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how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? financial worth has nothing to do with it. if he feels that charge is untrue, he

how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? financial worth has nothing to do with it. if he feels that charge is untrue, he should push back against it. I would not be nearly as measured in my response. no sir, I am not the one

gsk22 6y ago
Financial worth absolutely has to do with the fairness or lack thereof. Bezos has created nearly 200 billion dollars (!) of wealth for himself since founding Amazon, so debating the moral value of those gains in comparison to how everyday employees are compensated is well within reason. And if my employees said I was treating them unfairly, I would try to understand their perspective and make changes to improve working conditions. But maybe that's why I'll never be a CEO.
- fenderbluesjr 6y ago
  Some people don't think that 'fair treatment' should be determined with the bosses wealth as a factor
  - stnmtn 6y ago
    Why not? The workers have created enormous value, more than any other time in the history of humanity. Why shouldn't we frame this in terms of where that value goes to?
    - refurb 6y ago
      Workers enter into an agreement - compensation for labor. There are plenty of people at Amazon who are now millionaires or very highly paid.
      - TheRealSteel 6y ago
        People have rent to pay. The "you agreed to it" argument only works if the person genuinely had other realistic options available to them. Nobody would work for peanuts and pee in bottles if they had another realistic option.
        refurb 6y ago
        Why would you assume workers don’t have other options? The unemployment rate before Covid was the lowest since the 50’s. If the Amazon job is so bad then there must be plenty of better options?
        stnmtn 6y ago
        Why do you think that? Doesn't it make more sense that if people are accepting a bad job it's because all their options are bad as well?
  - Agenttin 6y ago
    It's not about his wealth. If Jeff had been independently wealthy before starting Amazon this wouldn't be an issue. The problem is the percentage workers receive of the value they generate. Jeff has gotten rich by pushing that number as low as possible, while also working to kill off businesses that might offer alternative employment to low skill workers.
- hinkley 6y ago
  It's relatively common wisdom that you don't become a billionaire without fucking over a lot of people. You can be CEO just fine, but billionaire CEO is probably not in the cards for you.
- skrtskrt 6y ago
  > Bezos has created nearly 200 billion dollars (!) of wealth for himself Bezos' employees have created nearly 200 billion dollars of wealth for Bezos
  - merpnderp 6y ago
    Your implication is that Bezos was inconsequential to the creation of all that brand new wealth. Surely you don't actually believe that and this is just your ideological rhetoric to further your politicized beliefs?
    - QuixoticQuibit 6y ago
      Your implication is that Bezos’ employees were inconsequential to the creation of all that brand new wealth. Surely you don't actually believe that and this is just your ideological rhetoric to further your politicized beliefs?
      - merpnderp 6y ago
        Ah-hah, you made a joke by making up something I never said. Funny, but could be improved. Next time try working in something I actually said.
    - sharkjacobs 6y ago
      > Your implication is that Bezos was inconsequential to the creation of all that brand new wealth How much wealth would Bezos have created without his employees? I sort of imagine one guy with a computer running an online bookstore running fulfillment out of his garage. I bet he could make an okay living if he's smart and hardworking and lucky but it's a pretty inconsequential fraction of 200 billion.
    - asdff 6y ago
      At some point, however, it's momentum and people in the engine room driving the ship rather than the captain. Replace bezos with another decent business person and I'm sure they would have made similar decisions along the way and ended up in a similar place today. It's not like bezos has some sacred gut, he just hires experts and listens to them like any other CEO would do.
josefresco 6y ago
> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? Not sure how "richest man in the world" version of myself would react. Certainly I wouldn't use my corporate Twitter account to attack (badly) US politicians.
- edoceo 6y ago
  Yea, for all that money to spend on the attack, how'd they do such an obvious shit-job of it?
  - josefresco 6y ago
    My theory is that it doesn't need to be high quality as the perception that Amazon is "fighting back" against corrupt politicians will still take.
ivan888 6y ago
> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? Hopefully anyone with that level of wealth would look into fixing the actual problem instead of trying to cover it up with fake testimony. The point is, he has the money to build a working culture where people can feel like they are treated fairly, he just chooses not to
- SyzygistSix 6y ago
  It's not like he is the only one at Amazon making decisions. Along with Bezos, there's a whole host of bad actors at Amazon who have decided not to treat workers well.
davidcbc 6y ago
> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? I'd cry myself to sleep every night on my pile of billions of dollars. Poor Jeff.
gremlinsinc 6y ago
If people said that about me, I'd call off union vote, and just give the union "my blessing" no vote needed, in fact I'd encourage a union from day one for any business I start. A union will not break Amazon, many companies with unions still are plenty profitable.
Tiktaalik 6y ago
It would not be a good trait if one would reflexively push back at such accusations instead of reflecting inwardly and taking in the criticism.
Can_Not 6y ago
> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? Easy: "I have $185 billion less than Bezos to spend on treating my employees better, but I've also spent $0 on propaganda against my employees interests."

