Amazon Overhauls Reviews to Cut Team-Based Padding

Amazon has officially overhauled its performance management system, moving toward a more rigorous, data-driven framework that prioritizes individual output over team-based metrics.

The shift, internal documents suggest, aims to “sharpen” the company’s high-performance culture as it navigates a hyper-competitive AI landscape and a mandatory five-day return-to-office (RTO) policy.

This evolution of the “Forte” review system represents a departure from the more holistic evaluations of the pandemic era.

By tightening the criteria for “top tier” rankings and increasing the frequency of check-ins, Amazon is signaling a return to its “Day 1” roots—a philosophy that emphasizes speed, ownership, and measurable results.

The “Individual Contributor” Pivot

For years, Amazon utilized a review process that balanced technical delivery with “Leadership Principles.”

However, for the 2026 review cycle, the company has introduced a new “Individual Impact Score.”

Amazon designed this metric to isolate an individual employee’s contributions from their team’s overall success.

This ensures that underperforming units do not mask high performers, and high performers do not hide team failures.

• Granular Data Tracking: Amazon is leveraging its own internal productivity tools to track code commits, ticket resolution speeds, and project delivery timelines with higher precision.
• Reduction in “Soft” Metrics: While Leadership Principles remain core to the brand, managers are being instructed to weight “Hard Outcomes”—specifically those tied to revenue growth or cost savings—at 70% of the total score.
• Frequent Feedback Loops: Instead of a single annual deep dive, Amazon is mandating quarterly “Calibration Cycles” to ensure that performance issues are identified and addressed in real-time.

Amazon Linking Performance to the 5-Day RTO Mandate

The sharpening of performance reviews coincides with Amazon’s controversial 100% Return-to-Office mandate.

Internal guidelines indicate that “Physical Presence and Collaboration” are now formal sub-categories within the performance review framework.

Managers have been informed that remote employees without approved exceptions will struggle to achieve “Top Tier” performance ratings.

This restriction applies even if their technical output meets the highest standards.

The company argues that individual results are intrinsically linked to the “spontaneous innovation” that occurs in a physical office environment.

The “Pivot” and “Focus” Programs

The most significant change in the 2026 policy is the streamlined transition into performance improvement plans (PIPs).

Amazon is reportedly shortening the duration of its “Focus” and “Pivot” programs.

These represent the stages an employee enters when their individual results fall below the required bar.

1. Focus: A pre-PIP stage that now lasts only four weeks (down from six to eight).
2. Pivot: The formal improvement plan which now requires more aggressive, weekly milestones.
3. The “Check-Out” Option: Amazon continues to offer a “buyout” for those who choose not to enter the Pivot process, but the severance packages have been adjusted to reflect the new performance-heavy weighting.

Amazon Addressing “Stack Ranking” Concerns

Critics and labor advocates argue that this sharpened focus on individual results is a veiled return to “stack ranking.”

This controversial practice requires managers to rank a fixed percentage of employees at the bottom of the scale.

Amazon officially denies using a fixed curve for performance evaluations.

However, the new “Calibration Cycles” require managers to justify any team that lacks a diverse spread of performance ratings.

Industry analysts suggest this move is a defensive strategy.

Amazon is spending billions on AI infrastructure, creating pressure from shareholders to maximize efficiency.

Consequently, the company must ensure its massive corporate workforce of over 350,000 operates at peak performance.

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