Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, Jan 28, 2026

Leaked documents reveal Amazon managers’ process to review employees' worth to the company and pay

Leaked documents reveal Amazon managers’ process to review employees' worth to the company and pay

A leaked trove of documents highlighting what metrics managers at Amazon prioritize to evaluate performance and changes in compensation might shed light on the company’s controversial performance review process.

Internal manuals show that Amazon managers are instructed to gauge employees based on two key factors, Insider reported this week after viewing the documents.

Amazon bosses combine two main metrics in determining an employee’s final review, or their “overall value” to the company: their performance score and the potential they have exhibited.

The process is known as Forte, and is highly relevant to Amazon employees, as their “overall value” is what ultimately determines any change in compensation they receive after the review.

Amazon did not reply to Fortune’s request for comment on the review process.

Determining an Amazon employee’s ‘overall value’


First, Amazon managers are instructed to determine how employees have held up the company’s principles, and how this reflects their particular strengths. This is done in a number of ways, including their accomplishments, feedback from colleagues, and, for the first time, self-evaluations.

Self-evaluations, and an assessment of an employee’s own accomplishments relative to their objectives, were introduced earlier this year after employees complained about managers having too much influence in the review process.

These qualities are then used to measure against an employee’s accomplishments, and how they achieved them. This rating is used to decide the employee’s performance score, which combines evaluations of what their accomplishments have been and the manner in which they reached them.

This performance result is ranked on a scale from one to seven, then combined with an evaluation of an employee’s potential—ranked on a scale from one to four—to finalize a review in a score defining the worker’s worth to the company, or “overall value.”

An employee’s performance score can be low if he or she demonstrates “questionable judgment,” creates “overly complex or simplistic solutions” to problems, does not “share knowledge” and is “dismissing other viewpoints,” or “argues too much and does not speak up enough.”

Factors that can boost an employee’s score include being reactive to customer needs, acting as a mentor, providing new ideas in discussions, and exhibiting a strong and adaptable work ethic.

Amazon’s controversial review record


Amazon’s new performance review instructions manual came out after the last one was received with heaps of controversy.

Last year’s documents, which were also reviewed by Insider, included a tiered ranking metric for employees, who would fall into one of five tiers.

But the process had evidence of a stack ranking system, Insider reported, which required a “certain percentage” of employees to rank in each tier, sometimes forcing evaluators to give adequate employees lower scores to place them in a tier that had not yet filled its quota, which could change their compensation changes, an Amazon employee told Insider.

Unlike last year’s document, the latest manual did not include any required quotas for separate tiers. In statements to reporters last year, Amazon denied using a stack ranking system.

Amazon’s performance review process also came under fire last year when an investigation by Vox found evidence of racial bias in the company’s hiring and promotion practices, as well as its review and rating systems.

Later in the year, Amazon released a statement promising it would be investigating any “statistically significant demographic differences” in both its performance rating system and the company’s attrition rate.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK Banks Pledge £11 Billion Lending Package to Help Firms Expand Overseas
Suella Braverman Defects to Reform UK, Accusing Conservatives of Betrayal on Core Policies
Melania Trump Documentary Sees Limited Box Office Traction in UK Cinemas
UK’s Starmer and Trump Agree on Urgent Need to Bolster Arctic Security
Starmer Breaks Diplomatic Restraint With Firm Rebuke of Trump, Seizing Chance to Advocate for Europe
UK Finance Minister Reeves to Join Starmer on China Visit to Bolster Trade and Economic Ties
Prince Harry Says Sacrifices of NATO Forces in Afghanistan Deserve ‘Respect’ After Trump Remarks
Barron Trump Emerges as Key Remote Witness in UK Assault and Rape Trial
Trump Reverses Course and Criticises UK-Mauritius Chagos Islands Agreement
Elizabeth Hurley Tells UK Court of ‘Brutal’ Invasion of Privacy in Phone Hacking Case
UK Bond Yields Climb as Report Fuels Speculation Over Andy Burnham’s Return to Parliament
Prince William to Make Official Visit to Saudi Arabia in February
Prince Harry Breaks Down in London Court, Says UK Tabloids Have Made Meghan Markle’s Life ‘Absolute Misery’
Malin + Goetz UK Business Enters Administration, All Stores Close
EU and UK Reject Trump’s Greenland-Linked Tariff Threats and Pledge Unified Response
UK Deepfake Crackdown Puts Intense Pressure on Musk’s Grok AI After Surge in Non-Consensual Explicit Images
Prince Harry Becomes Emotional in London Court, Invokes Memory of Princess Diana in Testimony Against UK Tabloids
UK Inflation Rises Unexpectedly but Interest Rate Cuts Still Seen as Likely
Starmer Steps Back from Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ Amid Strained US–UK Relations
Prince Harry’s Lawyer Tells UK Court Daily Mail Was Complicit in Unlawful Privacy Invasions
UK Government Approves China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London Amid Debate Over Security and Diplomacy
Trump Cites UK’s Chagos Islands Sovereignty Shift as Justification for Pursuing Greenland Acquisition
UK Government Weighs Australia-Style Social Media Ban for Under-Sixteens Amid Rising Concern Over Online Harm
Trump Aides Say U.S. Has Discussed Offering Asylum to British Jews Amid Growing Antisemitism Concerns
UK Seeks Diplomatic De-escalation with Trump Over Greenland Tariff Threat
Prince Harry Returns to London as High Court Trial Begins Over Alleged Illegal Tabloid Snooping
High-Speed Train Collision in Southern Spain Kills at Least Twenty-One and Injures Scores
Meghan Markle May Return to the U.K. This Summer as Security Review Advances
Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat Sparks EU Response and Risks Deep Transatlantic Rift
Prince Harry’s High Court Battle With Daily Mail Publisher Begins in London
Trump’s Tariff Escalation Presents Complex Challenges for the UK Economy
UK Prime Minister Starmer Rebukes Trump’s Greenland Tariff Strategy as Transatlantic Tensions Rise
Prince Harry’s Last Press Case in UK Court Signals Potential Turning Point in Media and Royal Relations
OpenAI to Begin Advertising in ChatGPT in Strategic Shift to New Revenue Model
GDP Growth Remains the Most Telling Barometer of Britain’s Economic Health
Prince William and Kate Middleton Stay Away as Prince Harry Visits London Amid Lingering Rift
Britain Braces for Colder Weather and Snow Risk as Temperatures Set to Plunge
Mass Protests Erupt as UK Nears Decision on China’s ‘Mega Embassy’ in London
Prince Harry to Return to UK to Testify in High-Profile Media Trial Against Associated Newspapers
Keir Starmer Rejects Trump’s Greenland Tariff Threat as ‘Completely Wrong’
Trump to hit Europe with 10% tariffs until Greenland deal is agreed
Prince Harry Returns to UK High Court as Final Privacy Trial Against Daily Mail Publisher Begins
Britain Confronts a Billion-Pound Wind Energy Paradox Amid Grid Constraints
The graduate 'jobpocalypse': Entry-level jobs are not shrinking. They are disappearing.
Cybercrime, Inc.: When Crime Becomes an Economy. How the World Accidentally Built a Twenty-Trillion-Dollar Criminal Economy
The Return of the Hands: Why the AI Age Is Rewriting the Meaning of “Real Work”
UK PM Kier Scammer Ridicules Tories With "Kamasutra"
Strategic Restraint, Credible Force, and the Discipline of Power
United Kingdom and Norway Endorse NATO’s ‘Arctic Sentry’ Mission Including Greenland
Woman Claiming to Be Freddie Mercury’s Secret Daughter Dies at Forty-Eight After Rare Cancer Battle
×