I know numerous people who work in marketing or operations at Amazon, and their experiences more closely mirror the NYT article. Much of the pressure is self-imposed: Amazon hires type-A overachievers, then stack-ranks them. The pressure to succeed is immense, and as happens with any forced stack rank system, people try to tear each other down.
Amazon hires legions of MBA graduates every year, and most of them will have left by the time the next class comes in. Jeff Bezos seems to have modeled Amazon in the style of his former employer, McKinsey & Co., and it shows. The expectations at Amazon are similar to the expectations at McKinsey -- except that being fired from McKinsey after 2 years is almost considered a rite of passage in the executive world. Until Amazon develops a similar reputation (and becomes a lot pickier about who it hires) they will continue to have this perception problem.
It's certainly effective, but Amazon is not a nice place to work.
I know numerous people who work in marketing or operations at Amazon, and their experiences more closely mirror the NYT article. Much of the pressure is self-imposed: Amazon hires type-A overachievers, then stack-ranks them. The pressure to succeed is immense, and as happens with any forced stack rank system, people try to tear each other down.
Amazon hires legions of MBA graduates every year, and most of them will have left by the time the next class comes in. Jeff Bezos seems to have modeled Amazon in the style of his former employer, McKinsey & Co., and it shows. The expectations at Amazon are similar to the expectations at McKinsey -- except that being fired from McKinsey after 2 years is almost considered a rite of passage in the executive world. Until Amazon develops a similar reputation (and becomes a lot pickier about who it hires) they will continue to have this perception problem.
It's certainly effective, but Amazon is not a nice place to work.