With the US labor market getting tighter and employees changing jobs or quitting in droves, Amazon has made a big move to become more competitive. The company has boosted its maximum base pay from $160,000 to $350,000, in response to what it calls a "particularly competitive labor market," The Washington Post has reported.

In a recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) blog, the company said that it pays around 50-65 percent of "what 'the market' will pay you." By contrast, it noted that Microsoft paid 75 percent, Google 95 percent and Netflix "top of market." Until now, anything more than $160,000 at Amazon was instead compensated by stock or cash signing bonuses.

This past year has seen a particularly competitive labor market and in doing a thorough analysis of various options, weighing the economics of our business and the need to remain competitive for attracting and retaining top talent, we decided to make meaningfully bigger increases to our compensation levels than we do in a typical year.

According to Amazon's own information, the company's maximum base pay is now also at the top market level, or more. It's also increasing overall compensation for most jobs around the world, with increases "much more considerable than we've done in the past," it wrote. At the same time, it's keeping the alternate compensation options, like stock options and signing bonuses, according to GeekWire. 

The change comes as Amazon's stock options become perhaps less interesting, considering that its share prices are down 15 percent from their peak in July 2021. Potential employees, especially top candidates who have their pick of tech companies, may have noticed that as well. 

Google thinks it has a way to break the lock rivals like Microsoft have on the office landscape: let employees take (some) matters into their own hands. The company has introduced a free Workspace Essentials Starter Edition you can use just by signing up with your work email. You won't get Gmail services, but you will get access to Chat, Docs, Drive, Meet, Sheets and Slides.

There's no subtlety involved in Google's rationale. It's betting Workplace Essentials Starter will help teams improve collaboration, even if their employers use "legacy productivity tools" that weren't designed for remote and hybrid offices. To put it another way, Google is hoping you'll skip your company's old Microsoft Office suite in favor of Workspace the next time you start a project.

This might not be very persuasive if your company already relies on a cloud-based service like Microsoft 365. It's also safe to say this won't fly if your employer has strict policies on the tools you're allowed to use — your boss might not appreciate you going rogue to finish a quarterly report. Google clearly hopes at least some workers will be tempted, though, and it wouldn't be surprising if the Starter Edition leads to some companies supplementing or even replacing existing tools following demand from rank-and-file staff.

Amazon won't be paying most warehouse workers in the US to quit their jobs this year. According to The Information, the e-commerce giant has paused its "pay-to-quit" program for majority of its workers for 2022, and it's unclear if it will be reinstated. The publication has obtained a copy of Amazon's message to its employees, which was then verified by a spokesperson from the company. Typically, Amazon pays its warehouse workers up to $5,000 to quit their jobs after peak seasons like the holidays as a way to pare down its workforce in the slowdown that follows. 

Jeff Bezos also once told shareholders in a newsletter that it's a way to give employees an out if they're no longer happy working for Amazon. The company would usually make "The Offer," as it's also called, towards the end of the first quarter of the year. For 2022, however, it told employees that only workers who graduated from Amazon's Career Choice training program will be eligible for the payout. They're also only eligible within 90 days after graduating. Amazon pays tuition reimbursements for workers part of the Career Choice program, which expands this January to include GEDs, English as a Second Language (ESL) certificates and bachelor's degrees. It only used to cover certificates for technical skills and associate degrees.

Karen Riley Sawyer, the company's representative, has confirmed the changes to the pay-to-quit program, telling The Information that it's currently only available "to graduates of Career Choice to support their transition to a new career should they choose to leverage their new certifications." While Sawyer didn't say why the program's scope has been narrowed down, it could be because vaccine mandates and the rising infection rates caused by the spread of the Omicron variant are making it hard for Amazon to find adequate staffing. Earlier this month, Motherboard reported that over 1,800 workers at a single Amazon facility in New York were out on leave due to COVID. A source also told The Information that the warehouse had been facing severe staffing shortages over the past months. 

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has determined that Amazon illegally fired former worker Daequan Smith for trying to unionize its warehouses in Staten Island, New York. Smith, who was one of the organizers for the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), was fired in October 2021. The group filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the NLRB after his dismissal, accusing the company of illegal retaliatory firing over Smith's outspoken support for unionization. Now, according to Bloomberg, the board has found merit in the group's allegations and plans to issue a formal complaint against the e-commerce giant if the case doesn't settle. 

The Amazon Labor Union is made of up of former and current company workers and is an independent group not connected with major national unions. While the group failed to unionize Amazon's fulfillment centers in Staten Island last year, it refiled an application with the NLRB in December — a hearing is scheduled for that request next month. 

Smith wasn't the only ALU organizer that Amazon had fired. ALU president Chris Smalls also lost his job after he held a walkout at Amazon's JFK8 facility over the e-commerce giant's handling of COVID-19 safety at the warehouse in 2020. Amazon explained back then that Smalls "received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines."

