Amazon boss Jeff Bezos defends company's workplace culture

A New York Times report over the weekend described a demanding and degrading environment at Amazon.

Amazon's boss Jeff Bezos wrote in a memo to staff that the "article doesn't describe the Amazon I know".

The New York Times article quoted one former employee who said: "Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk."

 

'Bruising' workplace

The report included testimonials from 100 current and former employees who depict a "bruising" workplace at Amazon, where employees are expected to "toil long and late".

Some claimed the company edged out workers who were suffering from personal crises, including miscarriages and cancer.

The article also said that the culture calls for employees to respond to emails after midnight. If they don't, they receive text messages demanding a swift response.

A press representative for Amazon said: "While we generally do not comment on individual news stories, we quickly saw current Amazon employees react."

He pointed to an article from Nick Ciubotariu, a current employee who said he never saw anyone cry in the office.

'Best of the best'

Mr Ciubotariu, head of infrastructure development, Amazon.com Search Experience, refuted many of the article's claims on the professional networking website, LinkedIn.

He wrote: "No one tells me to work nights. No one makes me answer emails at night. No one texts me to ask me why emails aren't answered."

In Mr Bezos' memo, he encouraged Amazon employees to read the article, and email him directly if they recognised any of the "shockingly callous management practices" it described. 

He wrote of the article: "It claims that our intentional approach is to create a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard. Again, I don't recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don't, either."

Mr Bezos pointed out that the company depicted in the article could not survive in the "highly competitive tech hiring market".

He wrote: "The people we hire here are the best of the best. You are recruited every day by other world-class companies, and you can work anywhere you want."