After Blistering New York Times Expose on Amazon’s Workplace Environment, CEO Jeff Bezos Sent This Email to His Employees

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told his employees that if there were any truth to the New York Times' scathing expose that painted the company as having a cruel and near-impossible work environment, he would quit his job.

Bezos blasted the Times for going beyond reporting on "rare and isolated" instances of "callous management practices" — which even then, he said, should not be tolerated — by then depicting the company as creating a "soulless" work environment.

The Times report, published Saturday, told anecdotes of several current and former employees who said they pulled multiple all-nighters in a row, cried frequently at their desks and were unable to work with managers when faced serious illnesses or deaths of loved ones.

"[The New York Times] claims that our intentional approach is to create a soulless, dystopian workplace where no fun is had and no laughter heard," Bezos wrote to his employees in the email, obtained by MarketWatch. "Again, I don’t recognize this Amazon and I very much hope you don’t, either. 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."

Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc., speaks after unveiling the Fire Phone during an event at Fremont Studios in Seattle, June 18, 2014. (Mike Kane/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Bezos went on to compliment his employees, saying Amazon only hires the best and the brightest workers who could have jobs anywhere else that they wanted.

"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 employees to report instances of abuse or mismanagement to Amazon's human resources department or email him directly. The CEO also encouraged employees to read the New York Times' piece as well as a counterpiece posted to LinkedIn by a current employee.

Read the full email below:

Dear Amazonians,

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to give this (very long) New York Times article a careful read:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-workplace.html

I also encourage you to read this very different take by a current Amazonian:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonians-response-inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-nick-ciubotariu

Here’s why I’m writing you. The NYT article prominently features anecdotes describing shockingly callous management practices, including people being treated without empathy while enduring family tragedies and serious health problems. 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 at jeff@amazon.com. Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero.

The article goes further than reporting isolated anecdotes. 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. 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.

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.

But hopefully, you don’t recognize the company described. Hopefully, you’re having fun working with a bunch of brilliant teammates, helping invent the future, and laughing along the way.

Thank you,

Jeff