Recently, the New York times did a critical expose on the work culture at Amazon
The article painted a horrifying picture of some staff experiences where workers were pitted against each other, Managers overworking staff and 80 hour work weeks as a norm.
So far, the article has gained mixed reactions with some persons saying the article was bloated and such work cultures were necessary for innovation. The other side criticizes amazon for such gruesome work culture.
My question is do you need to overstretch your staff to innovate?
Nooo, staff over streching those not yield innovation instead it leads to brain drain. If they could be like google, at least from what i have see on the TV, there working environment is condusive for innovation, give your staff disciplined freedom, through that they engage in creative thinking.
My question is do you need to overstretch your staff to innovate?
This one’s kind of a no-brainer. Amazon has an incredibly high turnover from what I’ve read, many people don’t last more than a year. I’ve seen many horror stories and bitterness from ex-staff. Not to mention the stories of people crying and getting terrible treatment when sick/suffering from personal crises. It’s a give and take. Staff that love where they work are more inclined to want to make it succeed. Anyone that has worked in a Nigerian bank probably relates to these tales a lot. Lots of tired, bored/stressed people doing the most just to get a good performance review and bonus.
Sure people need to eat, and Amazon looks good on a CV so they’ll always find employees, but enough bad tales get out and they’ll be unwittingly repelling some of the best minds that would have come to work there.
Nooo, staff over streching those not yield innovation instead it leads to brain drain. If they could be like google, at least from what i have see on the TV, there working environment is condusive for innovation, give your staff disciplined freedom, through that they engage in creative thinking.
Well, its like the half-filled glass principle, its all about perception. When you are made to do a work overtime which you aren’t motivated to do, it becomes a mind stress but when you are motivated, you might even work for days and weeks with little sleep and wont complain but rather you will seek to do more.
Most modern companies try to use Incentivized, Gratitudinal, motivational work principle, where there is a collaborative kind of decision making, people or teams make ideas, collaborate, develop, implement, monitor, get feedbacks, re-innovate etc almost no-one feels left out. Everyone is appreciated for every of their contributions.
Everyone feels they are part of the movers and shakers of the company.
Well, every company has their flaws and even worst than Amazon’s, maybe Amazon’s flaw wasn’t managed and some media people are taking advantage of it.
It’s not worth comparing Silicon Valley HR practices in an African context. In fact, Silicon Valley shouldn’t be compared to anywhere really. It’s an extremely unique environment.