Monday, August 17, 2015

Update: Jeff Bezos is shocked, shocked at Amazon's practices--but ends up confirming them

Just a follow-up to the NY Times piece: in a new article, Jeff Bezos says he "doesn't recognize" the dystopian workplace described there. Want proof?

  • They have fun Fridays!
  • People only respond to emails after midnight if they want to.  Unspoken corollary: and if they want to keep their jobs, they'd better want to.
  • Any of the abuses should be reported to HR, Bezos says. Unspoken caveat: because things always go so well for whistleblowers in such an environment.
What keeps everyone motivated? According to Bezos, it's because The people we hire here are the best of the best. But note this:
An Amazon spokesman previously confirmed that the company manages out a pre-determined percentage of its workforce every year. The engineer also quotes an unnamed senior executive telling an all-hands meeting, “Amazon used to burn a lot of people into the ground.”
So if you don't want to be one of the ones "managed out" or ranked and yanked, you know what you have to do. 

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