Besides what other people have mentioned, there is also the fact that Amazon employs a lot of people, and many of them are performing relatively mundane service jobs. Picking and packing products from the Amazon warehouses requires a large workforce, despite all the advancements in automatic warehousing.
Profit per employee isn't really a useful number in this respect.
This is my point; that Amazon is a shitty business because they have chosen a terrible sector: retail. That's what you get when your main competitor is Walmart. Look at the absolute profit numbers: 1/40th the profits of Microsoft; 1/100th the annual profits of Apple; 1/30th the annual profits of Google.
That said, they are desperately trying to get into real tech. businesses.
Fair point - everyone knows that retail is a razor-thin margin arena to play in.
I would argue that their profitability is a lot more stable than Apple. A few missteps and Apple is no longer the golden child. They have to continue to innovate or they lose their special status. Executing on a retail strategy is in many ways simpler than "build the next innovative consumer electronics widget...sell for astronomical price".
Profit per employee isn't really a useful number in this respect.