Amazon and Facebook Are Among the 20 Worst Places to Work

Take it from former employees: You don’t want to work at these companies.

Working for a world-recognized company is the dream of anyone who wants to be at the top of their field. But the reality is sometimes much bleaker than the fantasy. Just ask employees at ByteDance (owner of TikTok), Amazon and Meta (formerly Facebook).

Workers at these companies seemingly can’t wait to leave at the first chance they get. This can be indicative of a toxic work environment and can hurt the company’s bottom line since it means constantly having to put resources into hiring and training new talent.

These are the global companies that have the lowest median employee retention rate — all of which are less than two years. You might be surprised at which ones make the list.

19. Alibaba Group (Tie)

Robert Way / Getty Images

Industry: E-commerce, technology

Headquarters: Hangzhou, China

Median tenure: 1.9 years

Bottom line: Alibaba may be Amazon’s only true rival. The gigantic e-commerce marketplace has been hugely successful. Still, it’s struggled to get employees to stay for even two years, even with relatively generous paid time off policies and newborn care.

The culprit is probably China’s “996” work schedule, which demands employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. This translates to a 72-hour workweek, which is unsustainable for most people. Top executives have also publicly boasted of giving employees the workload of multiple people in return for high pay.

Clearly, this has led to quick burnout.

*Rankings and median tenure are based on Resume.io’s “The Companies Employees Don’t Want to Leave” report.

19. Atlassian, Inc. (Tie)

Atlassian United States headquarters in Silicon Valley

Sundry Photography / Getty Images

Industry: Software

Headquarters: Sydney, Australia

Median tenure: 1.9 years

Bottom line: Unless you work in software, you might never have heard of Atlassian. But this Australian software company made $2.8 billion in revenue in 2022. Workers like the company, rating it an impressive 4.7 (out of 5) on Glassdoor and claiming to appreciate its generous benefits package.

Why, then, are people leaving in droves? Despite a good environment, the workload is excessive. Employees also complain about the lack of growth opportunities within Atlassian.

Not providing a clear path for career development translates into employees looking elsewhere when they want to advance.

14. Shopify (Tie)

Shopify sign on their headquarters building in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

JHVEPhoto / Getty Images

Industry: E-commerce

Headquarters: Ottawa, Canada

Median tenure: 1.8 years

Bottom line: Shopify has made it easier for anyone to set up an online store without needing to know how to build a website from scratch. The company has been massively successful, but it seems to be a victim of the Icarus syndrome by being overambitious and going too far to defy limitations.

Employees seem overwhelmed by the exponential growth, which has often meant extended hours and more stress without adequate compensation. Shopify’s narrow focus on expanding has left it unwilling to admit that it is tiring out employees.

14. ByteDance (Tie)

Robert Way / Getty Images

Industry: Technology

Headquarters: Beijing, China

Median tenure: 1.8 years

Bottom line: TikTok may be the current king of the social media world, but it seems that its owner ByteDance isn’t nearly as popular.

Like Alibaba, ByteDance used to implement a version of the 996 schedule, forcing employees to work a six-day week every other week. Though the company dialed back on the pressure and claimed it would change this in mid-2021, it seems like workers continue to be dissatisfied.

Notorious 15-hour days probably have something to do with this.

14. The New York Times (Tie)

mizoula / Getty Images

Industry: Media

Headquarters: New York City

Median tenure: 1.8 years

Bottom line: The New York Times was founded in 1851 and is a respected news source. Working for the Times used to be the dream of any journalist. But that has changed in recent years, and the media company can’t retain employees as it did in the past.

Salary could be a significant factor since writers famously make very little money. Those low wages are aggravated by long hours, high stress and unpredictable schedules. It also doesn’t help that management seems to care little about worker satisfaction.

In December 2022, 1,100 employees went on strike after union-management negotiations for better conditions led nowhere. Jumping to another outlet is sometimes the best solution to the corporate apathy the media giant appears to have.

14. Activision Blizzard (Tie)

JHVEPhoto / Getty Images

Industry: Gaming

Headquarters: Irvine, California

Median tenure: 1.8 years

Bottom line: Working at a gaming company sounds like it would be buckets of fun. But the gaming world can be incredibly sexist and toxic. Activision Blizzard didn’t pay too much attention to its work environment until a string of scandals and lawsuits forced it to lay off 40 employees over misconduct allegations.

The situation was so bad that there were over 700 complaints about sexual harassment. Former employees have come out to say that the company did little to address concerns until they became public knowledge. Yikes.

14. HubSpot (Tie)

Derick Hudson / Getty Images

Industry: Software, marketing

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Median tenure: 1.8 years

Bottom line: Glassdoor named HubSpot the second-best place to work in 2022. By all accounts, the work culture is excellent. Employees feel supported, work hours are flexible, and there is an unlimited vacation policy.

