Amazon CEO’s ‘bureaucracy mailbox’ for employees is a smart idea that more companies need

Amazon is asking workers to report wasteful bureaucracy.

Sometimes, it takes a bit of bureaucracy to trim the bureaucracy.

That’s the hope, at least, of Amazon’s new “bureaucracy mailbox” where workers can flag what CEO Andy Jassy described as “unnecessary and excessive process or rules.”

It’s like a suggestion box but with a narrower focus. And it’s something more companies — especially big ones — might consider doing.

Carly Holm, the founder and CEO of Humani HR, a consulting firm, told B-17 that it’s important to have ways for employees to share specific feedback.

“Whether it’s through surveys or suggestion boxes or employee engagement, it’s good to get a pulse check of your employees. And I think that’s what he’s doing,” she said of Jassy.

Jassy announced the mailbox and several other measures on Monday — including having fewer managers and cutting back on meetings. Most notable was a return to the office five days a week starting next year for the retail giant’s corporate workers.

In the statement, Jassy pointed out that not all procedures are bad, writing, “To be clear, companies need process to run effectively, and process does not equal bureaucracy.”

He added that those things that aren’t needed should be “called out and extinguished.”

“I will read these emails and action them accordingly,” Jassy wrote.

Holm said that it’s likely the name “bureaucracy mailbox” is intended to help keep the scope of what flows there focused on inefficiencies within the sprawling organization. Otherwise, there’s a risk it could become a catch-all for employee gripes or suggestions that might not pertain to making the organization run more smoothly.

“He’s trying to just get that specific feedback about manager layers,” she said, adding that it will be interesting to see what kind of responses emerge.

Holm said it can be daunting to manage such a large organization and that focusing on inefficiencies can help detect patterns and problem spots.

“Everyone’s talking about department ABC. ‘OK, maybe we should really look at department ABC because that one seems inefficient,'” she said.