I agree this seems to largely be a manager issue, though I would go as far to say it's more prevalent in the company culture. That said, I also agree this isn'

I agree this seems to largely be a manager issue, though I would go as far to say it's more prevalent in the company culture. That said, I also agree this isn't exactly fair on Amazon's part as they were informed, up front, that this was an ongoing issue. The picture this paints isn't then one of "they did their best and were generous"; instead, it's one of "they got what they wanted out of him." Note that by company policy, all employees are given a max base pay of about $160k (including Mr. Bezos himself, which they love to point out during negotiations); the remainder of the $300k would have likely been through stock options, which the author points out were left behind during termination. Thus they were technically paying him almost half plus whatever signing bonus was negotiated.