Learning from Employee Disengagement at Amazon

Why Learning from Employee Disengagement Is a Critical Talent Management Advantage
Employee disengagement is often treated as a failure. Amazon treats it as data.

At first glance, that seems counterintuitive. Amazon is the largest internet-based retailer in the United States and has surpassed Walmart in market capitalization. It offers global scale, a world-class brand, and a growth story few companies can match. By most external measures, it is a place people should want to work.

And yet, Amazon pays close attention to why employees disengage and leave. Not because it undermines success — but because it reveals the hidden costs of growth, pace, and performance expectations. For leaders serious about talent management, disengagement isn’t just an employee morale issue. It’s a strategic signal about where systems, roles, and leadership practices are breaking under pressure.

Surprisingly, Amazon May Not be Such a Great Place to Work
Despite its market dominance and reputation for relentless strategy execution, Amazon has faced sustained criticism over the employee experience. In recent years, numerous accounts have surfaced describing difficult working conditions across multiple segments of the workforce.

Warehouse employees have raised concerns about intense productivity demands and constant pressure to work faster. At the same time, white-collar employees have reported a high-friction performance culture marked by :

• Frequent confrontation.
• Long and unpredictable hours.
• Expectations that many view as unsustainable.

Taken together, these accounts challenge the assumption that organizational success automatically translates into a healthy or engaging workplace — and they raise an uncomfortable question for leaders: what is the real cost of winning at all costs?

Learning from Employee Disengagement — Turning Employee Disengagement into Insight

No company wants its reputation tarnished by stories of disengaged employees. When critical headlines emerged, Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, responded with an internal email: “I don’t recognize this Amazon, and I very much hope you don’t, either.” Yet even he recognized that words alone could not resolve the deeper challenge of employee dissatisfaction.

Bezos understood a fundamental truth: without the workforce’s engagement and commitment, even Amazon’s market-leading business results could falter. That realization gave rise to Amazon Connections, an employee feedback program designed to learn directly from disengagement. The initiative solicits confidential input from employees on leadership effectiveness, career development opportunities, job satisfaction, and more — aiming to uncover the barriers that prevent Amazon from being a truly exceptional workplace.

While no single program can instantly fix a complex culture, organizational culture surveys are a strategic first step. By listening systematically to its workforce, Amazon is attempting not just to measure morale but to turn disengagement into actionable insight — a rare acknowledgment that even industry leaders must evolve continuously to retain talent and sustain performance.

What is the State of Employee Engagement in Your Organization?
If you’re unsure, there’s no time to hesitate. While every company has its own strategy and culture, research consistently finds that employee disengagement ranges from 50% to 89% — a staggering figure that cannot be ignored.

Your ability to achieve business goals is fundamentally tied to the performance, commitment, and motivation of the people around you. Disengagement at this scale is a silent threat to productivity, innovation, and long-term success — and the first step in addressing it is knowing exactly where your organization stands.

Why Learning from Employee Disengagement Matters

• The Cost of a Disengaged Workforce
  When we assess organizational culture, we find that actively disengaged workers are up to 10 times more likely to underperform and look for other opportunities than their more engaged peers.  And employee engagement is far more than a simple employee retention issue.  According to four recent studies, organizations with lower employee engagement scores have 12% smaller profits, 19% less operating income. and 28% lower earnings per share.
• The Benefits of a Highly Engaged Workforce
  As you might expect, organizations with high employee engagement have 18% greater productivity, 12% higher customer satisfaction, and 51% less attrition.

The Bottom Line
The encouraging reality for Amazon — and any organization — is that employee engagement is measurable and, crucially, improvable. When leaders take deliberate, informed action to address disengagement, the impact on business performance can be profound. The critical question is this: do you truly understand what matters most to your top talent, and are you acting on it?

To learn more about how to measure employee engagement, download Employee Engagement Mistakes: Are You Aimlessly Engaging Your Employees? 

by Tristam Brown: CEO

Tristam Brown is an executive business consultant and organizational development expert with more than three decades of experience helping organizations accelerate performance, build high-impact teams, and turn strategy into execution. As CEO of LSA Global, he works with leaders to get and stay aligned™ through research-backed strategy, culture, and talent solutions that produce measurable, business-critical results. See full bio.