The gist is this: A high-ranking woman at Amazon went on maternity leave, and whilst on maternity leave, was diagnosed and treated for cancer. When she returned to work, 5 months later, the team she managed had all but disbanded, and she was given make-work assignments. She resigned shortly thereafter.
She referred to another article about Amazon, Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace, which sounds disturbingly like Epic, but the employment abuses are streamlined into bona fide processes.
Important quotes from the NY Times article:
Some workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages and other personal crises said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given time to recover.
[L]ife inside its corporate offices is largely a mystery. Secrecy is required; even low-level employees sign a lengthy confidentiality agreement.Articles like these, combined with my own experience at Epic, lead me to one conclusion: IT workers need to unionize.
In other news, UGM started today. Epic customers, expect delayed responses from your TS and IS as they're restaffed as traffic enforcers, tour guides, and concierges.
