One week after launching his one-man protest at Amazon headquarters in Seattle, former Amazon employee Kivin Varghese is still at it, trying to bring attention to his allegations of unethical and deceptive business practices at the company.
Today he will be trying a new tactic, handing out a new letter to employees calling on the company to augment its 14 leadership principles with new points addressing 1) employee treatment 2) business ethics and 3) environmental responsibility.
On the first point, the letter (PDF) takes the unusual step of urging Amazon employees not to work so hard. Writes Varghese in the letter …
1) Life is short, enjoy it – don’t give it all to Amazon. Leave work at a reasonable hour, don’t work nights and weekends.
2) If you’ve got more work on your plate than you can do, the company should hire more people, not drive you like a slave to get it done.
3) Don’t kill yourselves to keep the ship running. Slow down. Amazon will be fine.
Oh, boy. Questioning the company’s business ethics is one thing, but urging employees to be less productive? It will be interesting to see how Amazon reacts.
Varghese says via email that he has so far successfully resisted efforts by Amazon security to move his protest, and notes that he has been getting an “unbelievably positive response talking to hundreds of employees over the past several days.”
Varghese is involved in a protracted legal battle with the company, which has declined to comment on his protest.
