Bezos: ‘I don’t recognize this Amazon’

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos on Monday defended his company after The New York Times published an extensive piece over the weekend highlighting the “bruising” workplace culture within the Seattle-based company. 

“The article doesn’t describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day. But if you know of any stories like those reported, I want you to escalate to HR. You can also email me directly,” Bezos wrote in a memo to staff obtained by a number of news outlets. 

{mosads}The Times article, which was based on interviews with at least 100 current or former employees, painted a picture of a company that pushes its employees to the limits and quickly churns through employees in order to retain top talent. 

It also featured specific stories from former workers who felt they were unfairly evaluated or pushed out due to personal crises like cancer or a miscarriage. It describes people considering quitting because they felt pressure to spend less time with their families.

Bezos said conduct like that would not be tolerated at his company.

“I don’t recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don’t, either,” Bezos said in his memo. “More broadly, I don’t think any company adopting the approach portrayed could survive, much less thrive, in today’s highly competitive tech hiring market. 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.”

He said the article made Amazon seem like a “soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard.”

“I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company,” he said. 

Bezos encouraged workers to read The New York Times piece for themselves as well as an unofficial response by an employee who heads infrastructure development at the company. 

Former White House press Secretary Jay Carney, now Amazon’s vice president for global corporate affairs, reiterated many of the points Bezos made in his memo, during an interview with CBS’s “This Morning.”

Carney defended the high turnover rate at the company and the lack of paid maternity leave, saying it is consistent throughout U.S. companies. 

“I think that a lot of companies in the tech sector and around the country are looking at their policies on maternity leave and paternity leave and evaluating them,” he said. “We sure are. Again, some of the issues that the article talks about in terms of diversity in senior leadership. You know, we share some the same kind of challenges that other companies in our sector share, and we are committed to making the situation better.”

— Updated at 12:20 p.m.