Amazon, which has in the past been painted as a stressful, cutthroat workplace, has launched a new training program to help underperforming employees. The program, called Pivot, helps struggling workers by pairing them with a subject matter expert, referred to as a career ambassador, to give them guidance and offer support over a fixed rate of time. "Pivot is a program for employees who show a sustained period of underperformance, despite coaching and support,” according to company materials. “The program provides employees with options to (1) improve performance, (2) voluntarily leave Amazon with severance, or (3) appeal their manager’s decision to place them in Pivot.” The program is the first step Amazon is taking to improve its now-notorious performance improvement plan, commonly referred to as PIP, which puts pressure on struggling employees to meet their goals without training, guidance, or support. Some experts feel the new system is an attempt by Amazon to transform its image as a hostile, competitive workplace to a more nurturing environment.