Amazon to Retrain a Third of Its U.S. Workforce

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

Pretty great on Amazon. They're preparing for the automation wave. The training is completely voluntary too.

This is where capitalism shines.

They still need to be broken up tho.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ws...rain-a-third-of-its-u-s-workforce-11562841120

U.S. companies are increasingly paying up to retrain workers as new technologies transform the workplace and companies struggle to recruit talent in one of the hottest job markets in decades.

Amazon.com Inc. is the latest example of a large employer committing to help its workers gain new skills. The online retailer said Thursday it plans to spend $700 million over about six years to retrain a third of its U.S. workforce as automation, machine learning and other technology upends the way many of its employees do their jobs.

Companies as varied as AT&T Inc., Walmart Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Accenture PLC have embarked on efforts to prepare workers for new roles. At a time of historically low unemployment, coupled with rapid digital transformation that requires high-tech job skills, more U.S. companies said they want to help their employees transition to new positions—and they have their bottom line squarely in focus.

NoblesseOblige · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
This is where capitalism shines.

explain

DiipuSurotu · Jul 13, 2019

The article is behind a paywall

Speevy · Jul 13, 2019

Lesson 1: How to run from one end of the warehouse to the other in 8 seconds without dropping a pre-assembled desk.

effingvic · Jul 13, 2019

Amazon will teach people how to piss and shit inside their bodies so they dont have to ever take bathroom breaks.

RockmanBN · Jul 13, 2019

What about the other two thirds?

DiipuSurotu · Jul 13, 2019

RockmanBN said:
What about the other two thirds?

Not all jobs are going to be automated

capitalCORN · Jul 13, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
Not all jobs are going to be automated

You really think the warehouse force is the least of the numbers?

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

NoblesseOblige said:
explain

Easy. Mutual edification. Amazon benefits with a more skilled workforce and workers are more skilled and thus command more in the employment market.

Employee training is has been dying in the last 30 years. This is a good thing. Low unemployment helps here.

NoblesseOblige · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
Easy. Mutual edification. Amazon benefits with a more skilled workforce and workers are more skilled and thus command more in the employment market.

Ways to advance in capitalism:
1. Born into wealth
2. Debt
3. Work for a megacorp investing what amounts to pennies into you (maybe)

shining, yeah.

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

NoblesseOblige said:
Ways to advance in capitalism:
1. Born into wealth
2. Debt
3. Work for a megacorp investing what amounts to pennies into you

shining, yeah.

This is an incredibly pessimistic take lol.

Immigrants defy these every generation.

Spoit · Jul 13, 2019

But are contractors actually part of their workforce?

sfedai0 · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
This is an incredibly pessimistic take lol.

Its kinda true. They will spend far less money training their existing employees to perform work that people that have degrees would and pay them far less than that same group.

sfedai0 · Jul 13, 2019

double post.

NoblesseOblige · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
This is an incredibly pessimistic take lol.

Immigrants defy these every generation.

Are you including the ones locked up in cages in your assessment?
foh with this capitalist sympathizing bullshit

Kirblar · Jul 13, 2019

sfedai0 said:
Its kinda true. They will spend far less money training their existing employees to perform work that people that have degrees would and pay them far less than that same group.

Companies did lots of inhouse training for decades based off of things like entrance exams. The "entry level requires a degree and 5000 hours of professional photoshop experience" thing is a very much a modern construct and a company like Amazon re-embracing teaching its employees important new workplace skills is a good thing.

And yes, Amazon might not pay as well for hiring in house- but that's the nature of promotion from within - those employees should be able to jump to another job in the future leveraging those skills for a pay increase.

leder · Jul 13, 2019

I am a strident Amazon critic, but this is a move in the right direction. The modern trend of corporations gutting employee training programs while simultaneously complaining about how they can't fill their open reqs is one of my hobby horses.

Dyle · Jul 13, 2019

Good for them, but I'm sure they've run the numbers and recognized that this will help their bottom line eventually anyway, it isn't an act of charity. The good pr and improvements to employee morale are surely worth more than the $700 million price tag

SugarNoodles · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
This is an incredibly pessimistic take lol.

Immigrants defy these every generation.

Do anecdotes overrule statistics in your world view?

Spoit · Jul 13, 2019

But seriously, which third of their workforce. Retraining their programmers to build even more Machine Learning and automation tech probably doesn't help

Deleted member 5334 · Jul 13, 2019

JCHandsom · Jul 13, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
The article is behind a paywall

Good ol' Capitalism shine

GamerJM · Jul 13, 2019

What exactly are they training them in?

VariantX · Jul 13, 2019

Who's getting this training is what I want to know, the tech guys and office workers at the mid/top level or the thousands of warehouse workers and delivery drivers?

