> Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff that the "article doesn't describe the Amazon I know".<p>I'm not surprised he feels this way, being solely unaccountable in the way that his employees are and primarily responsible for both denying and preserving the culture.<p>> Mr Ciubotariu invoked the company's culture of fun in his LinkedIn post. "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand," he wrote.<p>Did this make anyone else cringe? You couldn't pick an example that better demonstrated an awkward, forced element of corporate "fun."<p>I have to wonder, though, what he means by them getting "a bit out of hand":<p>- "fun" exhaustion?<p>- loss of place in stack ranking system?<p>- injuries? deaths?<p>- productivity lost to spontaneous bouts of letter-writing from employees to their friends about how much fun it is to work at Amazon?
Mr. Bezos' response strikes me as the all-too-familiar case of upper management not keeping tabs on middle and lower management. If he is truly sincere that he does not recognize the version of Amazon depicted in the article, and does not agree with that type of management, then he (like many high-level managers) needs to take an active approach in weeding out abusive managers at all levels (especially lower level managers).<p>I work at a large enterprise (5,000+ employees) and this is a huge problem for us. Upper management has a vision for the organization, but it gets lost on its way down the chain. A simple phrase is the main culprit: "...<any given policy> is up to manager discretion."<p>For example, upper management: "We are creating a flexible part-time teleworking agreement whereby employees can work from home up to 2 days per week. Usage of this arrangement <i>is up to manager discretion</i>." Lower management: "I know about the new teleworking option, but our department is not participating because how can anyone get work done at home?"<p>If upper management does not actively monitor and intervene with stifling lower-level managers, they can definitely create an organization that, in practice, differs greatly from the one they imagine, the one they <i>wanted</i> to create.
If Bezos really wanted to put his money where his mouth is, he would implement a minimum mandatory vacation period and significant maternity/paternity leave at the least, if not a max # of hours per week.<p>Of course, that would not maximize profits at amazon or most other companies so that's not really what will happen.
I think the clear and interesting thing I have taken from this debacle is that all the horror stories come from non management with a large portion of the criticism targeted at people who work around the level of the people who are coming out to talk about how wonderful it is.<p>It's easy for management to say how peachy things are when they are the people who very well might be (unknowingly) creating this culture.<p>The most amazing part about all of this is that not a single person who has come out saying this is false has said they will either look into it themselves or put their money where their mouths are and do something about it. It's easy to be the general when the guns aren't pointed at you.
Not surprising. Likely he knows exactly what is going on in his company (known as a micromanager) but can't stand criticism. But like the titans of old (Rockefeller, Carnagie etc) employee happiness doesn't register as important to him.
Is it just me, or is there something extra creepy about Bezos having AMZN employees read the NYT article and then email him personally if they recognized any of the practices?<p>That's sort of like being the National Security Adviser and telling all NSA agents, "if you notice anything illicit, please email me personally [whereafter you will receive a personal drone visit]".
This BBC article isn't really about Jeff Bezos. The bulk of the text is about Nick Ciubotariu's blog post. Just read the source directly:<p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-ciubotariu" rel="nofollow">https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-am...</a><p>Understandably, a story that could have been titled "<i>Nick Ciubotariu from Amazon responds to criticism</i>" is not as eye-catching as "<i>Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace</i>"
>> Mr Ciubotariu invoked the company's culture of fun in his LinkedIn post. "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand," he wrote.<p>This reminds me of Rackspace. Rackspace claims to have this great fun environment and they love their employees and they're always doing this fun stuff at work. I know a handful of people that work there and I'm always being told about the elaborate pranks games going on.<p>Then I wonder why it takes them 2 days for a sales specialist to call me back, 6 hours to respond to a support ticket or it takes them 45 minutes to locate my server in one of their datacenters.
<i>"No one tells me to work nights. No one makes me answer emails at night. No one texts me to ask me why emails aren't answered."</i><p>Well, if you're willingly working nights and weekends (which we know you do, as you penned the response on a Saturday), then of course nobody is going to tell you to do so. This statement does nothing to disprove that those who wish to have lives outside the workplace aren't harassed by their coworkers and/or managers.
