Amazon uses software to manage in a way that’s unlike almost any other company, reports The Wall Street Journal (Feb.6-7, 2021). Whether they’re driving a delivery van or picking items from shelves, Amazon’s employees are monitored, evaluated, rewarded and even flagged for reprimand or coaching by software.
Executives at the company are emphatic about their desire to preserve the health of employees, and give them opportunities to grow and develop, but the way Amazon manages both employees and seller-partners with algorithms is often at odds with those values.
Throughout the supply chain of Amazon’s e-commerce operation, humans are onboarded rapidly into jobs that require almost no training. This is possible because of how directed and constrained by algorithms and automation these roles have become. In some fulfillment centers, employees who pick items for orders from robot shelves are surveilled by AI-enabled cameras. A cloud-connected scanning gun monitors the rate at which they pick items, the number and duration of their breaks and whether they’re grabbing the right items and putting them in the right places. Managers step in only if software reports a problem, such as a worker falling behind.
Amazon objected to the characterization that anyone in its facilities is “managed by algorithm,” because all associates have a human manager who is responsible for them and who coaches them. “Our front-line workers are the heart and soul of Amazon,” said an exec. “Only a small percentage of associates are fired or leave the company because of performance issues.”
Whether all this AI, software and automation will be used to ease the burden of its employees, or to force them to work harder to keep up, is a choice all companies face in the age of digitization, and none more so than Amazon.
Classroom discussion questions:
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an Amazon warehouse worker?
- How does Amazon’s approach differ from the four labor standards methods discussed in Chapter 10 of your Heizer/Render/Munson text? (See pages 420-429)