Amazon CEO wants his employees to read New York Times report

Another employee had returned to the company after bearing a stillborn child only to shortly leave after she was listed on a “performance improvement plan”, the Times wrote.

“I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be insane to stay”.

It’s worth noting for context, that the New York Times’ main competitor is the Washington Post, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Nick Ciubotariu, Amazon’s head of infrastructure development, also responded to the negative article against Amazon.

The lengthy, 5,700-word New York Times exposé about what it’s like to work at the e-tailer makes it sound, even by tech industry standards, like the equivalent of sweat shop torture from the early 1900s.

The New York Times has since written a response to that LinkedIn article, pointing out that while he denied Amazon has an annual “culling of the staff”, a company respresentative did confirm to The New York Times that Amazon “manages out a pre-determined percentage of its workforce every year”. “You know, we share some the same kind of challenges that other companies in our sector share, and we are committed to making the situation better”.

Bezos previously declined an opportunity to be interviewed for the article, but the Times reporters captured his founding sentiment through prior interviews, speeches he had given and employee accounts of his behavior. “I’m sorry, the work is still going to need to get done”, her boss reportedly 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”.

And a similar point applies to workers who serve other roles – like marketers and product managers – at a company like Amazon.

Bezos claims not to recognize the “shockingly callous management practices” outlined in the NYT’s article.

Moreover, Bezos also takes issue with the exposé’s view that working at Amazon is no fun and that the company’s intention is to “create a soulless, dystopian workplace”.

“I don’t think any company adopting the approach portrayed could survive, much less thrive, in today’s highly competitive tech hiring market”, Bezos said.

“If you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR”. And across Lake Washington from Amazon, 81% of Microsoft employees would want a friend to work there, while 88% approve of CEO Satya Nadella.

The online retail giant is no stranger to allegations that it allows toxic work environments; a BBC investigation into one of its UK-based warehouses found workers were expected to collect orders every 33 seconds – conditions that a stress expert said could cause “mental and physical illness”.

In one sense there’s nothing unusual about grumbling employees but the picture painted is stark.

He merely said he wouldn’t work at a company like it and he didn’t recognize it. But he didn’t really say anything was wrong.

As for its treatment of white-collar workers in Seattle, I’m not sure that – apart from the occasional mistreatment of the ailing that Bezos now says won’t be tolerated – there’s much for Amazon to be ashamed of.