Inside Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's Employee Performance Reviews

Amazon's approach to performance management is evolving as Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy implements new workforce strategies that could reshape how the tech giant measures employee contribution and engagement.

From maintaining a startup mentality to restructuring the organisation through significant workforce reductions, Andy's leadership style is creating ripples across Amazon's human capital management practices.

At the start of 2026, Andy posed a straightforward question to Amazon's corporate workforce: what did you do last year? Business Insider reported, citing internal documents and people familiar with the matter, that the company is requiring employees to document three to five accomplishments that demonstrate their most significant achievements from 2025.

The internal guideline stated: "Accomplishments are specific projects, goals, initiatives or process improvements that show the impact of your work. Consider situations where you took risks or innovated, even if it didn't lead to the results you hoped for."

This forms part of the annual performance review process, known internally as Forte.

Performance management framework evolution

Staff members are being asked to provide "specific examples" of their deliverables throughout 2025, alongside outlining future development actions. This mechanism allows Amazon to assess how employees could continue their growth trajectory within the organisation.

Business Insider reported this marks the first time Amazon has leveraged Forte to capture individual accomplishments in this format. The company employs approximately 350,000 corporate staff from a total workforce exceeding 1.5 million, with the majority of corporate employees required to complete this annual assessment.

What Amazon characterises as a 360-degree performance review system previously featured broader questions about "super powers" and areas of interest. The process influences employee remuneration, with managers evaluating feedback, adherence to Amazon's Leadership Principles and competencies to assign an "Overall Value" rating. This rating determines annual compensation.

Workplace attendance mandates

Andy has been implementing initiatives designed to strengthen employee engagement with the company and performance outcomes, including the enforcement of a complete return-to-office mandate.

In late 2024, he issued a memo to employees at the ecommerce company instructing them to operate like a startup. It said Amazon would "end its previous hybrid work policy" and require corporate staff to return to office full-time.

The initiative aimed to "increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers, improve innovation and deepen collaboration" by flattening the organisation and "empowering faster decision making".

He explained that to function like a startup requires "a mix of constant innovation, high ownership, strong urgency and shared commitment".

Leadership accountability and reflection

Whilst Andy is increasingly outspoken about employee conduct expectations, the CEO has also discussed how he reflects on his own leadership journey.

Speaking to employees in December 2025, he said he hasn't regretted a lot of decisions he's made, but that the regrets he does have are all based around things he didn't see through.

"I feel like you make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time, and you don't have perfect information," he said. "But the ones I've looked back on and felt a little bit of remorse about have been the decisions where I left something where I felt like I didn't see it through."

Andy added that the prospect of regret does not mean you could stay in everything you do, saying: "If you can hang in there, if you can just stay in your boat, you may find that you build something remarkable with a group of people."

This philosophy aligns with recent developments in Forte, encouraging employees to view innovation and commitment as achievements, even when outcomes differ from initial objectives.

For HR professionals, Amazon's evolving performance framework could signal a broader industry shift towards valuing persistence and calculated risk-taking alongside traditional deliverables.