By now you have probably read more than enough about the NY Times article which described Amazon’s hard driving culture. This was followed by the obligatory articles/posts with employees both confirming and disagreeing with the original. Lastly, there was the necessary, PR driven response by the CEO. By the way, I thought it was funny how he asked people to talk to HR if they were having bad experiences when an HR executive was quoted in the original article. I can only imagine how those conversations would go.
How can so many have such different opinions about culture in one organization?
Culture is an average of opinion and a large group of people can even interpret the “facts” of an organization differently. For instance, take long work hours.
“They work us like dogs here—I can’t spend enough time with my family.”
“I get to work on game changing technologies. It’s the most valuable thing I can do with my time.”
In response to criticism, the NY Times said that they interviewed 100 people. I’m sure that’s true. But, unless they were randomly selected (and they randomly chose to talk the Times), it is possible that they have biased sample. That is not to say there aren’t 100 or more people who feel that Amazon has a toxic culture, but that’s about 1% of the white collar workforce and there are likely to be other opinions.
Assuming the culture is negative (even reading the “positives” didn’t make me want to ship off my resume), why do people stay? I’m sure there are as many reasons as people working there, but it is likely that some of it is for having a “star” on a resume, the pride in working for such a well known brand, the assumption that the grass is just as brown at other companies, relationships with co-workers, etc.
The response also shows a white collar/blue collar bias in the reporting. Right now, there are firefighters all over the west working non-stop. Whether or not you think protecting houses and forests is more important than having drones deliver packages, both sets of workers are giving their all to do their jobs the best that they can. One group is portrayed as heroes and the others as suckers, even though aspects of their culture are not dissimilar (working really long hours in adverse conditions). I’m guessing that employees in both sometime wished they were someplace else, but they still stick with what they are doing.
Some people are a great fit for Amazon’s (or the firefighter) culture. It’s important to understand those critical aspects of your culture so you select people who have the skills to do the work and the personality to want to do it at your company. How much have you thought about that?
For more information on selecting the right people for your culture, contact Warren Bobrow.