‘Pointless meetings, middling middle managers’: Amazon employees air workplace complaints in viral LinkedIn post

Employee frustrations with Amazon’s culture, usually confined to internal forums, spilled into the public eye this week through a viral LinkedIn post that struck a chord with many current and former employees.

Stephanie Ramos, a former Amazon employee, criticised the company’s growing bureaucracy in her post. "Instead of the exciting, fast-paced environment I remember, I experienced a place bogged down in pointless meetings and middling middle managers,” Ramos wrote, explaining why she quit just three months after being rehired.

The post, shared on Monday, quickly gained traction. By the end of the week, it had attracted over 100,000 views and more than 200 comments. Around 20 commenters identified as current Amazon employees from various departments, many expressing similar frustrations.

Some criticisms were directed at CEO Andy Jassy, who took over from Jeff Bezos in 2021. “Love him or hate him, Bezos had courage and a vision — he had real all-hands meetings that weren’t prerecorded with hard questions,” wrote Todd Leonhardt, an Amazon Web Services developer based in Virginia.

Laura Barry, a nearly 20-year Amazon employee, compared the current work environment to that of a bank, citing the new policy requiring employees to return to the office five days a week. “I’m waiting for a dress code to be implemented after 5 days a week starts,” she joked. “Hide those tattoos!," as quoted by Bloomberg.

While employee gripes are common at large companies, the public nature of this week’s LinkedIn discussions stood out. Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan declined to comment on specific criticisms but noted that Amazon placed second in LinkedIn’s 2024 Top Companies list, trailing JPMorgan Chase, as per a report by Bloomberg.

Jassy’s leadership has been marked by cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, which have pleased investors but upset some employees. In a September memo, Jassy himself criticized the company’s structure, saying that additional management layers had slowed progress. He argued that the five-day office return policy, starting in January 2024, would help restore Amazon’s fast-paced culture, the report added.

WFO created trouble

Most employee backlash to the return-to-office mandate had previously remained on anonymous platforms like Blind. Ramos, however, decided to go public.

Ramos, who worked at Amazon for six years before being laid off in 2023, was rehired earlier this year but left after finding the culture frustrating. Although she didn’t oppose the return-to-office requirement, the internal environment made her decide to quit, as per the report.

Initially hesitant to post her thoughts, Ramos said she felt relieved when others responded to her post. "I’m not alone,” she said.