‘PIP is a sword’: Amazon India workers reveal pressure and burnout

Amazon India is once again facing criticism over its internal work culture, following a string of social media posts from current and former employees describing their experience at the company as “overly toxic,” “exhausting,” and mentally draining. The latest comments surfaced on a popular Reddit thread, where software developers and operations staff detailed high-pressure expectations, harsh performance management systems, and what they described as a relentless focus on weaknesses over strengths.

One user, a former Amazon India developer who said they worked at the company for over five years with just one promotion, described their time there as mentally exhausting. “You are constantly judged on only your weaknesses, constantly vetted against your peers and always asked to push even more,” the user wrote. Referring to the company’s widely criticised Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), they added, “Focus and PIP is always a sword kept right above your head... Pretty exhausted at this point and thinking of putting my papers and focusing on finding a new job at peace.”

This post prompted an outpouring of similar experiences, with several users corroborating the claims. One respondent said: “Being judged only on weakness is the absolute worst part of being [at] Amazon.” Another shared their own exit from the company, saying they had left “gracefully with no hard feelings” but noted the culture issues were not limited to India. “I had resigned a while ago but I am out of the US and felt it here as well,” they wrote.

The comments echo previous criticism of Amazon’s workplace practices in India and elsewhere. In January 2024, The Verge published a report citing former Amazon corporate employees who raised concerns over burnout, high attrition, and performance review policies designed to maintain what they called a “stack-ranking” culture. The pressure, they claimed, came from the top down, with middle management under constant stress to deliver quarterly metrics, often at the expense of team well-being.

Similar sentiments were echoed in a viral LinkedIn post earlier this year, where a retiring Amazon India employee said, “Amazon is definitely a Day 2 company now,” referencing a term popularised by founder Jeff Bezos to describe stagnation and decline. The employee criticised recent mass layoffs and a perceived erosion of Amazon’s once-celebrated leadership principles, such as ownership and long-term thinking.

The PIP system—Amazon’s Performance Improvement Plan—has often been described by insiders as a tool to push employees out under the guise of performance management. While not unique to Amazon, the system is viewed by many staffers as punitive, lacking transparency, and emotionally draining. Several contributors to the Reddit thread said that the PIP is widely feared and used as a means of quiet offboarding rather than genuine development.

One ex-employee pointed to the hidden cost of Amazon’s compensation structure, which has often been cited as competitive within the tech industry. “At Amazon, I worked up to 60 hours a week,” they said. “So if you take hours worked into consideration, my hourly wage actually increases now, even though I earn less on paper.” For them, switching jobs brought a healthier work-life balance, despite a nominal pay cut.

Amazon has not issued a response to the latest social media discussions. In previous public statements, the company has defended its performance culture, claiming it is designed to support high standards and personal growth. In a 2023 interview with CNBC-TV18, an Amazon India spokesperson said, “We have robust support systems in place for employee development, and our mechanisms aim to ensure fairness and transparency in performance assessment.”

However, employee forums, exit interviews, and now online platforms continue to suggest that the culture at Amazon India may be straining under its own expectations. The stories emerging in these forums reveal not just isolated grievances but a pattern of emotional fatigue and disengagement that, if left unaddressed, may pose long-term risks to both retention and reputation.