"In Mr Bezos' memo, he encouraged Amazon employees to read the article, and email him directly if they recognised any of the "shockingly callous management practices" it described."<p>Oh well, this seems to be a bit hypocritical. ("Hey Mr. Bezos, my boss, John Doe (cc'd!) wants me to do this task until tomorrow, but it's 8 pm. What do you think about this?")
None of this most recent discussion has included any mention of conditions at fulfillment centers (something that has been criticized in the past):<p><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-free-online-shipping-warehouses-labor" rel="nofollow">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/mac-mcclelland-f...</a><p><a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7902887" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7902887</a><p>It is helpful to be aware of how all different types of workers are treated when evaluating whether or not to work for a company.
If you haven't read this book, The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, and you want to know how Amazon has worked from day 1, it's a good place to go. It straight up tells you the culture at Amazon, starting from day 1.<p>I'll even include the Amazon link =p
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Everything-Store-Bezos-Amazon/dp/0316219266" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/The-Everything-Store-Bezos-Amazon/dp/0...</a>
Amazon's success at being a grinding place but reaping major business results align with what I've seen of my previous employer (a transportation icon) that tightened the screws, re-engineered processes, encouraged thousands to leave. Revenue, profit, stock price, and bonuses soared.<p>All of what we've been told about the war for talent, desire for caring work places, etc. seems to be exaggerated. Companies can literally have a policy of "be happy you have a job, punk" for professionals for YEARS, and people will suck it up. Morale does have an impact but not as much as you'd think once your company is large enough AND it is successful. One commonality in both companies is that they are very data driven. Eliminating a costly perk? Do it and see what the data says. Make a change to a major process that people are resisting? Do it, fire any insubordinates, and see what the data says. Basically don't take management policy or process for granted unless you have data to back it up.<p>There's a line between tough and abusive, however, and this seems to be where Amazon's (and other tough cultures) walk the line.
"we have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand"<p>:facepalm: I hate this part of the popular culture where developers are seen as kids or weirdos with no social skills.<p>We have to make clear that we didn't like nerf wars neither overworking, if we didn't respect us nobody is gonna do it.
There's a bit of a divide that no one seems to be touching on - most of the issues talked about in the NYT article seem to be from non technical folks, while engineering tends to be a little happier for precisely the reasons Bezos mentions.<p>Amazon and most other companies have separate staff, culture and levels of morale for engineering and non engineering divisions. Can't really compare them directly.
I wonder if this is related to H1 demand and lack of women in tech. Think about it for a minute.<p>H1 would have to leave (the country) if they lose their job, so they are stuck working for a bad boss.
Women can sense that, hey, this makes no sense faster than man who is somewhat expected to 'solider on'.<p>If there was less H1 (but more legal immigration other ways), than that would force a turn around and encourage more welcoming places. And less bad bosses.<p>I even look at product manager job postings and cringe: 'hold engineering team accountable for commitments'. The issue maybe that there is H1, that there are people willing to do it.
“Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero,” Mr. Bezos said in an email circulated to all the retailer’s employees.<p>My note:
Zero tolerance policies without recourse for correction are a perfect example of the Amazon inhumanity. Straight from the mouth of the leader. There's your culture problem right there.
"BREAKING: Hugely successful big co has ex employees not fully satisfied, willing to criticize it. It also has current employees who appreciate it. Will keep you posted."
This "I didn't know this was happening" excuse doesn't cut it. You don't know because you don't look. As long as you are getting the results you want it doesn't matter if you're demanding people to come back the day after a miscarriage. Listen to any interview with Jack Welch and he'll tell you how accountability of work culture comes straight from the top, and how HR reviews are designed not to ask the right questions. As a random example, there's a huge difference between asking "have you been illegally treated in any way" and "have you been immorally treated". Little changes like that make survey results wildly different, and if management wants they can make employee's say a labor shop is a great place to work.
Read <i>The Everything Store</i>. It is clear the only relationship you want with Amazon is as a customer. Everything they do is to drive lower prices to the customer in order to take as much marketshare as possible.