PBS高端访谈:揭露美国亚马逊公司所谓的"苛刻的"职场文化

 　　HARI SREENIVASAN: After two decades in business, Amazon.com is the world's largest Internet retailer², with a stock value that has increased tenfold since 2008. That success is driven by a work force motivated by data-driven managers who stick to principles laid down by company founder³ Jeff Bezos.

　　That's part of the takeaway from today's New York Times story, “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising⁴ Workplace.” Based on more than 100 interviews, the story depicts⁵ a corporate⁶ culture where employees are pushed to the limit.

　　David Streitfeld is one of the authors. He joins me now from San Francisco.

　　So, what is the culture that you found?

　　DAVID STREITFELD, The New York Times: It is a very intense culture, a very hardworking culture, a culture where people feel they want to push themselves as far as they can, and they do.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: So far, none of that, what you just said, sounds like a bad thing for a company.

　　DAVID STREITFELD: No, it's a great thing for a company.

　　If you have a company of type-A performers, and they're always performing at the limits of what they can do, you can do amazing things, which Amazon indeed has.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: What do you find unique about what's happening inside Amazon's work culture?

　　DAVID STREITFELD: The unique thing was just how well they maintained that culture of endurance and excellence⁷.

　　Start-ups do that sort of thing. They work all the time. And people are completely devoted⁸ to the company, and the rest of their life falls away. The unique thing with Amazon is, they had preserved, to a large extent, that start-up culture, to a company that was employing tens of thousands of people. And that's a remarkable⁹ thing to do. And I don't know of many other companies, if any, that have managed to do it.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: Some of the anecdotes¹⁰ you write about are almost in direct opposition¹¹ to the other stories about tech life that we hear, that Netflix has a yearlong maternity¹² or paternity leave policy that they want to institute, and Google has fabulous¹³ free food everywhere.

　　That's not what you get when you walk into Amazon's offices.

　　DAVID STREITFELD: That's true. Amazon is much more severe.

　　It in — it has a lot of technology, but, in some ways, its self-image is not of a tech company. Its self-image is as a retailer. And in the retail¹ business, margins¹⁴ are very thin and benefits are comparatively less.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: And you describe a situation at the — what is it, the end of every year, where they essentially¹⁵ cut back their employees, depending — or their lowest performers?

　　DAVID STREITFELD: Yes, Amazon uses a technique which was relatively¹⁶ widespread in corporate America maybe 10 years ago — and some companies, other companies still use it now — called — the crudest name for it, which companies do not use, is rank and yank.

　　You decide where everyone fits, and those at the bottom, those that rank the lowest, you either encourage to leave or you could just release them.

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: What did Amazon say to this as you were reporting?

　　DAVID STREITFELD: Amazon has always prided itself on being a very tough place to work.

　　They have said this from the very beginning. As Jeff Bezos said very early on to new employees, it's not easy to work here. And without it being — without those high standards, you probably never would have heard of Amazon. It — it would not exist now.

　　The question is, for employees who are diverted by crises, what happens to them?

　　HARI SREENIVASAN: David Streitfeld, one of the co-authors of the piece from The New York Times, thanks so much.

　　DAVID STREITFELD: Thank you.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 bruising   

adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式)

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• He slipped and fell, badly bruising an elbow. 他滑倒了，一只胳膊肘严重擦伤。 来自辞典例句

5 depicts   

描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述

参考例句：

• The book vividly depicts French society of the 1930s. 这本书生动地描绘了20 世纪30 年代的法国社会。
• He depicts the sordid and vulgar sides of life exclusively. 他只描写人生肮脏和庸俗的一面。

6 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

7 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

8 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

9 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

10 anecdotes   

n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• amusing anecdotes about his brief career as an actor 关于他短暂演员生涯的趣闻逸事
• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman. 他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

12 maternity   

n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的

参考例句：

• Women workers are entitled to maternity leave with full pay.女工产假期间工资照发。
• Trainee nurses have to work for some weeks in maternity.受训的护士必须在产科病房工作数周。

13 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

14 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

15 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

16 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。