Amazon has an employee retention problem, and in this video I break down why it happens so fast—and why it’s not just “people can’t handle the pace.” Amazon pays extremely well (competitive base, big sign-on bonuses, and multi-year RSUs that can go past $300K even for junior engineers), but many people don’t even make it past the first 25% of the vesting schedule. The core issue is a culture built around intensity and a “no excuses” dynamic: stack ranking, aggressive PIP, and what leaders have called a yearly target for “unregretted attrition”—aka a number of people the org wants out. I walk through how quotas force managers to label someone the “worst performer” even on strong teams, which can create bias, reduce collaboration, and even incentivize sabotage. Then I connect that to another big retention killer: frequent mass layoffs, where performance-based cuts and layoff cycles can overlap in messy ways. Finally, I explain level flattening—fewer rungs on the ladder compared to Google/Microsoft—which can slow promotions, cap compensation growth, and leave engineers carrying more responsibility with fewer advancement options. My takeaway: Amazon’s system can drive speed in the short term, but it also narrows career paths and increases burnout, which fuels the churn.