Amazon's Employee Complaints Might Not Have Anything To Do With Silicon Valley

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was criticized this week after The New York Times reported that the retailer's work environment is less than desirable. Wall Street didn't seem to care, however, and some wonder if the story has been blown out of proportion.

"The truth of the matter is, it is an incredibly stressful environment," Ron Weiner, president and CEO of RDM Financial Group, told Benzinga. "Most places are. I think a lot of this came out of the fulfillment centers, which are not Silicon Valley. In the middle of Nevada you don't have the same culture of striving. I could see where people would be unhappy with their need to push harder and faster."

Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said that he thinks the truth lies "somewhere in between the hellish experience and the work experience outlined with [Jeff] Bezos' email."

Moorhead believes the memo is "just the way companies do these things" in order to respond without going on the record.

"They don't want it to take on a life of its own," he said.

Related Link: Amazon's 'Top Gear'-Inspired Show Could Be One Big Ad For Retail Products

Trophies For Winners And Losers

Weiner said the complaints remind him of participation trophies.

"In America today, people get trophies just for being on a team," he said."Twenty years ago, 30 years ago, you didn't win, you didn't get a trophy."

And not all work is intended to be fun.

"I think in certain times, if you gotta feed your family and you want to succeed, then you gotta suck it up," Weiner added. "If you're not willing to, then fine, go find another job, this isn't the place for you. I'm not defending Bezos, I can't verify any of the stories. I don't know how many people Amazon actually employs, but there doesn't seem to be a mass exodus."

If there is any truth to the report, Moorhead said it could end up backfiring for Amazon.

"If the [negative] environment exists, people aren't staying for the environment, they're staying for the money," said Moorhead. He added that if the money goes away, employees will be much less likely to stay.

"You don't build a company like Amazon without pushing people to achieve more than they ever achieved in their lives," Weiner added. "The truth is, when you come out the other side and you look back…at least I can speak for my business. I'm really proud of the suffering part, but you couldn't convince me of that when I was going through it."

Disclosure: At the time of this writing, Louis Bedigian had no position in the equities mentioned in this report.