But even with all of that, employees tend to stay only 1.8 years. The issue is that pay isn’t as high as in competing companies. There is also limited upward mobility. Inevitably, this means top talent eventually seeks better opportunities elsewhere.

No amount of perks can make up for career advancement.

12. Glossier (Tie)

Glossier / Facebook

Industry: Beauty

Headquarters: New York, New York

Median tenure: 1.7 years

Bottom line: At first glance, Glossier’s glossy Instagram posts seem like a rosy-colored dream. But it seems like the company suffers from poor management and a toxic work environment.

Based on Glassdoor reviews, only 30 percent of employees recommend working at the company, and an abysmal 18 percent have a favorable view of their employer. Glossier has 2.8 stars on the website, one of the worst scores from any company on this list.

Our advice? Stay far away.

12. Meta (Tie)

Derick Hudson / Getty Images

Industry: Technology

Headquarters: Menlo Park, California

Median tenure: 1.7 years

Bottom line: Rebranding Facebook as Meta hasn’t done much to change its tarnished image. Once the dream workplace of tech enthusiasts, the last decade has not been kind to the company. Or, rather, the company has not behaved ethically for a long, long time.

The scandals surrounding Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, are too many to list, but include improper protection of user data, meddling in elections and running harmful experiments without people’s consent. Zuckerberg’s android-like personality certainly doesn’t help the company’s image, especially now that he seems keen on forcing us all to live in a virtual world he controls.

Working for one of the most hated billionaires in the world doesn’t sit well with people anymore. Former employees have also claimed management is obtuse, and that the environment isn’t conducive to positive work experience. Is anyone surprised? Not at all.

11. Amazon

hapabapa / Getty Images

Industry: Technology, e-commerce

Headquarters: Bellevue, Washington

Median tenure: 1.5 years

Bottom line: What’s shocking about seeing Amazon on this list is that it’s placed much higher than we would’ve thought. After all, the company that has a hold on all of us is famous for forcing its drivers and warehouse employees to pee in water bottles because giving bathroom breaks is bad for business.

But the company doesn’t just mistreat the people at the bottom of its unfair ladder. Salaries for white-collar positions are capped at about $350,000 with the promise of stock grants. This sounds like a lot of money to most of us, but it’s pretty low pay for high positions in the industry.

Add high expectations of proficiency, and you end up with disgruntled and burned-out employees at every level who are leaving the company in droves. All just to make Jeff Bezos more money than he could ever spend.

10. Snowflake Inc.

Snowflake Inc. / Facebook

Industry: Cloud computing

Headquarters: Bozeman, Montana

Median tenure: 1.4 years

Bottom line: Launched in 2014, Snowflake has done pretty well for itself in the tech space. By all accounts, this is a pretty good place to work, especially after it moved away from California and spread out into different hubs around the country. Now, employees can enjoy lower living costs while still earning fairly well.

The issue is that Snowflake still hasn’t reached profitability, and its shares have been consistently dropping in the past years. Understandably, people aren’t waiting to see if it all crashes and burns.

6. Wella Company (Tie)

u24_news / Twitter

Industry: Beauty

Headquarters: Petit-Lancy, Switzerland

Median tenure: 1.3 years

Bottom line: Wella has been operating since the 1890s and still hasn’t figured out how to keep employees happy. The hair care giant has a 3.5 rating on Glassdoor, which is so low that it’s embarrassing.

Common employee complaints include a lack of mobility and chaotic management. Expectations aren’t clearly set, and the company hires from outside rather than promoting the people who already work for it.

Other common grievances include long work hours and insufficient perks.

6. Zoom (Tie)

Coolcaesar / Wikimedia Commons

Industry: Video communication

Headquarters: San Jose, California

Median tenure: 1.3 years

Bottom line: Zoom was relatively unknown before it became the company that helped the world keep going during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike other tech companies, Zoom has promoted work-life balance for its employees. Comparably named it the number one company with the happiest employees in 2020.

It seems like Zoom is still a great place to work, but it did drop down to ninth place on Comparably’s 2021 rankings. And for everything it does right, it’s still tough to get employees to stay past 15 months.

The biggest issue is that its stocks have suffered as the world opens back up and relies on it less and less. Employees may be nervous about staying in a situation that lacks certainty and may look for jobs in more established companies.

