5 ms·

wow. i wonder if bezos is going to address this.

by khnd 10y ago

itg 10y ago
Doubt it, that nytimes article about their work culture spread everywhere but not much has changed.
- ams6110 10y ago
  People keep working there, so why would they change? Edit: s/should/would/
  - Bombthecat 10y ago
    Exactly. And other firms will adapt that working style. Why shouldn't they? Amazon gets away with it.
  - fullshark 10y ago
    Maybe they would be more effective if they changed.
- GabrielF00 10y ago
  Actually a lot has changed since the NYT article (I don't know whether any of it is related to the article): 1. Much better parental leave 2. Easier to transfer internally (no longer need to wait 6 months, transfer can't be blocked by the current manager) 3. At least in my org, more transparent promotion process.
pinewurst 10y ago
Hardly. According to Jeff, nothing is wrong and everything is for the best in his best of all possible worlds. Read enough https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/ https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/ and it's a consistent picture though. Speaking as a Seattle local, I hear these sort of anecdotes all the time.
- Tempest1981 10y ago
  I recently got an email from an Amazon recruiter, who, for whatever reason, told me that their team is "largely working < 50 hours/week, in most cases". The fact that they felt it important to mention this (and qualify it) definitely started me thinking...
  - zzalpha 10y ago
    The fact that he views less than 50 hours a week (ie less than ten hours a day... ten!) as somehow worth bragging about says even more.
    - SomeCallMeTim 10y ago
      I considered working at Pixar at one point, and spoke to their hiring department. Curiously, they considered the salary they were offering you to be for 50 hours per week. This wasn't an upper limit; no, you were expected to do occasional overtime past 50. But 50 was the baseline. I didn't follow through with the interview process. Screw that.
      - wbsun 10y ago
        A: hey, that company sucks. B: but this company sucks too. we are good.
      - erentz 10y ago
        50 hours seems to be normal in some effects houses, which are increasingly operating like sweat shops. Weta Digital is also the same. And they strictly expect minimum 50 hours there.
        dagw 10y ago
        Yup. Movies (and games) often have very hard deadlines and missing the release window can mean losing a fuck-ton of money. I remember working on a TV Christmas special once, and let's just say that letting the release slip to early January was Not An Option.
rdtsc 10y ago
I bet he will. He did last time when that article in NYT came out. He responded by sending an email which stated that Amazon will not tolerate such behavior, encouraged people to report to HR and instituted zero-tolerance policy for callousness. Anyone know how many managers were terminated because of that. EDIT: Found this example, who knows if it is true: https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/home/fired-for-contacting-jeff https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/home/fired-for... To be completely ridiculous (I already started this in another comment), let's imagine Amazon as sort of a tiny country with a Stalinist ruling party running it. Here are the similarities: * Personality cult: Bezos = Stalin * You sing praises to the great leader: the 14 leadership principles. * Officially they have a zero-tolerance policy for harshness. But I bet if anyone complains to HR they get sent to Siberia (i.e. put on performance improvement plan) or shot (terminated). * The top management is the Central Committee. They wield massive power. Officially it is a meritocracy but it is all about gaining favors with the ruling party. * In the warehouses I hear they do these group exercises: Stalin loved public performances. Anyone wanna add more?
- Asooka 10y ago
  Companies can be described as tiny islands of totalitarianism in a democratic world. Except now they are giant continents and it's the base democracy that's looking threatened. Companies with a flat-like structure buck the trend a bit, but even they aren't run on purely democratic principles. I'd love to see a company built on democratic principles (either direct or representative democracy).

wow. i wonder if bezos is going to address this.

by khnd 10y ago

wow. i wonder if bezos is going to address this.

itg 10y ago

Doubt it, that nytimes article about their work culture spread everywhere but not much has changed.

ams6110 10y ago
People keep working there, so why would they change? Edit: s/should/would/
- Bombthecat 10y ago
  Exactly. And other firms will adapt that working style. Why shouldn't they? Amazon gets away with it.
- fullshark 10y ago
  Maybe they would be more effective if they changed.
GabrielF00 10y ago
Actually a lot has changed since the NYT article (I don't know whether any of it is related to the article): 1. Much better parental leave 2. Easier to transfer internally (no longer need to wait 6 months, transfer can't be blocked by the current manager) 3. At least in my org, more transparent promotion process.

pinewurst 10y ago

Hardly. According to Jeff, nothing is wrong and everything is for the best in his best of all possible worlds. Read enough https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/ https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/ and it's a consistent picture though. Speaking as a Seattle local, I hear these sort of anecdotes all the time.

Tempest1981 10y ago
I recently got an email from an Amazon recruiter, who, for whatever reason, told me that their team is "largely working < 50 hours/week, in most cases". The fact that they felt it important to mention this (and qualify it) definitely started me thinking...
- zzalpha 10y ago
  The fact that he views less than 50 hours a week (ie less than ten hours a day... ten!) as somehow worth bragging about says even more.
  - SomeCallMeTim 10y ago
    I considered working at Pixar at one point, and spoke to their hiring department. Curiously, they considered the salary they were offering you to be for 50 hours per week. This wasn't an upper limit; no, you were expected to do occasional overtime past 50. But 50 was the baseline. I didn't follow through with the interview process. Screw that.
    - wbsun 10y ago
      A: hey, that company sucks. B: but this company sucks too. we are good.
    - erentz 10y ago
      50 hours seems to be normal in some effects houses, which are increasingly operating like sweat shops. Weta Digital is also the same. And they strictly expect minimum 50 hours there.
      - dagw 10y ago
        Yup. Movies (and games) often have very hard deadlines and missing the release window can mean losing a fuck-ton of money. I remember working on a TV Christmas special once, and let's just say that letting the release slip to early January was Not An Option.

rdtsc 10y ago

I bet he will. He did last time when that article in NYT came out. He responded by sending an email which stated that Amazon will not tolerate such behavior, encouraged people to report to HR and instituted zero-tolerance policy for callousness. Anyone know how many managers were terminated because of that. EDIT: Found this example, who knows if it is true: https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/home/fired-for-contacting-jeff https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/home/fired-for... To be completely ridiculous (I already started this in another comment), let's imagine Amazon as sort of a tiny country with a Stalinist ruling party running it. Here are the similarities: * Personality cult: Bezos = Stalin * You sing praises to the great leader: the 14 leadership principles. * Officially they have a zero-tolerance policy for harshness. But I bet if anyone complains to HR they get sent to Siberia (i.e. put on performance improvement plan) or shot (terminated). * The top management is the Central Committee. They wield massive power. Officially it is a meritocracy but it is all about gaining favors with the ruling party. * In the warehouses I hear they do these group exercises: Stalin loved public performances. Anyone wanna add more?

Asooka 10y ago
Companies can be described as tiny islands of totalitarianism in a democratic world. Except now they are giant continents and it's the base democracy that's looking threatened. Companies with a flat-like structure buck the trend a bit, but even they aren't run on purely democratic principles. I'd love to see a company built on democratic principles (either direct or representative democracy).