What is it with New Yorkers and Seattle? First they blasted us out of our coffee-induced happy-place with a piece on how everyone west of Interstate 5 will be cast into the Pacific Ocean by a massive, continent changing earthquake, putting the odds at 33% that it'd happen within fifty years. Now we have this this one on Amazon and how they've built a modern day Hunger Games workplace.
You see, it is well known in the Seattle area that Amazon does not consider work-life balance or anything remotely like that. Everyone in the area knows this, because we all know a friend or a spouse that worked or used to work there. Its not a sweatshop, but its close. Most people know this going on an interview there know this. They figure they'll stay four years until they vest and they get out. If they survive the infighting and bullying, that is.
But I have to admit it - I had no idea how bad it really was. If half the things in this article are true it's the worst employer on the West Coast, and Bezos agrees.
Three things make this article a tough read -
1. Unevolved Leadership for Knowledge Work : This piece is focused on white color. This somehow makes it worse for me, since I always assume Taylorism kinda sorta makes sense in the factory when it was devised. This is clearly a semi-elitist position I've hidden in my mind until just now, but I always thought knowledge workers had to measured differently...right? Apparently not when you work for Jeff. They've devised this horrid system where people can basically tank your career there by making accusations against you anonymously, called the horrible sounding - Anytime Feedback Tool. Yikes. My learning is in leadership, and I figured that old school, Theory X was dead. It was a rebirth of the worker. Now we are smarter than our bosses! Now we can give the ideas, be appreciated, and do great work! But here, in this Amazon, that's not what's happening. That brings me to the second thing.
3. Where are the ladies? It appears that Amazon is suffering from GroupThink. They hire the same people they are, aka educated alphamales, single/divorced, with little natural inclination to do anything but work. I know a few of the women there, and it's not a stretch to say it's not the friendliest place for them, by a longshot. Having cognitive diversity is a huge component of innovation, and they're missing it.
"Many women at Amazon attribute its gender gap — unlike Facebook, Google or Walmart, it does not currently have a single woman on its top leadership team — to its competition-and-elimination system....Motherhood can also be a liability. Michelle Williamson, a 41-year-old parent of three who helped build Amazon’s restaurant supply business, said her boss, Shahrul Ladue, had told her that raising children would most likely prevent her from success at a higher level because of the long hours required. Mr. Ladue, who confirmed her account, said that Ms. Williamson had been directly competing with younger colleagues with fewer commitments, so he suggested she find a less demanding job at Amazon. (Both he and Ms. Williamson left the company.) He added that he usually worked 85 or more hours a week and rarely took a vacation."
85 hours a week, so I can get my book in two days or stream the new Humans show ( its awesome!)
But yikes. I mean , sacrificing the 4 years of your fam for the Amazon Fire phone?
Anyway, this being Happy Wisdom I'd like to give Amazon employees a few tips.
1. Get yourself a good journal, the LifeSparcs one would do fine. :) Record your dreams, goals and musings in the first few pages.
2. Create some actions and write in it every day. Color code Work vs. Non-work interests.
3. If you notice that at the end of the week all of your items are about Amazon, and you feel refreshed and energized, then no worries! I am not here to say all Amazonians are unhappy. As Penelope Trunk states in her latest post, with a 150,000 employees, there must be alot of people who like to do nothing but work. They are doing what they love and have worked out the other parts of their life to align with it. Great. But you have to reflect - why are you doing it?
4. If you have to reintroduce yourself to your dog, spouse, or child, then you might want to put at least two non-amazon items on that week's Action list. Go to a movie. Walk that dog. Play a video game with Junior.
5. Reflect. How did it feel spending time on non-Bezos related items? Rejuvenating? Well, then that's a signal that something has to change.
My fear for you, Amazonians, is not that you're working too hard. Its that you're working too hard on someone else's dream. I simply do not believe there has to be this all-or-nothing approach to work. 40-50 hours for good work at a good company. If you can do more, you get compensated more. Sure. But this is different. There is a callous viciousness to this that makes for an unhealthy company and unhealthy people. Its not honest, its gamesmanship.
And it disproportionately affects the young, and could impact birth rates in our country. Despite the thrill of working 85 hours a week in your 20s, you're missing out on the most fertile times of your life. There's science to show that infants are higher percentage of being born healthy if the mom is in her twenties. Its not fair, its not good for starting that .com, but that's the facts. Not having kids? Well, that's a pretty big price to pay for working with cool kids doing "great" things. Kids are pretty freaking great too.
Most of all, my message is don't think you're worth less if you have dreams or interests of your own. Your work isn't equal to your value on Earth. Wasn't technology supposed to free us from work, and give us back our time?
This conversation has the smell of something wrong with our culture. Professor Robert Sutton of Stanford University said that there needs to be an national conversation on this topic, asking ourselves if we really have the lives we want in the US.
This post is long so I'll end it, though there's a lot more to say on this. My final put: start finding a way to your dreams, give yourself the space to find it. Amazon ? Great! Kids? Great! This is your life. Do your life now because not only is Life Complex, it is far too brief, and some decisions cannot be undone.
TTYL!
