Why the Amazon Problem Is Nothing New

If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that the The New York Times published a scathing piece over the weekend portraying Amazon, the world's largest retailer, as a brutal employer that puts innovation and company performance above its people’s well-being. The authors, Jody Kantor and David Streitfeld, painted a picture of long and late workdays, "unreasonably high" standards, and colleagues sending secret feedback to bosses which equated to career sabotage.

They went on to claim that "some workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages, and other personal crises said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given time to recover."

Many came to Amazon’s defense, calling the piece a hatchet job that wasn’t based on reality. For example, current Amazon employee Nick Ciubotariu was motivated to write a dissenting opinion on LinkedIn just one day later. (It quickly became the weekend's most widely read article on Pulse, currently with over a million views.) The post gives a paragraph by paragraph rebuttal to the authors’ claims. It has received tons of comments in support, including some from other current and past Amazon employees.

In all fairness, I’ve seen journalistic bias firsthand. Every story has (at least) two sides. Since I’ve never worked for Amazon or studied them personally, I'm not qualified to pass judgment about what it’s like to work there.

But Ciubotariu's piece, and many comments from fellow Amazon employees supporting him, reveal a problem: an underlying culture of pride and arrogance.

For example, in responding to Kantor and Streitfeld's claim that Amazon is "conducting a little-known experiment in how far it can push white-collar workers," Ciubotariu retorts:

"There is no 'little-known experiment'. That's just silly. No one at Amazon has time for this, least of all Jeff Bezos. We've got our hands full with reinventing the world." (Italics mine.)

Ciubotariu goes on:

"Amazon is, without question, the most innovative technology company in the world. The hardest problems in technology, bar none, are solved at Amazon.... Our sheer size and complexity dwarfs everyone else, and not everyone is qualified to work here, or will rise to the challenge. But that doesn't mean we're Draconian or evil. Not everyone gets into Harvard, either, or graduates from there. Same principles apply."

There’s surely nothing wrong with having a healthy measure of pride in your company, or even in your own personal work. However, what we see emerging from the very comments of employees supporting Amazon, is a culture of self-promotion and arrogance.

In the highly competitive world of Silicon Valley, these comments may seem completely normal. But I’ve worked with a number of companies, including high-powered law firms and management consulting practices, where a similar attitude is prevalent: Win at all costs. Only the strongest survive. The traits needed to thrive in this type of environment are in direct opposition to the qualities humans are naturally drawn to—qualities like humility, empathy, and compassion. And it’s in this type of culture where I can imagine some of those dreadful experiences reported by Kantor and Streitfeld taking place.

As I said, I can't say what it's like to work at Amazon. But I think this story should at least be a foundation for discussion, for every organization. How can we achieve peak performance without compromising our values in the process?

The “Netflix Culture” deck (ironically a company also known for extreme views), which has been legendary in Silicon Valley for years, makes a vital point among its introductory slides:

So, what are your company values?

I'd love to hear from you as well. Are performance and innovation overemphasized, to the point of losing sight of our values? Please leave a comment below.

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If you're interested in reading more, I also write for Inc.com. (You can find my author page here.) You can follow me here on LinkedIn or on Twitter @JustinJBariso. 

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• Show Your Employees Some Love: Why It Pays to Praise
• Here's How You Solve the Employee Engagement Problem

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Justin Bariso is an author and keynote speaker who believes in the power of culture. He writes weekly on the topics of leadership, productivity, and valuable business lessons found in today's headlines. Justin has written for, or been covered by, Inc., TIME, Business Insider, Yahoo Small Business, and The Huffington Post, among others. Feel free to contact him for writing or speaking opportunities, or any other way you think he can help.