Readers Respond: Amazon culture

The New York Times dropped a bombshell earlier this month, and everyone's been talking about Amazon's cut-throat work environment ever since.

In a poll that addressed considerations of work-life balance, the vast majority of HBSDealer readers took a middle-of-the-road approach: a full 75% said that "respect for employees must be balanced with pursuit of greatness."

The actual question and results of the survey are listed below:

Are companies too hard on their employees?

• 
  Yes. A happy, relaxed workforce is the best workforce: 18%


• 
  No. It’s corporate survival of the fittest, and that’s the way it should be: 8%


• 
  Sometimes. Respect for employees must be balanced with pursuit of greatness: 75%

At press time, the poll results were made up of 197 responses. The poll is still open for voting.