Jeff Bezos Responds to the Amazon NYT Article

95 点作者 anirudhgarg将近 10 年前

25 条评论

Reposting my comment from Geekwire:<pre><code> Notably, no one else on this comment thread is willing to attach their real identity to it. I've been contacted by Amazon recruiting many times. I'm a Seattleite with 10+ years of software engineering experience. And I'll say the same thing here that I say to every AMZN recruiter who contacts me: no way, no how. Amazon is a sweatshop, and anyone who thinks otherwise—especially Jeff—is deluding themselves. I wish that Amazon featured *anywhere* on my list of 'prospective employers that I'd consider working at someday,' but given the reputation that they have with my friends, there's absolutely no way I'd ever consider working there under any circumstances. If my feelings are anything like other prospective senior and principal-level employees here in the area (and I assume they are), then it concerns me deeply about Amazon's future.</code></pre>

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yazaddaruvala将近 10 年前

Jeff if you're reading, how about a new leadership principle?Work Hard; Live HardDescription: Have a good work life balance. When you're able and its appropriate, work hard. If you're not able, for whatever reason, or if it isn't appropriate to be working, please don't be working.What is deemed able: If you're sick, you're not able. If you're tired, you're not able. If you're grieving, you are not able. etc.What is deemed appropriate: Work <strike>50</strike> 40 hour weeks on average. While working regular hours, work hard. There may also be weeks you need to deliver, there may be weeks you need to be oncall: please work hard (i.e. more). However, if you constantly "have to deliver" or are consistently fighting fires, then something is wrong. This shouldn't be happening. Consider: are you setting bad dates for yourself? is your manager/team setting bad dates for you? Either way, fix that tomorrow. Meanwhile, quote this leadership principle and go home.Scared your manager wont like your new attitude shift? Just quote "Its in Amazon's blood, Work Hard; Live Hard, I have a Kelly Clarkson concert to go to!"P.S. Please realize I haven't given this much thought, every idea requires refinement, and this post is 40% in jest. Meanwhile, if you'd like to help Amazon potentially find a new leadership principle on the internet, constructive criticism or humor are my favorite types of responses ;).

deepuj将近 10 年前

Amazon's attrition rate is among the highest in the industry. So, despite how he makes it sounds in the memo, the news should not have been of much surprise to him.In a nutshell, he fails to acknowledge that there is a problem, and passes the risk of reporting to employees.

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nunodonato将近 10 年前

Great to see that the HN community is quite aware of the terrible work conditions in Amazon. I do wonder, though, how many of you still buy in Amazon, nevertheless.Its important to note that when you buy a product, you are essentially voting with your wallet, saying "yes" to a company, its values, ways of operation, impact on the planet, etc etc. Its easy just to pass this as an internal amazon problem, but if you still buy there, you are supporting it anyway.I've stopped using Amazon 2 years ago, dont miss it, and dont think I will.

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hkmurakami将近 10 年前

Amazon seems to be informed by Bezos' time on Wall Street in many ways. The most prominent of these to me are the expectation of overly arduous hours, a highly contingency based compensation structure (annual bonuses vs back loaded RSU vesting schedules), and knowing which buttons need to be pressed in Analyst calls and the bare minimum amount of information that needs to be given.As an AMZN shareholder, these are big benefits. As an employee, I would expect things to break down a bit.

bluelu将近 10 年前

Out of the very few people I interviewed from amazon, I had one candidate who didn't like his job since he had to do be alert (pager) during the nights (not mentioned when hired), and his boss ocassionaly gave him work on friday evening to be finished till monday, so he had to stay on the weekend to finish it. When he talked to human ressources about this situation, HR actually fired him, and that's why he applied to us at the end. I actually didn't believe him at that time, but I guess there was some truth to it at the end after all.

Mithaldu将近 10 年前

That request to email him sounds farcical as hell to me.The CEO of a gigantic company, who's most likely already absolutely swamped in email, is asking people to email him at his direct, known-to-public address, which is most likely managed by a team of secretaries, instead of providing a specific target address along with instructions on how to send mail there anonymously.I don't think anyone would dare take him up on that offer in the first place, and if he's really this deluded about it, he might end up taking zero incoming mails on this topic as "proof" that everything is fine.That remark about contacting HR is also a little funny, since it seems like employees already consider HR to be enemy agents.

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daviross将近 10 年前

“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.”This seems a bit "Closing the barn doors after the horses are gone".Alternately, this rings a bit hollow given the turnover rate: 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.For as much as there's an emphasis on data, that seems like a worthwhile value to track.

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rackgen将近 10 年前

> 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.comReally, and who's going to stick their neck out? I would rather get off than wasting time trying to fix things which I don't have control on.

jasonjei将近 10 年前

I seem to remember hearing rants of working as a developer at Amazon 3 years ago. Here's a link to Steve Yegge's diatribe and Bezos's web services mandate: <a href="https://plus.google.com/+RipRowan/posts/eVeouesvaVX" rel="nofollow">https://plus.google.com/+RipRowan/posts/eVeouesvaVX</a>Here's an excerpt:His Big Mandate went something along these lines:1) All teams will henceforth expose their data and functionality through service interfaces.2) Teams must communicate with each other through these interfaces.3) There will be no other form of interprocess communication allowed: no direct linking, no direct reads of another team's data store, no shared-memory model, no back-doors whatsoever. The only communication allowed is via service interface calls over the network.4) It doesn't matter what technology they use. HTTP, Corba, Pubsub, custom protocols -- doesn't matter. Bezos doesn't care.5) All service interfaces, without exception, must be designed from the ground up to be externalizable. That is to say, the team must plan and design to be able to expose the interface to developers in the outside world. No exceptions.6) Anyone who doesn't do this will be fired.7) Thank you; have a nice day!Ha, ha! You 150-odd ex-Amazon folks here will of course realize immediately that #7 was a little joke I threw in, because Bezos most definitely does not give a shit about your day.

