According to Amazon’s internal Slack messages, referenced by Business Insider, employees criticize the company for holding a private Foo Fighters concert for senior executives after difficult years of layoffs and cost cuts. Since the end of 2022, Amazon has laid off more than 27 thousand employees and allegedly cut its budget to boost team morale.
However, a May 30 publication said that the company had invited the Foo Fighters, CEO Andy Jesse’s favorite band, to a private event for employees at the director and vice president levels. The concert was part of an event for Amazon’s senior management called Ops Live.
An Amazon employee posted a message about it on Slack with the headline «frugality», referring to one of the declared principles of the company’s management. The message provoked a strong reaction from other employees:
«Finally, someone wants to be the best employer on Earth (for [L8+ employees)»
«Meanwhile, our team doesn’t have a budget for a monthly happy hour»
«Nothing. They paid for their own bananas and coffee»
Similar problems have recently been noticed by Spotify employees. Some of them believe that the company spends too much on parties and events amidst layoffs of thousands of people and cost-cutting. In November, Spotify celebrated its annual Wrapped campaign with an exclusive party at a London superclub. The party featured a lineup of famous musicians performing their hits. Four days later after an expensive party, the company cut 1500 jobs, including some of the people who worked on Wrapped.