NEW YORK, N.Y. Aug. 17 (DPI) – The New York Times this weekend published a report on the ferociously demanding white-collar workplace at Seattle-based Amazon, where employees put in 80-hour weeks and are reviewed and let go with regularity. The report spurred more than 4200 reader comments in 24 hours, most of them condemning the huge online retailer for its “cruel”, “creepy” and “immoral” work culture.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos – who is also owner now of The Washington Post — today dismissed the report as off the mark, but readers who identified themselves as former employees largely confirmed its accuracy. The NYT interviewed about 100 former employees and others with knowledge of the company.
The report described a manic, Orwellian workplace of constant pressure with a system of peer reviews that sought to weed out unfit employees. Employees with any type of personal problem were likely to fall victim to the company’s “purposeful Darwinism” of routinely shedding under-performing employees.
This comment from a former employee received more than 1500 recommendations:
There’s a lot this article leaves out about working at Amazon, but I’d say it covers it pretty well. I worked at Amazon starting in 2007 for 13 1/2 dog years (4 1/2 actual). The pace is indeed tough to maintain. It’s a red badge of courage to outlast and outwit those who quit or are “managed out.” But this is not a healthy environment for anyone. After I left it was a year before I came off the ledge and was somewhat back to normal. I still struggle with the Amhole nature within, resisting the desire to verbally castrate my current colleagues who are not up to my vision of competence. The experience also, just as reported, seriously damaged my marriage.
To those commentators who never worked at Amazon, if you think it’s such a great system then go work there and see if you can last 1 year. I doubt you can, even if you get an offer. To my former colleagues still there and around the world, we are in a special club of sorts. To those thinking of taking a job at Amazon, do your research and ask yourself: Is it worth it and am I tough enough to take it.
The top-recommended post received more than 3500 recommendations as of 2pm today, the highest number of recommendations ever tallied by DPI.com on a news site:
Midway through this article, after reading stories of how employees going through devastating personal losses were treated, I cancelled my Audible membership, deleted my Kindle app, and will no longer be shopping from Amazon. I cannot support a company that so purposefully creates a negative environment for its employees. It’s disgusting, it’s immoral, and I hope others feel the same after reading this article.
Notwithstanding the bad publicity for Amazon, the PR case against the company was hardly airtight: Readers pointed out that some people seek out high-pressure employers as a test of their own mettle, and others said the retailer’s focus on the customer, which sets it apart from most retailers, was a reflection of its hyper-driven work culture. In addition, companies such as Wal-Mart and Target have faced bad publicity for low wages or data security, but they have always weathered the PR storm.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/jeff-bezos-responded-report-slamming-085322339.html