Amazon asking its employees why people say it has a brutal work environment

In the wake of a scathing report about its grueling work atmosphere, Amazon is stepping up a program to find out how happy, or disgruntled, its employees are.

According to a Bloomberg report on Friday, Amazon is expanding the use of Amazon Connections, an internal Q&A tool that collects employee feedback over their job satisfaction, leadership, and training opportunities.

The system first rolled out last year among Amazon's blue-collar workers, but it's now made available in other departments as well, including its corporate workers, the report said.

It also said people in Amazon's Seattle and Prague offices regularly monitor the feedback, which aren't always anonymous, and when needed, have the employees come in and further elaborate on their claims.

The wider use of the internal feedback system comes just two months after the release of a scathing NY Times report that portrayed Amazon as a brutal workplace rampant with internal politics and fierce competition. For example, it describes some employees learning how to "diplomatically throw people under the bus," while another said there's an internal platform called "Anytime Feedback Tool" which lets employees secretly praise or critique others.

In response to the NY Times report, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sent a company-wide memo, where he writes, "I strongly believe that anyone working in a company that really is like the one described in the NYT would be crazy to stay. I know I would leave such a company."

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through hispersonal investment company Bezos Expeditions.