Amazon employee jumps off company building after ranting email to staff

A DISTURBING scene has unfolded at the notoriously high-stress Amazon headquarters, where an employee attempted to take his own life.

A DISTRESSED Amazon employee sent out an email to hundreds of co-workers criticising the company before leaping off its Seattle headquarters in a failed suicide attempt.

The unidentified worker, who had been placed on an “employee improvement plan”, jumped off the 12-storey building in the downtown area on Monday morning and survived the fall, Bloomberg Technology reported.

Before taking the plunge, the worker sent out a mass email to Amazon employees, including chief executive Jeff Bezos, saying how he was displeased with the company’s recent handling of his transfer request, according to the news site, citing an anonymous source.

In the email, the man also hinted that he might hurt himself.

“Our thoughts are with our colleague as he continues to recover,” Amazon said in a statement. “He’s receiving some of the best care possible and we will be there to support him throughout the recovery process.”

Amazon’s brutal workplace culture was critiqued in a New York Times article last year, which detailed the long working hours and “unreasonably high standards” placed on staff, who were told that when they “hit the wall” under pressure, they should “climb the wall”.

Workers at the online retail giant were encouraged to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses, and one former staffer claimed that “nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk”.

And it’s not just white collar workers under the pump at Amazon; earlier this month, it was revealed that delivery drivers were allegedly forced to urinate and defecate in their vans to meet strict deadlines.

— With Dana McCauley

This article first appeared at the New York Post and is reproduced here with permission.

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