Amazon (AMZN) has been on a mission over the past few months to revamp significant elements of its work culture, which has garnered sharp criticism.
Earlier this year, Amazon began requiring corporate employees to work in the office five days a week after allowing them to only do so three days a week under the previous in-office mandate.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy first announced this change in a memo sent to employees in September last year where he claimed that working in person makes “collaborating, brainstorming, and inventing” in the workplace “simpler and more effective.”
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The announcement appeared to have unintended consequences as a survey later revealed that the move prompted many employees to look for work elsewhere.
Jassy also announced in the memo that the company will be reducing the number of managers it has by 15%, a change that will be complete by the end of the first quarter of this year.
“Having fewer managers will remove layers and flatten organizations more than they are today,” said Jassy.
Amazon CEO mounts pressure on employees
Now, it appears that Amazon is becoming more serious about making that vision come true. According to a new report from Business Insider, Jassy doubled down on tackling bureaucracy in Amazon’s work culture during a recent internal company meeting.
He said that the best leaders “get the most done with the least amount of resources required to do the job.” He also stated that “every new project shouldn’t take 50 or more people to do it.”
An US giant Amazon employee passes by its logo on the opening day of the new distribution center in Augny, eastern France.
SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP/Getty Images
“The way to get ahead at Amazon is not to go accumulate a giant team and fiefdom,” said Jassy. “There’s no award for having a big team. We want to be scrappy about us to do a lot more things.”
The millionaire also said that going forward, the company will be focusing on “meritocracy” and will rethink how it conducts job promotions in the future.
“It’s not how charismatic you are. It’s not whether you’re really good at managing up or managing sideways,” said Jassy. “What matters is what we actually get done for customers. That is what we reward. It’s a meritocracy.”
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Jassy also urged employees to “move fast and act like owners,” as some of the company’s competition is “working seven days a week, 15 hours a day.”
“One of the strengths of Amazon over the first 29 years is that we’ve hired really smart, motivated, inventive, ambitious people who have been great owners,” said Jassy. “What would I do if this was my company? And by the way, it is your company. This is all of our company.”
Amazon recently made a harsh decision
Jassy’s comments come after Amazon laid off dozens of people in its communications department in January, according to a report from Bloomberg.
“Following a recent review, we’re making some changes to the Communications & Corporate Responsibility organization to help us move faster, increase ownership, strengthen our culture, and bring teams closer to customers,” said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement in Bloomberg.
More Labor:
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A report also began circulating online last week that alleges Amazon is planning to lay off 14,000 managers this year, but the company later shut down that claim, stating that it’s false.
“This claim is false and based on inaccurate assumptions,” said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement to Fast Company. “In September 2024, we shared with employees that we set a goal to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers by 15% across our organizations because it was the right time to bring us closer to customers and reinforce our culture of ownership. There are a number of ways to achieve that increase without eliminating roles. We’ve now reached that goal, which we believe will allow our teams to move even faster as they innovate for customers.”
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