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WalterBright将近 10 年前

> Those that choose to work there do so out of greed (rising stock price)Seattle is full of tech workers who retired young from their appreciating stock options, from Microsoft and Amazon and presumably other companies. At one point I read that Microsoft had minted 10,000 millionaires in the Seattle area. I don't know what the corresponding Amazon figures are, but I suspect they are similar.Note that AMZN is up about 60% just in the last year.

kevinlisota将近 10 年前

He seems out of touch, given the comments I've heard from current and former AMZN employees here in Seattle.

msoad将近 10 年前

His email is in "CEO English". It doesn't mean anything and it doesn't help anyone. Standard Corporate America practices. Nothing to see here...

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dunkelheit将近 10 年前

What a PR nightmare for Amazon. One can only speculate about the damage done to their ability to hire best candidates but considering that the CEO himself responded it must be pretty substantial. Will it be enough to mitigate the damage though?

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candeira将近 10 年前

I've already read a couple of "the NYT storiy does not reflect my experience" posts from engineers, both very senior (Tim Bray) and not so senior.My take is that engineers (much in demand, can leave and pick up new work anwhere in this sellers'market) are going to live in a different work culture than anybody else (the general job market is still bearish, they can't transfer any specialist skill so easily).

mark_integerdsv将近 10 年前

>...still sounding exhilarated months later about providing “Frozen” dolls in record time.At the risk of a very lame pun, this leaves me cold.Denigrating someone else's work isn't good reporting.They may just be "Frozen dolls" but it's what Amazon does, they sell everything to everyone.Should an Amazon worker be more exhilarated by supplying much needed medical supplies in record time? Perhaps, but in essence - the company's ideals should (and clearly do) run through its entire business.Working people to breaking point (which is what the article is about) can be reported on without making a value judgement on what the company sells or how important they think it is.

davidgerard将近 10 年前

This has of course hit the mainstream press in turn. Amazon Chief Says Employees Lacking Empathy Will Be Instantly Purged <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/amazon-chief-says-employees-lacking-empathy-will-be-instantly-purged" rel="nofollow">http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/amazon-chief-...</a>

sfjailbird将近 10 年前

Amazon has appeared unsustainable for 20 years, both financially and in terms of business practices. That might be Jeff Bezos' one key strength; how to make people, both investors, partners and employees, tolerate endless amounts of abuse.

javadi82将近 10 年前

It would be great if LinkedIn also responds to the NYT article with data on attrition rates at Amazon vis-a-vis other tech-companies. That would be irrefutable evidence.

ksec将近 10 年前

This is not suppose to be a insult to people who work hard in Amazon, but I am really interested to know,Apart from AWS, ( technically a well defined and ran technology platform ) what exactly is Amazon doing to make it a sweat shop. If something similar were to describe Apple or even Google / Tesla . Then i could understand as they are constantly innovating, pushing hard at everything on a tight deadline, while Amazon.........

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Vecrios将近 10 年前

Sure, it might be the case that some employees are having the time of their life and enjoying their jobs. However, all that talk about the sweatshop work conditions of Amazon employees can't be all hearsay. To the very least, Jeff should act and investigate the issue instead of completely refuting it.IMO, investigating the issue and acting upon it is a better move for Amazon's employees and PR.

niuzeta将近 10 年前

I have been contacted by recruitment from Amazon and Friday's article got me thinking.This story is really pushing me to walk away from the process.

onedev将近 10 年前

I guess he also doesn't recognize the industry-worst Maternity/Paternity leave that their HR department has apparently had in place for years?There were many truths in that NYT article (and probably also many stretchings of the truth as well), but to try to sweep all of that aside seems extremely disingenuous. What a nutcase this Bezos guy is.

beachstartup将近 10 年前

i'm no expert in this manner, but jeff bezos strikes me as a classic sociopath. that goofy smile, that deliberately saccharine and smarmy facade that he constructs whenever he speaks in public... it all just seems so ridiculous and fake. he doesn't seem like a normal person. to me he seems like a prick trying to imitate what he thinks a nice person would act like.and through my own professional experience, i know for a fact nobody with a cutesy demeanor like that builds a company like amazon. i don't buy it for a second. i don't buy this little emergency damage control email either.also, just one little detail from the article that jumped out at me - any company that specifically designs and defines a mechanism for anonymous reporting (snitching) on your coworkers to your manager, knows how it will be used - as a manipulative backstabbing tool. these people aren't naive, they're professional assholes designing their own little lord of the flies workplace.it's like someone took the gervais principle and optimized for it.

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takee将近 10 年前

Can we stop with the responses to the nyt article already? Boo hoo amazonians are offended by that piece.

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