Inside Amazon

As you note, no one is forced to work at/for Amazon, and they know going in that it's a tough work environment.

But, here's the other thing, wouldn't you want to know if one of your direct reports wasn't doing a good job?

We bemoan the "blue wall of silence" and other instances where workers cover for the worst among them. Working in a "go along, get along" environment frustrates any ambitious, innovative employee.

So, Amazon has created a workplace where innovation is allowed to flourish, where speaking your mind, and even criticizing bad ideas is encouraged, and where poor performers are identified, and pushed out.

And, the company has thrived as a result.

 

Eh, Bezos probably

Either climb over or get the fuck off!

 

When Google and Facebook are looking at you saying "Guys, back off," you know you've gone too far.

 

So in your scenario, do you see the opportunity for some ambitious young executive to sabotage people who may not be poor performers at all?

If someone isn't doing their job well, there are all kinds of ways to make that known. Encouraging execs to tattle behind people's backs seems a little much.

 

Pretty clear that YankeeFan hasn't read the story. He should read it and get back to us.

 

Or perhaps in spite of.

 

Yeah, Apple and Amazon both just got lucky.

 

I was referring to the warehouse workers who are dealing with Upton Sinclair-like conditions.

 

Maybe. Plenty of other successful companies that don't treat their employees like trash.

 

YF -- have you read it? Did you read this?


A woman who had thyroid cancer was given a low performance rating after she returned from treatment. She says her manager explained that while she was out, her peers were accomplishing a great deal. Another employee who miscarried twins left for a business trip the day after she had surgery. “I’m sorry, the work is still going to need to get done,” she said her boss told her. “From where you are in life, trying to start a family, I don’t know if this is the right place for you.”

A woman who had breast cancer was told that she was put on a “performance improvement plan” — Amazon code for “you’re in danger of being fired” — because “difficulties” in her “personal life” had interfered with fulfilling her work goals. Their accounts echoed others from workers who had suffered health crises and felt they had also been judged harshly instead of being given time to recover.

A former human resources executive said she was required to put a woman who had recently returned after undergoing serious surgery, and another who had just had a stillborn child, on performance improvement plans, accounts that were corroborated by a co-worker still at Amazon. “What kind of company do we want to be?” the executive recalled asking her bosses.

Do you find this necessary? Do you think Amazon wouldn't be Amazon without dehumanizing these women?

 

I'm curious; is this story going to make anyone here stop using Amazon?

 

Strongly worded posts more than make up for that awesome Prime membership.