When you are running a far-flung global enterprise, employing over one million people, it’s understandable that issues will arise. When you start to see a continual pattern, it’s time to consider if the mistakes are purposely overlooked or if there is something else happening. A New York Times investigative report delved into allegations that Amazon has been systematically shortchanging workers on their paychecks.
Sometimes, you only need one small voice to evoke change. Tara Jones is a mom with a baby. The Oklahoma Amazon warehouse worker wrote a heartfelt note to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon at the time, stating that she was being underpaid. Her check was $90 short of what she was supposed to receive for her month’s work. She wrote to the world’s richest man, “I’m behind on bills, all because the pay team messed up.” Jones emotionally pleaded, “I’m crying as I write this email.”
In the investigative piece, inspired in part by Jones, the New York Times alleged, “For at least a year and a half—including during periods of record profit—Amazon had been shortchanging new parents, patients dealing with medical crises and other vulnerable workers on leave, according to a confidential report on the findings.”
The inquiry suggests, “Some of the pay calculations at her facility had been wrong since it opened its doors over a year before. As many as 179 of the company’s other warehouses had potentially been affected, too.”
The inquiry suggests, “Some of the pay calculations at her facility had been wrong since it opened its doors over a year before. As many as 179 of the company’s other warehouses had potentially been affected, too.”
This isn’t the first time workers complained about how Amazon has mistreated them. A prior New York Times investigative piece reported on the difficult working conditions Amazon employees had to endure at a fulfillment warehouse in Staten Island, New York, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The piece contended that Bezos “discovered what he thought was another inefficiency worth eliminating: hourly employees who spent years working for the same company.” Sources claim that Bezos held a theory that workers expect raises, but at the same time, they become complacent over time, and don’t work as hard. Consequently, wages increase, while productivity declines.
The solution was to replace workers before their productivity further deteriorated and pay increased. It’s more efficient to hire fresh, new people. Amazon then basically encouraged workers to leave. The constant churning of workers helped keep efficiency high and wages fairly low. The prevailing wisdom was, “After three years on the job, hourly workers no longer received automatic raises, and the company offered bonuses to people who quit. It also offered limited upward mobility for hourly workers, preferring to hire managers from the outside.”
“Turnover at Amazon is much higher than at many other companies—with an annual rate of roughly 150% for warehouse workers,” according to the New York Times. There have been many complaints from employees at Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Workers alleged that they are given back-breaking tasks in the warehouses. They also vent their dismay over intrusive surveillance technologies, including automated tracking systems and cameras that monitor their every move. There is a palpable fear that if workers don’t meet specified quotas, they’ll be fired. This has led to workers calling for a union. A union drive in Alabama was attempted, but was thwarted and didn’t succeed.
In an effort to help the mental health and well-being of warehouse and fulfillment centers, the retailer launched “WorkingWell,” a comprehensive program providing employees with wellness exercises. The program was part of an initiative by the giant online-shopping empire to invest over $300 million into safety projects in 2021 for its workers.
Part of the wellness program includes AmaZen. It “guides employees through mindfulness practices” inside of interactive kiosks stationed at the worksites. Employees are encouraged to “visit AmaZen stations and watch short videos featuring easy-to-follow well-being activities, including guided meditations, positive affirmations, calming scenes with sounds and more.”
The rollout didn’t get the glowing reviews the company had hoped for. The online vitriol was brutal. It felt that the program brought out all of the pent-up anger simmering against the online behemoth.
This includes its treatment of employees and resentment of outgoing CEO, Bezos, who profited handsomely during the pandemic, reaping billions more to his already-staggering net worth, while millions of workers across the country suffered layoffs and a rapid decline in their financial and living standards.
Vice savagely reported, “In one of its most dystopian moves yet, Amazon is introducing tiny booths where its overworked warehouse employees can momentarily escape a job so grueling, many employees say they don’t feel like they have enough time to even use the bathroom.” The piece pointed out, “What this looks like in reality is a coffin-sized booth in the middle of an Amazon warehouse where workers can use a computer to view ‘mental health and mindful practices.’”
An Amazon human resources professional, tasked with fixing the company’s leave system, Bethany Reyes, told the New York Times that the online retailing giant was trying to rebalance its mantra of “optimizing” for the customer. Plain speaking, this translates into: with the focus on getting products to customers as quickly as possible, we may have neglected to pay attention to the needs of our own workers.
Source: Forbes
