Ex-Amazon Employee Speaks Out: Hierarchy Led To Burnout, Departure

Yvonne Lee-Hawkins, a former HR professional at Amazon, shared her unexpected journey into management. After years of ascending the corporate ladder, she found herself in a high-pressure role overseeing a global team. The challenges of managing employees across various cultures and time zones were significant, as she detailed in an essay featured in Business Insider. The former employee, who had been with the company for an extended period, expressed how the demanding workload made her feel stretched thin and disconnected from her team members, preventing her from providing the individual attention she believed was essential for effective management.

Why I left Amazon?

After nearly a decade in various HR roles, Hawkins felt overwhelmed when her responsibilities expanded to managing 21 direct reports across multiple time zones. Despite her dedication to Amazon, Lee-Hawkins ultimately made the difficult choice to resign when the demands of her position began to negatively impact her physical health and well-being.

She initially joined Amazon in 2014 as a senior launch manager in the grocery delivery sector. However, after just two years of constant travel, she experienced complete burnout. Seeking a change, she shifted her career path to the HR department, where she remained for the next eight years. In 2019, she advanced to the role of business partner but ultimately decided to leave, feeling there was limited room for growth and seeking a promotion. She subsequently joined another company owned by Jeff Bezos, but when that did not work out, she returned to Amazon a year later.

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Managerial role

This time, she joined as a program manager focusing on business continuity, organizational changes, and mass layoffs. Shortly after, she was unexpectedly promoted to oversee two teams, resulting in a staggering increase in her direct reports to 21.

Lee-Hawkins suddenly found herself with a significantly larger workload when she was tasked with managing two teams, each comprising 11 employees located across China, India, and parts of Europe. Coordinating with a global team and navigating different time zones became a major challenge for her.

Prior to this, she was responsible for only a few individuals who reported to her indirectly, and she excelled at ensuring that each person received dedicated one-on-one time to discuss their career goals and receive support. However, as her responsibilities expanded, her meetings grew to an exhausting 11 hours a week, and while it was tiring, she managed to keep up with the demands of her role.

Burnout

Things worsened when a coworker went on maternity leave, adding another team to her responsibilities and increasing her total number of direct reports to 21. This left Lee-Hawkins with no choice but to cut back on the number of one-on-one meetings she held. The mounting stress forced her to adjust her communication style, prioritizing efficiency and employing methods that worked regardless of her team members’ locations.

However, as her workload continued to escalate, she began to feel increasingly stressed, realizing she could no longer provide the personal attention her team members required. In April, after months of struggle, she made the difficult decision to resign. “I stopped enjoying work. My work felt bureaucratic, and I was so focused on staying on top of each little task that I wasn’t contributing to things that were moving the needle,” she said.

“I worry about this fallout continuing as Amazon prepares to flatten its organization in January, but I still believe Amazon can be a magical place full of innovation, autonomy, and creativity,” she added.

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