The culture is deeply toxic, with a strong accent on micromanaging, blame and scapegoating when plans go off track. Rather than addressing systemic issues and punishing over-controlling behaviours, our current "leaders" often resorts to placing individuals on PIPs or subjecting them to Focus.
Leadership prioritizes operationalizing and commercializing open-source projects over encouraging innovation and long-term thinking. This short-sighted focus stifles creativity and risk-taking.
Managers are required to place the lowest-performing employees into Focus - however, because this mandate repeats multiple times per year to meet unregretted attrition targets, nearly everyone is eventually caught in the cycle. Given how frequently managers must comply - and how subjective the process is - individuals often have to suffer deeply for a chance at recovery and to pass the Focus process. This ongoing cycle creates a high-pressure environment where survival depends more on political maneuvering and extreme overwork rather than on actual job performance. Those who remain are often the ones adept at managing optics, not the ones delivering long-term, meaningful results.
The workforce also lacks meaningful diversity. The majority of remaining employees come from just two dominant demographic groups, and most are on temporary H-1B visas. Employees who are visa-bound are more controllable and compliant, which is how Amazon likes it.
Overall, the environment is the opposite of what’s required for experimentation and innovation. I have little confidence in Amazon’s long-term prospects if these practices continue.
