detail.) They aren’t paid overtime but have job commitments that could at times necessitate working 50 to 60 hours a week, employees told Fortune. They are also eligible to earn some Amazon stock based on their performance.
At the lower level, Amazon customer service agents, or CSAs, get paid hourly (from just north of $15 to a couple of dollars over $20 in the U.S.) to respond by phone, email, chat, and social to questions and complaints from shoppers and Amazon device users when online self-service tools don’t suffice. While some agents work out of call centers, many work remotely from home. In 2022, Amazon moved more employees from call centers to remote positions, reportedly to save money on real estate costs. Amazon also outsources some customer service work to third-party companies, employees said.
Despite Amazon’s longtime tenet that it “strives to be Earth’s most customer-centric company,” the common feeling among customer service employees, however long they have worked at the company, is not so warm and fuzzy. “We are the low-level guys, the ones who cost something,” said one longtime customer service manager.
“We definitely are seen as a cost to the company and that’s something that they remind us of often,” said a longtime manager laid off recently.
As with most things at Amazon, customer service teams operate in a culture of thrift and efficiency (even at its corporate offices, Amazon’s idea of employee perks leans more toward free bananas than the?complimentary gourmet food found at Google). In recent years, however, the push to squeeze costs out of the customer service team has been more pronounced, sources said. All customer service managers and employees who spoke to Fortune said that the already small budgets for rewarding agents with modest gift cards or swag have been slashed or eliminated over the last few years.
“They have cut down all our engagement budgets,” one said: “everything related to improve a team’s morale, relieve stress, make them feel like they belong to the company.”
An Amazon spokesperson disputed that “engagement” budgets have been cut despite claims to the contrary from frontline agents as well as managers with direct knowledge of such budgeting.
Amazon previously told Fortune that the restructuring was intended to help shrink the gap between higher levels of management and customers. But some managers and frontline agents who spoke to Fortune expressed concern about how much the workloads of the remaining managers will increase, and how customer escalations from frontline agents might get lost in the shuffle.
The mental health toll of vitriolic diatribes
The cutbacks have come at the same time that Amazon has made it more difficult for customer service agents to provide concessions to customers as easily as they once did, according to employees, some of whom also say that scammers, and customers who have been the victims of scammers, have grown alongside Amazon’s sales. Customers who abuse Amazon return policies may also be partly to blame.
The upshot for Amazon customer service employees is that accomplishing day-to-day tasks is more challenging, and often accompanied by abuse.
“We’ve become so restrictive and set on frugality that it’s become an uphill climb for even a reasonable customer to get help,” one longtime manager said.
While Amazon helped create the expectation of free returns for the e-commerce industry, the company’s returns process can be at times friction-filled, and employees say it has gotten worse. “It’s just not the customer service that people once knew Amazon for,” one said.
Longtime employees say this cost-focused environment has exacerbated what some consider to be a mental health crisis among Amazon’s CS agents. They say a dramatic shift began during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when customers who were bound by stay-at-home orders began spewing the type of vitriol at phone agents that they’d never consider unleashing face to face.
Customers wishing rape or death on Amazon customer service employees is now not unheard-of. Diatribes laced with profanity have become more of the norm.
“The amount of coworkers who’ve told me something like, ‘I don’t think I’d step in front of a bus but I probably wouldn’t move if one was coming,’ is high,” one longtime Amazon employee said.
Managers have taken notice.
“I am very concerned about the mental health of people who report to me and the stress they are under,” one longtime customer service manager told Fortune.
Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said the company cares “deeply about our employee experience and works hard to continually improve it.” She added that Amazon has programs and resources in place for employees who deal with a “difficult” or abusive interaction, and that CSAs can terminate a customer conversation if a warning doesn’t curb the customer’s behavior.
Amazon also disputed claims from longtime employees and managers that it is harder for them to provide customer concessions than in the past, but noted that the company has worked over the past two years to more consistently apply its concessions policies in different markets around the world.
“We’re not perfect, and when mistakes occur, we’re not only diligent to remediate it with our customer, but we also use the situation as a learning opportunity that fuels continuous improvement to our tools, processes, and policies,” Amazon’s Callahan said.
A new worry: Are you training your chatbot replacement?
While some of these issues have percolated for years, a newer one is causing significant strife throughout Amazon’s customer service operation—and AI fears are partly to blame. Recently, Amazon leaders have mandated that customer service agents exclusively use a new internal software tool to resolve customer issues. The software program, known as AC3, has been in development for years, but only recently has access to the previous tool been cut off.
The first issue with the program, according to frontline employees and managers alike, is that the tool is slow and full of bugs, with some agents telling Fortune that it can extend customer interactions by two to three times the previous average. Whereas the old tool used to easily allow an agent to browse a customer’s Amazon history, the tool now mainly prompts employees to follow a Q&A process.
In a role where efficiency goals are stressed, the software hiccups are anxiety-inducing for frontline reps. Consistently missing these goals can affect job security and promotion eligibility, employees told Fortune. Even one manager who believes the tool holds great promise admits it was rolled out before it was ready for prime time.
“It is defective,” the manager said.
The tool has also severely limited the amount of customer information and purchase history that Amazon customer service agents can access, employees told Fortune. While several managers said limiting access could be a win for customer privacy, they also admitted it often makes resolving issues much more complicated and could actually end up benefiting customers with a history of abusing Amazon’s return policies because representatives are effectively blind to useful, historical context. Several employees described their work as attempting to help customers with a hand tied behind their back.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company continues to invest in tools to improve both the customer and employee experience, and uses feedback to improve.
To make matters worse, some employees also fear that the software tool is designed in such a way that they are essentially helping train their AI replacement. A new structured Q&A flow that agents are now required to follow has struck some workers as an odd, and largely unnecessary, process for their routine interactions with customers. Another possible clue, according to one employee: After an agent resolves a refund issue for a customer using AC3, the final messaging on the screen is written as if a customer is viewing it, not an agent.
“It was employee-facing before and now it’s customer-facing,” one customer service employee said. “It was almost like the customer could do this themselves.”
Another current longtime customer service manager claimed to Fortune that their superior has confirmed as much.
“It learns,” the longtime manager said of the software. “We are training AI. It’s not speculation.”
The Amazon spokesperson did not offer a comment on the idea that employees are training AI through the tool.
Considering the AI hype cycle currently dominating the business world, no one should blame customer service agents for thinking the worst. The company’s Amazon Web Services division, after all, is currently marketing its own AI chatbot service specifically to call centers. These fears are not materializing out of thin air.
From the most recent layoffs, to the stress and verbal abuse they encounter regularly, to their dissatisfaction with the new work tool, Amazon customer service employees are wondering whether company executives are even aware of their plight—and whether they should still be able to boast of customer obsession with a straight face.
“I was excited to join the company years ago,” one longtime manager told Fortune. “I thought we were revolutionary at the time.”
“Now,” they added, “we are exactly the same as anyone else.”
