Inside Amazon (Working for them) : Anyone following this saga?

D

diabolus

Executive Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2005
Messages
6,313
Reaction score
38
Location
Amsterdam, NL
EDIT: Found where the discussion thread is:
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthr...n-Wrestling-Big-Ideas-in-a-Bruising-Workplace



I stumbled on this quite lengthy saga going on, it started with this rather scary NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/t...stling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html
The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push
white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions.

..
Click to expand...

Quite a fascinating read, and i have seen some of the same practices here in SA, especially the larger companies.

There was quite a heavy reaction leading to a rebuttal from both Jeff Bezos himself and a lengthy read from an employee
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/i...rom-readers-with-an-opinion-about-amazon.html
Toilet paper-delivering drones may not be a thing (yet), but history was made over the weekend when Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld’s exposé on workplace practices at Amazon became the most commented-on story at The New York Times.
Click to expand...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/18/technology/amazon-bezos-workplace-management-practices.html
He told workers: “I don’t recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don’t, either.”
Click to expand...

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-ciubotariu
I wrote the article because it was the right thing to do. I would have written it regardless of whether PR would have approved or not, because the NYT article is so 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
Click to expand...


http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.c...l-of-amazons-brutal-workplace-on-target/?_r=2
Was Portrayal of Amazon’s Brutal Workplace on Target?

Updated: Aug. 19, 2015, 12:25PM | Soon after The Times’s massive takeout on the culture of Amazon’s workplace (“Where overachievers go to feel bad about themselves.”), an Amazon employee, Nick Ciubotariu, wrote a long, passionate response in disagreement.
Click to expand...

All in all, if you are in IT, it is quite a read, alot of us aspire to work for these sort of companies, yet when i read these things , i take 2 steps back and just thankful i can have a peaceful weekend....
 
Last edited:
I think it's the startup culture in those companies in the US. They get paid huge salaries so they feel obliged not to have a work-life balance but spend more time working.

Amazon also has a policy of them paying you to quit so they can't be that bad a company.
 
Meh - I've heard the same from just about every big company I know of. They're large enough that some divisions are great to work in, and some are terrible. Over time I've got a feeling for the strengths and weaknesses of various big companies and a subset of subdivisions, so I can at least take calculated risks in my career - I don't think that one or two negative articles are particularly damning.
 
skimread said:
I think it's the startup culture in those companies in the US. They get paid huge salaries so they feel obliged not to have a work-life balance but spend more time working.

Amazon also has a policy of them paying you to quit so they can't be that bad a company.
Click to expand...

Except Amazon is not a startup, alot of the practices that are popping out are stuff i only hear about in large corporates. The amount of turnover alone is really concerning, clearly people want to work for Amazon, but when they do, they want to get out as fast as possible.

Amazon insists its reputation for high attrition is misleading. A 2013 survey by PayScale, a salary analysis firm, put the median employee tenure at one year, among the briefest in the Fortune 500. Amazon officials insisted tenure was low because hiring was so robust, adding that only 15 percent of employees had been at the company more than five years. Turnover is consistent with others in the technology industry, they said, but declined to disclose any data.
Click to expand...

That alone would set of so many red flags if i was looking for work at a place.

It is amusing how they even got these labels for people working at Amazon ranging from "Amadrones" and "Amholes" . I am sure some departments function just normal (as is seen in that long rebuttal from an employee), but i've seen these practices in many many places right here, bosses with no clue about management and working with people...this is what they end up doing with their employees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X