Pros
As a Work from Home Virtual Contact Associate, you get the flexibility to work from home, and you get to choose your schedule, which is awesome. I have an awesome Team Lead that is always willing to help, and even though you don't physically interact with co-workers, people on your team are also willing to help out a lot. Amazon gives you the freedom to make empowered decisions that most other retailers would only assign to supervisors, so long as you back up why you are making the decision. System offers you a probable resolution guideline which helps you figure out how best to help the customer. Very customer-centric environment, so most customers are actually surprised when things go wrong with Amazon, because they rarely do. However, this also means that customers who do call are probably facing lost packages, and other complex situations, which require a lot of patience and creativity in reaching a resolution. It feels great to be a part of the largest online retailer in the world, and Amazon instills employees, even seasonal ones, with a strong sense of pride.
Kontras
Work from home pay is very low, with no benefits. Most positions are seasonal assignments and you won't know if they will keep you until the end of your assignment, which can range from 3-6 months. Work from home training is short, only two weeks, and then you are basically thrown into the job. Also, Amazon expects you to look for all of your answers independently, so if you are the type of employee who expects a supervisor to give you the answers right away when you ask, this job is not for you. The Team Leads will guide you in the right direction, but they will rarely give you a direct answer, and this can be frustrating in the beginning. Also performance is based on customers responding to a survey and it feels unfair when you work hard to help a customer, only to know they may not respond to the survey at all. Also career path for a work from home employee is not well defined, unclear how to advance in the company in this position.