Sensei · Jul 13, 2019

Entrement youre always posting these damn paywalled articles lol and i cant ever read the whole thing

devilhawk · Jul 13, 2019

Amazon (really both in the tech and warehouse sides) has such massive turnover that they won't need to retrain anybody. They'll just slowly train new hires as they shift more towards automation. So this article isn't really saying much.

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

Sensei said:
Entrement youre always posting these damn paywalled articles lol and i cant ever read the whole thing

Lol. You're on the few that reads them or tries lol.

I'll post alternate versions going forward. Usually the WSJ gets these "exclusives".

Raccoon · Jul 13, 2019

I read "retain" and thought this was disaster news

Darknight · Jul 13, 2019

sfedai0 said:
Its kinda true. They will spend far less money training their existing employees to perform work that people that have degrees would and pay them far less than that same group.

Theoretically, depending on what they are training them for, those skills could be used elsewhere so it's in Amazon's interest to pay them enough to retain their investment. Otherwise they just spent money training people to leave for other companies.

Deleted member 22490 · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
thus command more in the employment market.

lol

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

SugarNoodles said:
Do anecdotes overrule statistics in your world view?

Nah. I know capitalism isn't perfect but it's the best of available systems.

Also, I'm for breaking up the big tech companies and taxing them fairly, which they are not.

Moreover, I am for more compassionate capitalism similar to the Nordic countries.

Until we get a example of full bore socialism working IRL, I'll remain skeptical.

Besides, it will never happen and I'll rather work in reality.

I know there is vocal contingent against capitalism here. That's cool. We can be friends and disagree!

Kirblar · Jul 13, 2019

Helio said:
lol

That's how a job market works. You improve your skills, knowledge and expertise, allowing you to charge people more for your time.

Kurdel · Jul 13, 2019

I'll hear about the beauty of capitalism when they pay fucking taxes thank you very much

Deleted member 6230 · Jul 13, 2019

I too love when corporations sometimes throw us a bone in a way that only serves their interests to solve problems they're creating.

SugarNoodles · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
Nah. I know capitalism isn't perfect but it's the best of available systems.

Also, I'm for breaking up the big tech companies and taxing them fairly, which they are not.

Moreover, I am for more compassionate capitalism similar to the Nordic countries.

Until we get a example of full bore socialism working IRL, I'll remain skeptical.

Besides, it will never happen and I'll rather work in reality.

I know there is vocal contingent against capitalism here. That's cool. We can be friends and disagree!

Why do you need an example of "full bore socialism" working if you clearly dont need an example of "full bore capitalism" working?

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

SugarNoodles said:
Why do you need an example of "full bore socialism" working if you clearly dont need an example of "full bore capitalism" working?

But that's the thing. We don't have full bore capitalism thankfully. Most societies are mixed economies. I do think the US needs some balancing definitely. Like I said the Nordic countries are filthy capitalists too yet the gave robust welfare systems. It's no an either/or scenario.

These are countries that rank high in standard of living in many research studies reliably.

Deleted member 5334 · Jul 13, 2019

Forgive my earlier post, but I did admittedly find that statement a bit ridiculous.

My issue is it's very clear Amazon is exploiting their work force, and eventually they plan to get rid of a huge chunk of the more human work force if they can automate most of the process. While they'll always have some level of human operators and other areas in Amazon's work force, the fact they're trying to reduce the amount of people who work there, and leave a lot of workers without a job is just...

Plus, Amazon is by no MEANS hurting for income. Plus, as we have been finding out, they still continue to pay 0 taxes. That's a lot of money that arguably could go back into systems that could benefit people. Plus I'm almost certain most of that money doesn't go into the grunt work, by any means.

Extra Sauce · Jul 13, 2019

DiipuSurotu said:
The article is behind a paywall

This is where capitalism shine.

Mammoth Jones · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
This is an incredibly pessimistic take lol.

Immigrants defy these every generation.

Facts. And not just immigrants. Nothing perfect but if your job is offering a training program and increases your viability as an employe you're a fool to whine at your desk about capitalism. Take the fucking training and increase your value in that job and the next.

TrueSloth · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
Nah. I know capitalism isn't perfect but it's the best of available systems.

Also, I'm for breaking up the big tech companies and taxing them fairly, which they are not.

Moreover, I am for more compassionate capitalism similar to the Nordic countries.

Until we get a example of full bore socialism working IRL, I'll remain skeptical.

Besides, it will never happen and I'll rather work in reality.

I know there is vocal contingent against capitalism here. That's cool. We can be friends and disagree!

Our system has done a really good job with "capitalism is the best system in the world" propoganda.