The company has been adamantly anti-union and had once told Engadget in a statement that it doesn't "think unions are the best answer for [its] employees." It added: "Every day we empower people to find ways to improve their jobs, and when they do that we want to make those changes — quickly. That type of continuous improvement is harder to do quickly and nimbly with unions in the middle." After reaching a deal with the NLRB in December, though, Amazon agreed to informs workers that they have the legal right to join, form or assist with a union through notices posted in workplaces, as well as on its mobile app and internal website.

As Bloomberg explains, NLRB brings complaints to agency judges if it finds merit in claims made by workers. The board's top prosecutor, Jennifer Abruzzo, one said she will "aggressively" seek court injunctions to get illegally fired employees back to work. ALU vice president Derrick Palmer, whom Amazon had disciplined for joining Smalls' COVID-19 protest, said Smith being reinstated would be a huge support for the group: "It would be monumental for him to go back to the same building that he was terminated from and speak his truth and let workers know that it’s OK to speak out."

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

Amazon is hitting the tail end of peak – the term the company uses to refer to the winter holidays, as well as its own corporate holiday, Prime Day – when its workers are under the greatest strain, frequently required to clock mandatory overtime hours and are disallowed from scheduling any vacation days. It also coincides with the hiring of a deluge of temporary workers, with a projected 150,000 added this year, its largest holiday surge to date.

It's hectic during the best of times. But according to an internal email viewed by Engadget, and the testimonies of four current or former associates who were granted anonymity for fear of reprisal, it's also a time of year when Amazon expects some number of its workforce to take out their stress on their colleagues, or on themselves.

"Peak is a busy time for our entire team as everyone is dedicated to helping customers receive their holiday packages on time. It's easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed," the leaked email, dated November 23, reads. "And while most of us never pose a risk to others, some people can act out in a way that causes concern. This could be due to many factors in their lives, not just what they experience at work. Regardless of the cause, workplace violence is never the answer." [Emphasis theirs]

The worker who provided the email to Engadget could not recall similar messaging during previous peaks. "I've been with Amazon a little over four years now and they've never mentioned anything about our mental status until now," they wrote in an email. "Our leadership hasn't announced anything [other] than quota related issues."

The email goes on to draw a connection between the grueling workload of peak and the potential for self-harm. "Remember that your mental health matters," it reads. "If you experience stress, feelings of depression, anxiety, or thoughts of suicide, please talk with your manager, a human resources business partner, or a mental health professional." It directs workers to use the company's "free, confidential counselors and other resources."

Two of the associates who spoke to Engadget recalled being shown a video, covering similar subject matter, during their training.

"It was stupid things like call the employee resource center, and talking about 'if you feel like you want to harm somebody you can tell your supervisor and you'll be allowed to leave work and go home.' It was just such bullshit," one recalled. The same associate stated that the employee resource center is "like a black hole of 'press one for this', I don't even know how to talk to a real person there."

"They have a number you call if you start feeling suicidal or depressed from working too much," another told Engadget. "They put a video on during training where they talked about how a lot of workers feel this way. And that was right after the reveal that we were not getting the schedules we wanted and we had to work 60 hours a week. After being told it would be 40."

A 2019 report in the Daily Beast publicized some of the 911 calls that had been made from inside several of Amazon's warehouses, including a pregnant worker who threatened to stab herself and her unborn child. Jace Crouch, a former employee quoted in the story, said that "people having breakdowns [are] a regular occurrence" within these facilities.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to answer specific questions sent by Engadget, including whether the company had seen any uptick in workplace violence. Instead the company provided the following statement: “We know it’s been a tough year and a half for everyone, and like most large companies, we work to support our teams in many different ways. This includes providing resources throughout the year for anyone who may be dealing with stress in their personal lives or at work, and making sure they feel seen and able to ask for help if they need it.”

Are you a tech worker with concerns about your job, safety, or the work you're required to do? Reach out to me confidentially on Signal at 646.983.9846

Ransomware has been a recurring problem throughout 2021, and the latest attack could be particularly severe for some workers. NBC Newsreports workforce management heavyweight Kronos has suffered a ransomware attack that could affect its ability to handle hours and payroll at well-known companies like GameStop, Honda and Whole Foods. With many final pre-Christmas paychecks slated to arrive this week, there's a concern some employees might not get paid in a timely fashion when they need it most.

Kronos reported the attack on December 11th, but it wasn't until December 13th the company warned it might take "several weeks" to fully restore functionality. The company didn't identify the perpetrators. It also couldn't completely rule out a connection to the recent Log4j vulnerability, but went through "rapid patching" and supply chain checks to make sure its systems weren't susceptible.

