Once I looked into Amazon employee benefits and you didn't even get a free Prime account.
Yeah, but they pay 200-400% what competitors pay. The drawback is that they work you like a dog.
The bigger drawback is that you’re working for Amazon, surely.
It’s also a very hostile work environment purposefully built to pit you against your coworkers.
Yeah, that's why people typically tap out after a few years. I know someone who worked for them for 3 years. Working for them accelerated his retirement plans by a decade since they pay so well, but after 3 years he was very unhappy and left.
Their pay really isn’t great. For warehouse work or offices, most cities have an absolute abundance of positions with equal or higher pay.
I'm talking about engineering positions, but the warehouse pays pretty well around here (Seattle) too.
The thing is, if they don't offer these cheap stuff, they may have to do something crazy, like pay staff what they are worth. This definitely looks like a false economy.
Also, giving access to your devs also kinda makes them defacto testers when they're off the clock.
Like... getting your own people to use your product is a net positive.
Actually though. You see this in other industries too but once shareholders are involved everyone's brain becomes smooth and creamy.
Microsoft staff aren't hurting for money. They get paid a lot, and they have amazing benefits including dozens of perks like this.
Thats an abusive relationship if I‘ve seen one.
Employer/Employee is an inherently abusive relationship.
Often, yes. But you can’t take responsibility away from employers. I have been one and I behaved responsible. I didn’t become a billionaire because greed is always abusive.