Working hours and times have always been a huge problem in different industries. In fact, it is a controversial topic which many people have different opinions about all the time. The thing is, everyone has something to say about how they like to work. To some, they prefer to work remotely and at their preferred time. To others, they love to combine the feeling of working from home and working from the office.
Nevertheless, organizations often tend to make the ultimate decision regarding how their employees work for them. Some organizations want their employees to work remotely and on their own time. Others want theirs to be full-time employees at the offices. Sometimes, the scenario seems worse in the tech industry, as there are reports of employers always wanting their employees to work on unconventional periods. Even during weekends, many employees within the tech spaces are expected to work anytime work comes up. There's little room to enjoy the weekend with family and loved ones without worrying about work.
In the middle of all these, former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky seems to agree with the fact that working overtime is perfectly normal in the tech industry. Apparently, Sinofsky appears to have made these statements after the controversial debate on whether Amazon's work culture is or isn't a white-collar sweatshop.
Steven Sinofsky made a comparison of Microsoft's work culture during his argument, saying that what Amazon employees are experiencing is something that has become a norm in the tech sector. According to Steven Sinofsky, these working conditions can "represent either success or failure." It all depends on whether the company is doing well or not. Nevertheless, Steven Sinofsky believes the issue of a stringent working environment is a controversy that dates back to the early years of the tech sector.
Steven Sinofsky served as one of the executives of Microsoft before quitting sometime in 2012. But before then, he had spent a considerable number of years, which ran into decades working for the tech giant. In fact, he was one of the early employees of Microsoft before rising to the position of one of their executives. So, he surely has a good knowledge of how the tech sector works before making statements about this issue. Although he currently serves as part of the board of many VCs, he teaches at Harvard and is also the advisor of many startups.
Steven Sinofsky's Argument About Working Overtime in the Tech Industry
Steven Sinofsky made a critical case about the issue of employees working for an extended period of time in many tech companies. Sinofsky made these statements in response to a New York Times article on Sunday, which described the state of Amazon's working environment as a "bruising workplace."
Lately, there Amazon offices have appeared hostile, with employees planning staged walkouts to protest numerous policies enacted by the commercial giant.
On Twitter (now X), Steven Sinofsky said every successful tech company out there had the same working culture with their employees. "@dinabass both of those my points. Anecdotes. And same story for every successful company GE, Disney, Apple and more," he said on Twitter. However, it appears the controversial statement has been deleted from the platform after it went viral on news and media outlets.
According to Steven Sinofsky, there's nothing unique about how Amazon makes their employees work. Even Microsoft's work culture when he was still one of their executives looked the same. Steven Sinofsky made his argument using a Seattle Times story that was written in 1989 about the working environment of Microsoft.