gsk22 6y ago

Financial worth absolutely has to do with the fairness or lack thereof. Bezos has created nearly 200 billion dollars (!) of wealth for himself since founding Amazon, so debating the moral value of those gains in comparison to how everyday employees are compensated is well within reason. And if my employees said I was treating them unfairly, I would try to understand their perspective and make changes to improve working conditions. But maybe that's why I'll never be a CEO.

fenderbluesjr 6y ago
Some people don't think that 'fair treatment' should be determined with the bosses wealth as a factor
- stnmtn 6y ago
  Why not? The workers have created enormous value, more than any other time in the history of humanity. Why shouldn't we frame this in terms of where that value goes to?
  - refurb 6y ago
    Workers enter into an agreement - compensation for labor. There are plenty of people at Amazon who are now millionaires or very highly paid.
    - TheRealSteel 6y ago
      People have rent to pay. The "you agreed to it" argument only works if the person genuinely had other realistic options available to them. Nobody would work for peanuts and pee in bottles if they had another realistic option.
      - refurb 6y ago
        Why would you assume workers don’t have other options? The unemployment rate before Covid was the lowest since the 50’s. If the Amazon job is so bad then there must be plenty of better options?
        stnmtn 6y ago
        Why do you think that? Doesn't it make more sense that if people are accepting a bad job it's because all their options are bad as well?
- Agenttin 6y ago
  It's not about his wealth. If Jeff had been independently wealthy before starting Amazon this wouldn't be an issue. The problem is the percentage workers receive of the value they generate. Jeff has gotten rich by pushing that number as low as possible, while also working to kill off businesses that might offer alternative employment to low skill workers.
hinkley 6y ago
It's relatively common wisdom that you don't become a billionaire without fucking over a lot of people. You can be CEO just fine, but billionaire CEO is probably not in the cards for you.
skrtskrt 6y ago
> Bezos has created nearly 200 billion dollars (!) of wealth for himself Bezos' employees have created nearly 200 billion dollars of wealth for Bezos
- merpnderp 6y ago
  Your implication is that Bezos was inconsequential to the creation of all that brand new wealth. Surely you don't actually believe that and this is just your ideological rhetoric to further your politicized beliefs?
  - QuixoticQuibit 6y ago
    Your implication is that Bezos’ employees were inconsequential to the creation of all that brand new wealth. Surely you don't actually believe that and this is just your ideological rhetoric to further your politicized beliefs?
    - merpnderp 6y ago
      Ah-hah, you made a joke by making up something I never said. Funny, but could be improved. Next time try working in something I actually said.
  - sharkjacobs 6y ago
    > Your implication is that Bezos was inconsequential to the creation of all that brand new wealth How much wealth would Bezos have created without his employees? I sort of imagine one guy with a computer running an online bookstore running fulfillment out of his garage. I bet he could make an okay living if he's smart and hardworking and lucky but it's a pretty inconsequential fraction of 200 billion.
  - asdff 6y ago
    At some point, however, it's momentum and people in the engine room driving the ship rather than the captain. Replace bezos with another decent business person and I'm sure they would have made similar decisions along the way and ended up in a similar place today. It's not like bezos has some sacred gut, he just hires experts and listens to them like any other CEO would do.

josefresco 6y ago

> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? Not sure how "richest man in the world" version of myself would react. Certainly I wouldn't use my corporate Twitter account to attack (badly) US politicians.

edoceo 6y ago
Yea, for all that money to spend on the attack, how'd they do such an obvious shit-job of it?
- josefresco 6y ago
  My theory is that it doesn't need to be high quality as the perception that Amazon is "fighting back" against corrupt politicians will still take.

ivan888 6y ago

> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? Hopefully anyone with that level of wealth would look into fixing the actual problem instead of trying to cover it up with fake testimony. The point is, he has the money to build a working culture where people can feel like they are treated fairly, he just chooses not to

SyzygistSix 6y ago
It's not like he is the only one at Amazon making decisions. Along with Bezos, there's a whole host of bad actors at Amazon who have decided not to treat workers well.

davidcbc 6y ago

> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? I'd cry myself to sleep every night on my pile of billions of dollars. Poor Jeff.

gremlinsinc 6y ago

If people said that about me, I'd call off union vote, and just give the union "my blessing" no vote needed, in fact I'd encourage a union from day one for any business I start. A union will not break Amazon, many companies with unions still are plenty profitable.

Tiktaalik 6y ago

It would not be a good trait if one would reflexively push back at such accusations instead of reflecting inwardly and taking in the criticism.

Can_Not 6y ago

> how would you respond if people said you were treating your employees unfairly? Easy: "I have $185 billion less than Bezos to spend on treating my employees better, but I've also spent $0 on propaganda against my employees interests."