- Amazon employees criticized the company for holding a private Foo Fighters concert for leaders.
- Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 people since late 2022 and enforced a strict office mandate.
- Employees said the exclusive event for senior leaders came amid cuts to their morale budgets.
Amazon employees are roasting the company for apparently holding a private Foo Fighters concert for senior leaders after a tough couple of years of layoffs and cost-cutting, according to internal Slack messages viewed by Business Insider.
The company has laid off more than 27,000 people since late 2022, introduced an unusually strict return-to-office mandate, and, according to the messages, slashed budgets previously used to boost team morale.
However, a blog post from May 30 suggests the company brought the Foo Fighters — CEO Andy Jassy's favorite band — to a private event for director- and vice-president-level employees.
The post and the Slack messages indicate the concert was part of an event called Ops Live for senior leaders in Amazon's global fulfillment network.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
An Amazon employee posted a link to the blog post on an internal Slack message board with the caption "frugality," referring to one of the company's leadership principles.
"Finally, some striving to be Earth's best employer (for L8+)," one employee wrote, referring to one of Amazon's latest leadership principles pledging to "create a safer, more productive, higher performing, more diverse, and more just work environment." Level 8, or L8, employees are among the most senior at the company.
"Meanwhile, there's no budget for a monthly happy hour on our team," another said.
"It's OK. They paid for their own bananas and coffee," another employee wrote.
"That looks like a fun office to work in! I mean… that is an office… right? Or else why would they all be there," an additional employee wrote, apparently referring to Amazon's strict mandate for employees to work out of assigned team "hubs" or resign.
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