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Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

bbc.com

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Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#51

Post by kalleboo »

bluedino wrote: post #11

>> Mr Ciubotariu invoked the company's culture of fun in his LinkedIn post. "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand," he wrote. This reminds me of Rackspace. Rackspace claims to have this great fun environment and they love their employees and they're always doing this fun stuff at work. I know a handful of people that work there and I'm always being told about the elaborate pranks games go…

Correlation != causation.

We used to have some servers at 1&1 and their support was even worse than what you describe, and they've never described as "a fun place to work"

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#52

Post by thearn4 »

gdulli wrote: post #10

> Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff that the "article doesn't describe the Amazon I know". I'm not surprised he feels this way, being solely unaccountable in the way that his employees are and primarily responsible for both denying and preserving the culture. > Mr Ciubotariu invoked the company's culture of fun in his LinkedIn post. "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand,"…

> "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand"

This really bugged me too, but reflects a trend that I've notice in tech circles of infantilizing engineers (vs treating them as working professionals). But maybe this really is attractive to some employees who might be eager to extend their HS/college environment a few more years.

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#53

Post by nemo44x »

bluedino wrote: post #11

>> Mr Ciubotariu invoked the company's culture of fun in his LinkedIn post. "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand," he wrote. This reminds me of Rackspace. Rackspace claims to have this great fun environment and they love their employees and they're always doing this fun stuff at work. I know a handful of people that work there and I'm always being told about the elaborate pranks games go…

I don't work there but 1 note about support plans at companies: You will get what you pay for. If you have an SLA of 1 hour you will get your reply in an hour. If you don't have that (lets say you have a 12 hour SLA) the team, even if they can answer your question right away, is likely going to hold off on it for awhile because you haven't paid for that level of service.

It's also protection as their response could lead to another reply from you and possibly a call would have to be scheduled and then meanwhile a few important tickets from clients that pay for the extra service come in and now they are backed up.

Sales guys should be calling you constantly though!

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#54

Post by meddlepal »

jredwards wrote: post #34
meddlepal wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Nerf thing made me cringe too. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only software developer out there that does not want to be treated like I am some sort of over-sized elementary school kid. Maybe I am just getting old... Work can be fun without resorting to gimmicks. What's next snack time and mandatory naps?

What about voluntary naps? Where do I sign up for that?

Anytime: Find an empty conference room with no windows and lie down with your feet touching the door and spread a bunch of paper clips out around your body. Then when someone tries to open the door they'll wake you up and you can claim you were just picking up some fallen paper clips...

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#55

Post by antrix »

virmundi wrote: post #44
lotsofpulp wrote: post #21

If Bezos really wanted to put his money where his mouth is, he would implement a minimum mandatory vacation period and significant maternity/paternity leave at the least, if not a max # of hours per week. Of course, that would not maximize profits at amazon or most other companies so that's not really what will happen.

A client had an interesting system along this line. Every employee was required to leave for one week to make sure that day to day operations continued without interruption in their absence. As result, everyone took at least one week of vacation. Often they would take two at this time.

"Compulsory time off" is actually required by law in some regulated industries such as finance.

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#56

Post by thearn4 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #21

If Bezos really wanted to put his money where his mouth is, he would implement a minimum mandatory vacation period and significant maternity/paternity leave at the least, if not a max # of hours per week. Of course, that would not maximize profits at amazon or most other companies so that's not really what will happen.

> maximize profits at amazon

Funny thing is, Amazon has never really been into maximizing profits, at least in comparison to re-investing the company in new experimental directions. An investment in their own employee's well being seems to be something in line with that. But, I'm not a CEO.

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#57

Post by primroot »

DaveWalk wrote: post #26
gdulli wrote: post #10

> Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff that the "article doesn't describe the Amazon I know". I'm not surprised he feels this way, being solely unaccountable in the way that his employees are and primarily responsible for both denying and preserving the culture. > Mr Ciubotariu invoked the company's culture of fun in his LinkedIn post. "We have Nerf wars, almost daily, that often get a bit out of hand,"…

Ha! I had the urge to comment on the Nerf wars, and you beat me to it. I cringed because, in my adult mind, having "daily Nerf wars" at work means they really don't know what the word "fun" is supposed to mean. I think it kind of proves the point?

> I cringed because, in my adult mind, having "daily Nerf wars" at work means they really don't know what the word "fun" is supposed to mean.

This brought to my mind some scenes of the film Inside Job (those that included among other things a psychologist). :)

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#58

Post by CSMastermind »

puppetmaster3 wrote: post #37

I wonder if this is related to H1 demand and lack of women in tech. Think about it for a minute. H1 would have to leave (the country) if they lose their job, so they are stuck working for a bad boss. Women can sense that, hey, this makes no sense faster than man who is somewhat expected to 'solider on'. If there was less H1 (but more legal immigration other ways), than that would force a turn around and encourage mor…

My experience with women at Amazon is this: my ex-girlfriend had an internship with Amazon in the summer of 2013. While there her manager friended her on Facebook then sent her some messages suggesting that if she slept with him he would make sure she got a full time offer and explicitly describing his fantasies about her.

She ended sleeping with him and true to his word he got her the full time position. About a month later I found out about the whole thing and broke up with her.

I emailed the transcripts of their conversations to HR. They conducted an investigation and he admitted to everything. The guy got to keep his job. They did some sort of formal counseling with him and then transferred him to another group. They made the girl to sign a statement saying that nothing improper happened. They strongly suggested that her full time offer might be rescinded is she didn't sign the statement.

She signed and has been working there the past more than a year now.

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#59

Post by chazu »

meddlepal wrote: post #54
jredwards wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about voluntary naps? Where do I sign up for that?

Anytime: Find an empty conference room with no windows and lie down with your feet touching the door and spread a bunch of paper clips out around your body. Then when someone tries to open the door they'll wake you up and you can claim you were just picking up some fallen paper clips...

I simply must know for sure whether or not this is a tactic you've actually employed.

Re: Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

#60

Post by lotsofpulp »

thearn4 wrote: post #56
lotsofpulp wrote: post #21

If Bezos really wanted to put his money where his mouth is, he would implement a minimum mandatory vacation period and significant maternity/paternity leave at the least, if not a max # of hours per week. Of course, that would not maximize profits at amazon or most other companies so that's not really what will happen.

> maximize profits at amazon Funny thing is, Amazon has never really been into maximizing profits, at least in comparison to re-investing the company in new experimental directions. An investment in their own employee's well being seems to be something in line with that. But, I'm not a CEO.

Technically, Amazon might not be into maximizing profit via cash flow. But Bezos certainly has an interest in maximizing share price, via undercutting competitors and offering the cheapest prices and maximizing market share, thereby leading to a possibility of increasing profits via sales. Any which way, squeezing every cent out of the employees will work towards accomplishing these goals. So while they may not have a ton of profit in the traditional sense, it's still all the same interests reaping the gains they always have.
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