Amazon India Chief Tells Employees To Maintain 'Work-Life Harmony', No Emails and Phone Calls After Office Hours (indiatimes.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon gets trashed on the international stage pretty often for its inhumane work conditions in its warehouses. However, it seems the Indian arm of the company is trying to do better, at least according to the latest announcement from Country Head Amit Agarwal. According to Business Standard, in an email to senior staff members this week, Agarwal has reportedly asked employees to leave themselves enough time to spend at home, and maintain a healthy "work-life harmony." He's told employees to stop taking calls and emails after hours, and specifically that, "No business decision should be made between 6 pm and 8 am." It's still unclear whether this decision comes from Agarwal or from the company's global leadership. Likely the latter, considering there's been no such chatter for US employees. It'll also be interesting to see how long this plan will hold, given the sheer size of the e-commerce portal. In the email, Agarwal also said that responding to emails while on vacation is "not cool."

Comments

It didn't come from the global leadership.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's for damn sure.

Re:It didn't come from the global leadership.

[jellomizer]

Probably not, however he seems to be allowed to manage his own little kingdom in the Amazon Empire.
A lot of the discussions seems to make good business sense, because with management making decisions off hours, it just creates confusion, as not everyone will be able to respond to it.

Holiday emails

[Rik Sweeney]

"Responding to emails while on vacation is not cool."

Sent from my sun lounger in Cancun.

Re:Holiday emails

[ranton]

Responding to emails while on vacation is not cool.

I have generally found that occasionally checking in while on vacation helps me schedule more vacations more freely. Otherwise it is harder to find a week where my wife and I can both take time off. The majority of vacations I never respond to a single email, but being able to leave during a busy time in a project knowing my team can handle anything because I am available just in case makes the whole process of taking a vacation far less stressful.

Or perhaps you could just say I am too indoctrinated into corporate life.

Re:the US really needs more of the EU labor laws /

[houghi]

That would be laws for the people, by the people and thus socialist/communist. That would be unchristian to do. So not happening.

(Yeah, this logic has more holes than a Swiss cheese, but Switserland is not in the EU, so no probnlems there.)

"Former", not "Latter"

[Green Mountain Bot]

It's still unclear whether this decision comes from Agarwal or from the company's global leadership. Likely the former, considering there's been no such chatter for US employees.

"Former" refers to the first of two earlier mentioned list items (Agarwal, in this case), while "latter" refers to the second (global leadership, in this case). If it were the latter, that would suggest there would be "chatter for US employees".

Blame this on Chamber of Commerce and ALEC

[hwstar]

What we have in the US are powerful business groups who "nominate" our legislators for re-election through private campaign donations. Until all elections are financed by public funds, none of this will change: employment-at-will, binding arbitration, noncompete clauses, and reform of overtime for exempt employees.

Re: They have labour law there and can't firesome

[HornWumpus]

I worked a 32 hour day once.

8 at a client's location in Sydney, 18 travelling (over the dateline), 6 in Sacramento. The accountants wanted to argue.