It's not clear how soon hours and payroll functionality might come back. In the meantime, though, companies have had to scramble to find alternatives. Whole Foods told NBC it had found a way to pay staff this week, but Honda only said it was "taking steps" to mitigate any problems. One anonymous Whole Foods worker said teammates had been asked to rely on paper punch sheets and handwritten schedules.

The Kronos incident illustrates the sheer breadth of ransomware victims in recent months, including a meat supplier and a key oil pipeline operator. It also underscores the fragility of modern workplace technology. While a payroll company might not be considered critical infrastructure like food or fuel providers, a cyberattack against it can still deal significant economic damage.

MGM Resorts is letting applicants try out casino and hotel jobs in virtual reality (VR) before signing on, Business Insider has reported. It's part of a new effort to reduce employee attrition during the "great resignation" that has caused labor shortages in the US and elsewhere during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The casino and resort group is using headsets from a VR company called Strivr that specializes in virtual training for industry health and safety, customer service and more. The idea is to let employees experience typical job activities so that they know what to expect. "It can be very difficult just to verbally explain the types of positions or show a video," MGM Resorts' chief HR officer Laura Lee told BI. Using VR, by contrast, lets applicants "throw a headset on and really experience the job."

MGM plans to use the headsets at its offices and possibly career fairs, starting in January. The idea is to let potential customer service employees experience key aspects of the job, both positive and negative. For instance, the MGM Resorts VR module would include interactions with difficult guests, something that has reportedly become more common with COVID.

The negative interactions could discourage some candidates, but MGM expects that it would also allow for better hiring decisions. The use of the tech "might've resolved some turnover we experienced when people accepted positions and then realized it wasn't quite what they thought it would be," said Lee.

MGM plans to use the tech for its proposed $9.1 billion hotel, resort and casino in Osaka, Japan. It would be the first casino in the nation, so potential employees may not be familiar with typical jobs. As such, the VR option could be offered to candidates (it won't be required) to show them customer-oriented functions like hotel check-ins and gaming operations.

VR might not be the hit everyone expected in the consumer space, but it's certainly caught on with enterprises, particularly for training. MGM also uses Strivr's tech for customer-interaction training with new employees, saying it allows them to fail without consequences while learning a role. "Virtual Reality gives employees the opportunity to think and correct themselves without getting stressed or worried that they did something wrong," Lee said in a Strivr webinar. 

Netflix has opened up a fan-focused hub for updates and information about its shows and movies. The minisite is called Tudum, the same name as a three-hour fan event that took place in September. It's also the onomatopoeic name for the signature sound that plays when you fire up Netflix or start watching an Original.

The company notes that it's early days for Tudum, though the site will feature things like interviews, behind-the-scenes videos and bonus features. Right now, Tudum is showcasing a piece called "The Year in Pop Culture Obsessions" and an explainer that delves into how long witchers live, ahead of the second season of The Witcher arriving next week.

You'll also get to check out the latest Netflix news and trailers, and learn about upcoming releases. There's a section for trending content, as well as recommendations based on things you've watched. However, for me, that section is full of content about Lost in Space, a show I haven't watched in three years.

Tudum is obviously another way for Netflix to promote its shows and movies. Still, it could come in handy for fans looking for more details about the likes of Money Heist, Emily in Paris and the company's other hits.

Following a limited test in September, Microsoft has begun rolling out cloud gaming support to additional Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S consoles. While the feature is still in beta, it’s now available to select Xbox console owners in 25 markets. Over the coming weeks, the company plans to scale the service to all Xbox systems in those regions. As before, you’ll need a Game Pass Ultimate subscription to use the service, but it’s no longer necessary to take part in the Alpha Skip-Ahead and Alpha Insider programs.

Microsoft envisions a handful of scenarios where the ability to stream a game will be helpful. To start, it’s a way for people to try a Game Pass title without downloading it first. In much the same way, it also allows you to jump into a multiplayer game with your friends, even if you don’t have that title installed. Lastly, for Xbox One owners, it’s a chance to play Xbox Series X/S titles like The Medium and The Riftbreaker. For the best possible experience, you’ll still want to download your favorite games to your console. You’ll know if you can stream a Game Pass title if it has a cloud icon.

LinkedIn is introducing dedicated remote, hybrid and on-site search filters to help users on their next job hunt. You’ll see the labels when using the social network’s job search and Open to Work features. In the latter case, taking advantage of the filters will privately inform recruiters of the type of work you’re looking for, which the company says should help the right job find you. At the same time, LinkedIn is adding similar filters for company pages, allowing them to indicate things like their vaccine policies and return-to-office plans.

In testing the filters, LinkedIn says it saw more than 70 percent of searches involve people looking for remote-only roles. It’s a testament to how uncertain the pandemic has made every return-to-office plan. Even companies Amazon, Google and Facebook have struggled to find ones that stick. And so it’s no surprise most LinkedIn users are looking for opportunities where they can continue working from home.