SugarNoodles · Jul 13, 2019

entremet said:
But that's the thing. We don't have full bore capitalism thankfully. Most societies are mixed economies. I do think the US needs some balancing definitely. Like I said the Nordic countries are filthy capitalists too yet the gave robust welfare systems. It's no an either/or scenario.

These are countries that rank high in standard of living in many research studies reliably.

Right, so they keep capitalism in check. So again, why are you asking for examples of "full bore socialism"?

Kirblar · Jul 13, 2019

Alcotholic said:
Our system has done a really good job with "capitalism is the best system in the world" propoganda.

Capitalist mixed economies' economic productivity blowing out attempts at communist/socialism to he point where those countries had to adopt capitalist elements to allow them to actually start catching up isn't "propaganda."

SugarNoodles said:
Right, so they keep capitalism in check. So again, why are you asking for examples of "full bore socialism"?

Because many advocates love to talk about an inevitable post-scarcity post-capitalist world with the same religious fervor of a zealot describing the wonders of the inevitable afterlife.

Deleted member 25600 · Jul 13, 2019

Kirblar said:
Capitalist mixed economies' economic productivity blowing out attempts at communist/socialism to he point where those countries had to adopt capitalist elements to allow them to actually start catching up isn't "propaganda."

Because many advocates love to talk about an inevitable post-scarcity post-capitalist world with the same religious fervor of a zealot describing the wonders of the inevitable afterlife.

Hmm...yes. I'm sure the CIA had nothing to do with it. It was all due to amazing productivity.

Kurdel · Jul 13, 2019

Alcotholic said:
Our system has done a really good job with "capitalism is the best system in the world" propoganda.

Oh no you are mistaken friend, here in the West we are immune to propaganda (:

RPGam3r · Jul 13, 2019

NoblesseOblige said:
Are you including the ones locked up in cages in your assessment?
foh with this capitalist sympathizing bullshit

Wow your negatively knows no bounds lol. I would rather have some decent balance here about capitalism rather than just people clamor on and on about how bad it is.

Kirblar · Jul 13, 2019

DrSlek said:
Hmm...yes. I'm sure the CIA had nothing to do with it. It was all due to amazing productivity.

Correct. Capitalism was going to inevitably do itself in because it was so horribly inefficient economically, which only adds to the tragedy of the ill-thought out destrictive interventions of the Cold War era. Vietnam abandoned their attempts at it and started moving towards a capitalist system after only about a decade after the Vietnam War because they rapidly figured out it wasn't working. China and Russia also did the same.

Here's two posts from last week on the topic- https://www.resetera.com/threads/why-hasn't-a-"true"-communist-nation-risen-and-survived.127617/post-22536813

https://www.resetera.com/threads/wh...isen-and-survived.127617/page-3#post-22537246

Foffy · Jul 13, 2019

Not putting much faith into those, knowing most retraining programs fail people.

Sounds more like good marketing and nothing more.

Kirblar · Jul 13, 2019

Foffy said:
Not putting much faith into those, knowing most retraining programs fail people.

Sounds more like good marketing and nothing more.

Retraining programs are usually attempting to move people to an entirely different industry - this is trying to make it so that they can retain workers in positions that aren't going away, but which will require specialized skills going forward.

entremet · Jul 13, 2019

Foffy said:
Not putting much faith into those, knowing most retraining programs fail people.

Sounds more like good marketing and nothing more.

The labor market is tight. It's in Amazon's self interest to train current employees and keep them in the Amazon fold than double down on recruiting.

Think from the employer's POV to understand this investment.

Moreover, demographics are not the best as well and the current administration is not pro immigration.

Deleted member 25600 · Jul 13, 2019

Kirblar said:
Correct. Capitalism was going to inevitably do itself in because it was so horribly inefficient economically, which only adds to the tragedy of the ill-thought out destrictive interventions of the Cold War era. Vietnam abandoned their attempts at it and started moving towards a capitalist system after only about a decade after the Vietnam War because they rapidly figured out it wasn't working. China and Russia also did the same.

Here's two posts from last week on the topic- https://www.resetera.com/threads/why-hasn't-a-"true"-communist-nation-risen-and-survived.127617/post-22536813

https://www.resetera.com/threads/wh...isen-and-survived.127617/page-3#post-22537246

The United States used sanctions and trade embargos!

It's super effective!

Amazon to Retrain a Third of Its U.S. Workforce

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

Visited by Knack - One Winged Slayer

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

One Winged Slayer

User requested account closure

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

User requested account closure

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

User-requested account closure

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

User requested account closure

User requested account closure

You wouldn't toast a NES cartridge

User requested account closure