He's offering people to report cases as described in the NYT article directly to him, that's a good thing - unless of course he's just saying that for the media.

What would be a better way to respond as a CEO? What would you have done?

First thing they should recognize they have an issue. When this many people are complaining there is an issue

Second they could have offered an increase in benefits like paternity leave to show they want to improve things.

He did neither of those

Ending stack ranking would be a good start at reducing the toxic environment at least.

Enforce max hours per week / max on call time / minimum mandatory vacation of 4 to 6 weeks / 1 year maternity and paternity leave...

Stuff that's actually, you know, real.

Dig in and figure it out, rather than wait for people to tattle to HR who definitely are not advocating for you.

Something "while I don't recognize this as a description of the company I have built, if it is even partly true it is horrifying and wrong. I have hired an independent firm to come in and blah blah...".

I think saying 'my door is open' is both nice and important, but it is a pretty limp response if that is the beginning and end of what you are doing. All you have to do is read Glassdoor, or talk to people, to know the reputation of Amazon.

> He's offering people to report cases as described in the NYT article directly to him, that's a good thing

Where I work I actually had reason to e-mail the CEO once ( it was for a C-level presentation ).

A few minutes later his PA rang me to ensure that I actually meant to e-mail him. I confirmed it and she sent the invitation on to his actual internal address.

I would assume that Amazon utilises a similar screening system.