Amazon is giving its corporate employee- evaluation system a makeover. It will now have its well-known Leadership Principles at the centre of performance reviews. This change, now effective with the latest mid-year review cycle, will determine salary increments, career advancement, and performance-improvement plans.
Under the revised framework, Amazon employees will be assessed on three key criteria: adherence to the company’s Leadership Principles, job performance and potential. These three elements will generate an Overall Value (OV) score that managers will use to guide compensation and promotion decisions.
This is the first time Amazon has formally embedded its Leadership Principles—long considered the backbone of its corporate culture—into its rating process. The update is part of an effort led by CEO Andy Jassy to instil more discipline and accountability across the company. Over the past one year, Amazon has already mandated a return to office, streamlined management structures, and adjusted compensation models to prioritise high performers.
Internal guidelines show that only a small fraction of employees—around five per cent—are expected to achieve the top score in Leadership Principles behaviour. Meanwhile, Amazon continues to maintain its stack-ranking model, requiring managers to classify employees into fixed performance tiers. In larger teams, 20 per cent must be rated as top performers, while five per cent are labelled as the least effective, regardless of absolute performance.
This quota-driven system has faced criticism from some employees who argue it fosters a competitive and opaque work culture. As per Amazon’s revised evaluation process, greater consistency will be ensured along with better identification of those who align with the company’s values.
Many tech firms are tightening performance metrics in response to evolving business priorities and economic conditions.
