An extensive piece by The New York Times that describes Amazon.com as a workplace where employees are demeaned and ruthlessly driven to be productive often at the expense of their private lives doesn't fit with the culture that CEO Jeff Bezos says he has created at the company.
In a memo to employees this weekend (via GeekWire), Mr. Bezos wrote: "The article doesn't describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day. But if you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR. You can also email me directly at jeff@amazon.com. Even if it's rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero."
According to the Times piece, Amazon boasts of the "unreasonably high" standards it places on workers at the company's headquarters. The result is a Darwinian culture that quickly culls underperformers from the pack. Eighty-hour workweeks are expected and workers are encouraged to tear apart the ideas of others in meetings, emails, etc.
This is not the first time that similar allegations have been made about the working environment at Amazon. Back in 2013, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, written by Brad Stone, contained many of the same types of stories. At the time, some suggested that Mr. Bezos's management style was similar to the former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, who could be brutal on underlings but who also was able to justify bad behavior with business results.
Source: Amazon recruitment video
What makes the latest Amazon expose different is Mr. Bezos's response. In the past, as GeekWire pointed out, Amazon has chosen to not respond to reports of a torturous workplace culture. This time, Mr. Bezos wrote, "I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company."
One employee, Nick Ciubotariu, head of infrastructure development, Amazon.com Search Experience, took to LinkedIn to criticize the Times piece as biased and steeped in half-truths.
Mr. Ciubotariu does not see himself as the Amazon manager stereotype he believes is portrayed by the Times. Instead, he describes himself as a "people-centric manager" who believes in "kindness, respect, integrity and transparency, and that being a good human being comes before anything else."
Mr. Ciubotariu wrote that Times article is "blatantly incorrect, and additionally, purposefully designed to make past data reflect current reality at a company that has done quite a bit to change its ways and continues to work hard to do so."
- Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace - The New York Times (tiered sub.)
- Full memo: Jeff Bezos responds to brutal NYT story, says it doesn't represent the Amazon he leads - GeekWire
- An Amazonian's response to "Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace" - LinkedIn
- Is Jeff Bezos a Horrible Boss and Is That Good? - RetailWire