Amazon Makes Culture Core to Performance Reviews in Latest Workforce Shift
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Amazon is tightening the reins on employee performance reviews with a newly structured evaluation process that puts company culture front and center. For the first time, its 16 leadership principles — like customer obsession and frugality — are officially embedded into how corporate employees are assessed, playing a key role in determining raises and performance improvement plans.
The new system introduces a three-tiered grading scale specifically for measuring alignment with Amazon's leadership values, with only the top 5% of employees qualifying for the elite “role model” rating. This cultural score now sits alongside simplified measures for performance and potential, combining to form an overall value rating for each employee.
This shift is the latest move by CEO Andy Jassy to build a more disciplined and performance-driven workforce. Over the past year, he’s rolled out return-to-office mandates, flattened management structures, and hinted at AI's potential to shrink headcount. With culture now baked into evaluations, Amazon’s message is clear: thriving at the company means embodying its principles — not just hitting your metrics.
