It’s 2015 and this is not your father’s or mother’s workplace. The New York Times August 16th report on Amazon’s organizational culture, one of achievement or abuse, opinions vary greatly, is an eye-opener — apparently to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, as well, who said that’s not the Amazon culture he knows. But it’s not the whole picture. Amazon might be an outlier due to the ultra-competitive environment in which it operates. Then again, others argue not. “Amazon is not some dystopian outlier. It’s the new normal. It’s just a little more frank about its goals and intentions,” writes Matt Yglesis at Vox.
Consider these headlines: “Amazon and the Realities of the ‘New Economy’;” “Amazon’s 24/7 Hell is the Future of Work;” “Wearables at Work: the new frontier of employee surveillance;” “I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave;” “Minimum Wage Debate Pits Employers vs. Employees;” “A Digital Big Brother is Coming;” “Like Amazon, More Firms use Data on Workers to Drive Productivity;” “Only 33% of Employees are Engaged at Work.”