You see, it is well known in the Seattle area that Amazon does not consider work-life balance or anything remotely like that. Everyone in the area knows this, because we all know a friend or a spouse that worked or used to work there. Its not a sweatshop, but its close. Most people know this going on an interview there know this. They figure they'll stay four years until they vest and they get out. If they survive the infighting and bullying, that is.
But I have to admit it - I had no idea how bad it really was. If half the things in this article are true it's the worst employer on the West Coast, and Bezos agrees.
Three things make this article a tough read -
1. Unevolved Leadership for Knowledge Work : This piece is focused on white color. This somehow makes it worse for me, since I always assume Taylorism kinda sorta makes sense in the factory when it was devised. This is clearly a semi-elitist position I've hidden in my mind until just now, but I always thought knowledge workers had to measured differently...right? Apparently not when you work for Jeff. They've devised this horrid system where people can basically tank your career there by making accusations against you anonymously, called the horrible sounding - Anytime Feedback Tool. Yikes. My learning is in leadership, and I figured that old school, Theory X was dead. It was a rebirth of the worker. Now we are smarter than our bosses! Now we can give the ideas, be appreciated, and do great work! But here, in this Amazon, that's not what's happening. That brings me to the second thing.
“Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.” - Bo Olson, worked in books marketing
2. View of innovation is dead wrong: The statement that conflict brings innovation runs against nearly 50 years of understanding of the Organzational Development and Innovation fields. Read anything from Tom Kelly of IDEO, or the Innovation Journey, a longitudinal study of innovation, and you'll learn that this approach is bunk. It doesn't even pass the logic test: if I'm afraid for my job, or thinking that Sally is going to use the Anytime Feedback Tool if I disagree with her, then I'm probably going to side with Sally, especially if she outranks me. Oh wait, there's very few female leaders at Amazon. Make it Fred. That brings us to 3 - the lack of female leadership.3. Where are the ladies? It appears that Amazon is suffering from GroupThink. They hire the same people they are, aka educated alphamales, single/divorced, with little natural inclination to do anything but work. I know a few of the women there, and it's not a stretch to say it's not the friendliest place for them, by a longshot. Having cognitive diversity is a huge component of innovation, and they're missing it.
"Many women at Amazon attribute its gender gap — unlike Facebook, Google or Walmart, it does not currently have a single woman on its top leadership team — to its competition-and-elimination system....Motherhood can also be a liability. Michelle Williamson, a 41-year-old parent of three who helped build Amazon’s restaurant supply business, said her boss, Shahrul Ladue, had told her that raising children would most likely prevent her from success at a higher level because of the long hours required. Mr. Ladue, who confirmed her account, said that Ms. Williamson had been directly competing with younger colleagues with fewer commitments, so he suggested she find a less demanding job at Amazon. (Both he and Ms. Williamson left the company.) He added that he usually worked 85 or more hours a week and rarely took a vacation."
85 hours a week, so I can get my book in two days or stream the new Humans show ( its awesome!)
But yikes. I mean , sacrificing the 4 years of your fam for the Amazon Fire phone?
Anyway, this being Happy Wisdom I'd like to give Amazon employees a few tips.
1. Get yourself a good journal, the LifeSparcs one would do fine. :) Record your dreams, goals and musings in the first few pages.
2. Create some actions and write in it every day. Color code Work vs. Non-work interests.
3. If you notice that at the end of the week all of your items are about Amazon, and you feel refreshed and energized, then no worries! I am not here to say all Amazonians are unhappy. As Penelope Trunk states in her latest post, with a 150,000 employees, there must be alot of people who like to do nothing but work. They are doing what they love and have worked out the other parts of their life to align with it. Great. But you have to reflect - why are you doing it?
4. If you have to reintroduce yourself to your dog, spouse, or child, then you might want to put at least two non-amazon items on that week's Action list. Go to a movie. Walk that dog. Play a video game with Junior.
5. Reflect. How did it feel spending time on non-Bezos related items? Rejuvenating? Well, then that's a signal that something has to change.
My fear for you, Amazonians, is not that you're working too hard. Its that you're working too hard on someone else's dream. I simply do not believe there has to be this all-or-nothing approach to work. 40-50 hours for good work at a good company. If you can do more, you get compensated more. Sure. But this is different. There is a callous viciousness to this that makes for an unhealthy company and unhealthy people. Its not honest, its gamesmanship.
And it disproportionately affects the young, and could impact birth rates in our country. Despite the thrill of working 85 hours a week in your 20s, you're missing out on the most fertile times of your life. There's science to show that infants are higher percentage of being born healthy if the mom is in her twenties. Its not fair, its not good for starting that .com, but that's the facts. Not having kids? Well, that's a pretty big price to pay for working with cool kids doing "great" things. Kids are pretty freaking great too.
Most of all, my message is don't think you're worth less if you have dreams or interests of your own. Your work isn't equal to your value on Earth. Wasn't technology supposed to free us from work, and give us back our time?
This conversation has the smell of something wrong with our culture. Professor Robert Sutton of Stanford University said that there needs to be an national conversation on this topic, asking ourselves if we really have the lives we want in the US.
This post is long so I'll end it, though there's a lot more to say on this. My final put: start finding a way to your dreams, give yourself the space to find it. Amazon ? Great! Kids? Great! This is your life. Do your life now because not only is Life Complex, it is far too brief, and some decisions cannot be undone.
TTYL!
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