Work-Life Balance at Amazon
Having had personal contact with Amazon employees, and having read the NYT article Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace, I have only a few things to say:
- Most Japanese companies have different methods, but work hours are similar, and exploitation even worse (voluntary service etc)
- I loved one comment in the MobileRead thread on the article, link to the post:
All you need to do is make one assumption: dishonest people will outperform honest people over the short term. Then every year Amazon’s “culling” will get rid of the honest people and keep the dishonest ones. Rinse and repeat. Soon only the sociopaths are left.
Best supporting quote from the article: “You learn how to diplomatically throw people under the bus.”
What remains – I guess I would be a horrible performer at Amazon, and I am proud of it.
A company whose public face is more human than its private reality naturally rewards individuals of the same ilk. In a very real sense, they are true company people.