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Amazon employees have voiced their frustrations after the company appeared to bring the Foo Fighters to a party exclusively for its directors and vice presidents.
According to a report from Business Insider, a blog post shared on May 30 suggests the Dave Grohl-fronted rock band performed at ‘Ops Live,’ an event for Amazon’s senior leaders in its global fulfillment network.
Employees were reportedly quick to take to Slack to vent, noting the move has come after a swathe of cost-cutting and morale-draining measures including over 27,000 layoffs since late 2022, and a strict return-to-office mandate.
One worker posted a link to the blog post detailing the party onto an internal Slack board, captioning it “frugality,” one of Amazon’s core leadership principles.
Another observed the party seemed given cuts to budgets for team activities.
“Meanwhile, there’s no budget for a monthly happy hour on our team,” they complained.
“It’s OK. They paid for their own bananas and coffee, another joked.
One worker seemed to suggest Amazon was interested in creating a valuable experience only for its most senior leaders.
“Finally, some striving to be Earth’s best employer (for L8+),” they wrote. Level eight employees are Amazon’s most senior directors and vice presidents.
Another worker made light of the seemingly off-site activity in the wake of the company’s tough return-to-office mandate, under which workers risk losing their job if they do not work from an assigned team “hub.”
“That looks like a fun office to work in! I mean… that is an office… right? Or else why would they all be there," they said.
Amazon did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
The Foo Fighters are reportedly the favorite band of CEO Andy Jassy.
Parties amid cost-cutting and layoffs
Amazon is not the only employer to land itself in hot water with frustrated employees by hosting opulent parties amid cost-cutting measures.
Spotify employees have also blasted the company’s leadership for hosting parties for employees, celebrities, and guests while making job cuts just days later.
Four days after ‘Wrapped,’ an annual party headlined in 2023 by Gunna and Sam Smith celebrating one of the platform’s most popular features, some 1,500 Spotify staffers were laid off, including those who had worked on the event.
CEO Daniel Ek described the layoffs as “a substantial action to rightsize our costs” amid slow economic growth and expensive capital.
A Spotify spokesperson stated that parties are central to the company’s business model and it will continue to put on these events for its employees and fans alike. However, employees were less positive about the parties.
“Whether it's a team party, Grammys party, Christmas party, branded parties, or extra parties that are relatively under the wraps, there's certainly a ton of money being thrown at parties,” one employee observed to Business Insider.
"It was surprising to me that they stated they're on a cost-cutting drive but then continued spending," another said.