6. Shein (Tie)

jetcityimage / Getty Images

Industry: Fashion, e-commerce

Headquarters: Singapore

Median tenure: 1.3 years

Bottom line: Shein is the face of ultra-fast fashion, the toxic trend that takes advantage of overconsumerism at the planet’s expense. Gen Z and younger millennials love its clothes, but the company has faced criticism for its abysmal work conditions, with reports of workers making 500 pieces of clothing a day and sometimes receiving only 4 cents for each one.

It’s also known for using toxic chemicals to dye clothes and copying designers’ work without compensating them.

No one could expect a company that clearly puts profit over anything else and continuously acts unethically to treat its employees decently. Its Glassdoor rating sits at 3.5 and has decreased by over 5 percent in the past year.

6. Alphabet (Tie)

vzphotos / Getty Images

Industry: Technology

Headquarters: Mountain View, California

Median tenure: 1.3 years

Bottom line: Google’s parent company, Alphabet, may seem like the ideal place to work. It was one of the first places in Silicon Valley to design the office as a playground and offer perks like open fridges and nap rooms.

And, don’t get us wrong, employees actually seem to love working here, with at least one report stating that 97 percent of people are satisfied with their job at Google. Still, not even this playful giant can get away with not offering sufficient compensation, especially when anyone who works for it is at the very top of their field.

The company was banking on people staying for the bragging rights, but Google is realizing people want higher salaries and good benefits.

5. Reddit

LeNerdNextDoor / Reddit

Industry: Social communications

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Median tenure: 1.2 years

Bottom line: About 95 percent of employees love working at Reddit. The company promotes a laid-back culture, has a decent paid time off policy and is still respected despite some of its chatrooms being notoriously annoying.

And yet people don’t stay here. The reason for it continues to be an unresolved mystery. Perhaps the company has been a victim of its own chatrooms, where unsatisfied workers turn to vent their frustration and are often encouraged to quit.

4. Moderna

hapabapa / Getty Images

Industry: Biotechnology

Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Median tenure: 1 year

Bottom line: Moderna became a household name during the pandemic, as it was one of three main companies to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus. We’d all want to believe that the company that helped us go outside again fosters a happy environment, but the reality is that people can barely take a year here.

Poor management and favoritism are the most common complaints by employees, who gave Moderna a 3.7 score on Glassdoor. Given that its chief financial officer lasted a whole day before resigning due to a scandal, we’re inclined to believe the reviews.

1. Popeyes (Tie)

Robert Way / Getty Images

Industry: Food

Headquarters: Miami, Florida

Median tenure: 0.8 years

Bottom line: Everyone loves Popeyes, but no one in the world really thinks that it’s a good place to work. What fast-food place is? Most employees have customer-facing roles, which always means low wages, long hours and high stress.

Anyone who has the opportunity to work elsewhere leaves faster than lightning can strike. Managers don’t have it much better, either. Overall, it’s no mystery why Popeyes ties for first place as one of the worst places to work.

1. Avelo Airlines (Tie)

Angel Di Bilio / Getty Images

Industry: Air travel

Headquarters: Houston, Texas

Median tenure: 0.8 years

Bottom line: Low-budget carrier Avelo provides cheap flights and few perks for passengers. It’s interesting to see it land first because nine of the 20 companies with the best retention rates are airlines. Tap Portugal, the highest-scoring airline, has a median tenure of 9.1 years.

What exactly makes Avelo the exception in the airline industry? Like most of its competitors, its work environment is lacking. Flight attendants have to deal with wonky schedules, drunk passengers and jet lag. But they stay in the job for the travel perks.

At Avelo, however, they make around $26 per hour, much less than the industry average of $36. With so many airlines to choose from, employees can easily hop over to another company and earn better.

Plus, employees complain that the work environment is hostile and that the company is woefully understaffed.

1. Coinbase (Tie)

Coinbase / Facebook

Industry: Cryptocurrency

Headquarters: N/A

Median tenure: 0.8 years

Bottom line: Coinbase has set out to change the world’s relationship with money. But it seems like it fails to change horrible labor practices. With a rating of 3.8 on Glassdoor, the crypto company is accused of horrible hours and unrealistic expectations.

But we don’t even have to rely on anonymous reviews to understand why people can’t even stay a year here. L.J. Brock, the chief people officer of Coinbase, proudly states on the company’s blog: “We work incredibly hard at Coinbase — for most of us, Coinbase is the most intense place we’ve ever worked. That intensity is only magnified by the current moment in crypto, and it often results in long days and long weeks.”

Brock continues to unwittingly bury the company by claiming, “We are a winning team, not a family, and have high expectations for performance and delivering results…. We have an intense work culture, and are regularly pushed out of our comfort zones.”

Oh, but it’s OK. Because to make up for making you work on weekends around the year, you’ll get a week off every quarter.

Thanks, but we’ll pass on dealing with toxic crypto bro energy.