VCS Outage Policy

Regular and reliable “uptime” is an essential requirement of the Virtual Customer Service (VCS) associate
position. This expectation ensures a consistent and predictable experience for our customer. VCS employees
must be able to consistently connect to Amazon systems from an approved Primary Work Location.

When an Amazon associate cannot connect to Amazon systems due to an infrastructure failure, this is called an
“outage”. Outages are classified into three distinct situations: Amazon-related, Employee-related, and Mass
Outages.

If an associate experiences any infrastructure failure (Appendix A – Employee Outages) that prevents them from
working, then the associate’s missed time will be classified as an absence in accordance with the Amazon leave
policy. In every event where it is determined that the infrastructure failure was due to Amazon equipment, then
the associate’s missed time will be excused. In addition, the Site Leader and the HR Manager, or their delegates,
may declare a mass outage in times of emergency (i.e. cyclones, hurricane, fire, etc.) for specific geographic
areas. In these rare and unique circumstances, all affected associates who could not deliver their work will be
excused.

Outage classification and associate impact/procedures are defined below.

All Outages

 Associate will follow the escalation matrix and report any missed time, regardless of circumstance
(Appendix B – Escalation matrix).
 If an associate is required to travel to a site to obtain equipment, their supervisor will require to liaise
with the travel team and follow the local transport / domestic transport process.

Employee-related outages:
 If an employee claims outage for 2 to 4 hours in a week, then it would be calculated as half a day’s
leave against the available leave balance. If an employee claims outage for 4 to 8 hours in a week,
then it would be calculated as full day’s leave against the available leave balance. If an employee
claims outage of 4 hours (exactly) in a week, then it would be calculated as half a day’s leave against
the available leave balance.
 Non-approved employee-related outages would be deducted under the leave balance, subject to
Operations Manager approval.
 All time troubleshooting with Amazon IT, at Amazon’s discretion, is considered time worked, and will
be paid.
 All other time spent troubleshooting (for example, with third party services such as ISP, Phone,
Utilities, etc.) is not considered time worked, and is therefore not paid.

Amazon-related outages:

 The associate will contact the IT department within 5 minutes of all Amazon related outages. Failure
to do so can result in disciplinary action.
 Amazon will record the incident in the Remedy Trouble Ticket (TT) System.
o Amazon will confirm outage is Amazon related per established guidelines.
o Amazon will work with associate to resolve outages in a timely manner.
o Amazon will accurately record the combined troubleshooting time within TT.
 If an associate is kept on hold by Amazon during troubleshooting, then it is considered “on call”. This is
considered time worked.

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  If an issue cannot be resolved in real time, then an appointment may be set up with the associate.
 The associate will utilize their shift time to resolve the outage event.
 Any absences directly related to an Amazon outage will be excused.
 The associate will forward the TT to their supervisor in a timely manner to ensure the incident is
reported and leave time is excused.
 In the event that the circumstances are undefined, the final determination of an absence being
classified as an Amazon-related outage will be made by the associate’s supervisor and/or Human
Resource Business Partner.

Mass outages:

 In the event of an emergency, associate safety is the most important consideration. An associate
should take appropriate actions to ensure their safety first.
 When it is reasonably safe to do so, the associate will contact the supervisor (as per escalation matrix)
and report any missed time per the Amazon leave policy.
 The onus of following the escalation matrix in Appendix B hereto for reporting during mass outages
shall be that of the Associate.

Expectations from VCS Associates:

 A reliable ISP (internet) connection with bandwidth not lower than 10 Mbps either through DSL or a
cable modem is required. Any other form of internet connectivity is not allowed.
 Have a dedicated analog telephone landline/mobile phone from a reliable carrier (must be installed
before you start).A personal backup analog phone with headset capacity.
 Another means of communication (personal landline or cell phone, for emergency purposes only).
 Call the Information Technology (IT) department with any Amazon related outages to actively
troubleshoot and resolve the root cause of the Amazon related outage.
 Flag dropped / defaulted calls; escalate excessive defaults to Amazon Leadership to initiate a trouble
ticket.
 Notify Amazon in advance of any planned power outages in your area as soon as you are aware of
them.
 Provide documentation, if requested, to support exception requests for mass Outage (i.e. power) or
similar situations.

ACCEPTANCE

I have read and understand the VCS Outage Policy, and acknowledge that I shall comply with these
provisions.

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Appendix A

Amazon Outages Employee Outages Mass Outages

Bit locker Issues BYOD (bring your own device) *** All Mass outages will be
CSC / GACD Failure Equipment determined by Site Leader and
Amazon Equipment Recalls Physical Damage to Equipment HR Manager
PC Headphone BYOD Equipment Recalls Large Scale Utility Failure
Amazon Equipment Internet is not accessible Natural Disasters
Skills / Permissions Dial tone is not accessible War / Civil Unrest
Amazon Software (Applicable to Phone contacts)
VPN / VPN Tokens Power Failure
Failed to Reset Password
Password Forgotten
Operating System Updates
(Applicable only to BYOD
equipment)

Note: Infrastructure failure could be described as a point of failure of raw power, hardware, network connectivity
or application downtime, including but not limited to power-cuts, failure of hard disk or any key hardware
component of laptop, and unavailability of internet services also may be construed as "infra failure".

Amazon would evaluate the issue reported, relate to the existing mass outages if any, check for the individual
fault on the hardware if reported and determine if the point of failure was Amazon hardware/network related.

Appendix B – Escalation Matrix

Points of Contact Designation

Level 1 Team Manager (Supervisor)

Level 2 Group Manager

Level 3 Operations Manager

Level 4 Sr. Operations Manager

HR HRBP

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