Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace

OrbitalDawn

OrbitalDawn

Ulysses Everett McGill
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
47,678
Reaction score
9,368
Location
Aboard the Nostalgia For Infinity
The company is conducting an experiment in how far it can push
white-collar workers to get them to achieve its ever-expanding ambitions.

On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.

They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.

At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.”)
Click to expand...

Rest in link.

Sounds hectic. Any feedback from people on here that have worked there?
 
The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses.
Click to expand...

This is a terrible idea. Lots of brown nosers' will used this tool to curry favour with the boss, I've seen it first hand. There are some real b@stards in an office environment.
 
sounds like Mr Mila's job.
Most anoying SMSs past midnight on a weekend.
"do you not read your emails? "


FFS F off.
 
Sounds absolutely terrible.

EDIT: Reading further, it depresses me that human beings would want to work for such a company. Truly we are a terrible race if we think that is what life is about.
 
Last edited:
Some people I guess thrive in that type of environment. Thought this bit was most fascinating:
“Amazon is O.K. with moving through a lot of people to identify and retain superstars,” said Vijay Ravindran, who worked at the retailer for seven years, the last two as the manager overseeing the checkout technology. “They keep the stars by offering a combination of incredible opportunities and incredible compensation. It’s like panning for gold.”

The employees who stream from the Amazon exits are highly desirable because of their work ethic, local recruiters say. In recent years, companies like Facebook and LinkedIn have opened large Seattle offices, and they benefit from the Amazon outflow.
Click to expand...

Someone should send this to COSATU, they would explode :D
 
The fact that you believe this article. I work for Amazon and am approaching the 4 year mark with them. Don't always believe what you read guys.

Lol.
 
DuckKnuckle said:
The fact that you believe this article. I work for Amazon and am approaching the 4 year mark with them. Don't always believe what you read guys.

Lol.
Click to expand...

They have many sources in the article. Obviously Amazon SA has a different culture?
 
Ancalagon said:
They have many sources in the article. Obviously Amazon SA has a different culture?
Click to expand...

And you think working 85 hours a week, days, nights and weekends is allowed in the US within Amazon? That's 7 days a week from 06h00 - 06h00.

It isn't. I can assure you. I have colleagues who moved from the Dublin branch to the CPT branch and then to Seattle. Others who moved from CPT to Sydney. The working hours are the same. That's how we get our 24/7 coverage as our times are synced across all sites so that we never have downtime.
 
OrbitalDawn said:
So everyone in the article is lying?
Click to expand...

Emails get sent at midnight. That is true. Considering someone from Sydney might send an email to a mailing list with people in Seattle in it. They do not SMS you asking you why you didn't respond.

From everything I've read in the article, it looks like they grossly exaggerated everything or paid ex employees who possibly didn't meet criteria to lie about what happens.
 
DuckKnuckle said:
And you think working 85 hours a week, days, nights and weekends is allowed in the US within Amazon? That's 7 days a week from 06h00 - 06h00.

It isn't. I can assure you. I have colleagues who moved from the Dublin branch to the CPT branch and then to Seattle. Others who moved from CPT to Sydney. The working hours are the same. That's how we get our 24/7 coverage as our times are synced across all sites so that we never have downtime.
Click to expand...

Can we report this to your manager? :p
 
yet another sensationalist article.
When you are young, you invariably work longer hours. When wife and kids come, you start working standard hours
 
Jeff Bezos responded in a letter to the company:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2015/08/17/jeff-bezos-amazon-letter-to-employees-crazy/

Dear Amazonians,

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to give this (very long) New York Times article a careful read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/t...stling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html

I also encourage you to read this very different take by a current Amazonian:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-ciubotariu

Here’s why I’m writing you. The NYT article prominently features anecdotes describing shockingly callous management practices, including people being treated without empathy while enduring family tragedies and serious health problems. 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 [email protected]. Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero.

The article goes further than reporting isolated anecdotes. It claims that our intentional approach is to create a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard. Again, I don’t recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don’t, either. More broadly, I don’t think any company adopting the approach portrayed could survive, much less thrive, in today’s highly competitive tech hiring market. The people we hire here are the best of the best. You are recruited every day by other world-class companies, and you can work anywhere you want.

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.

But hopefully, you don’t recognize the company described. Hopefully, you’re having fun working with a bunch of brilliant teammates, helping invent the future, and laughing along the way.

Thank you,

Jeff
Click to expand...

Mind you, I've heard similar things about Amazon several times but mostly in relation to its blue collar workforce.
 
@DuckKnuckle. Thanks dude. if you weren't going to respond to this I was.

PS. I dont work for Amazon but I do know DuckKnuckle and another two people that work at Amazon.

Amazon is fine to work at and article is exaggerated. More than likely some sour grape that is immature about being dismissed.
 
Thought so...
There is however such a dystopian company in SA, in Sandton. Needless to say I didn't last long there...
 
Thought that sounded a bit exaggerated. Even tho Bezos does have a reputation as a slave driver
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X