Amazon Issued Thousands Of Disciplinary Notices For Seemingly Small Infractions, Documents Show

Breaking Innovation Amazon Issued Thousands Of Disciplinary Notices For Seemingly Small Infractions, Documents Show Phoebe Liu Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I write about innovation and technology. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jul 12, 2022, 11:09am EDT | Updated Jul 12, 2022, 11:15am EDT Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Topline Internal documents from Amazon show the company meticulously tracks worker performance and reprimanded them for even minor errors, Reuters reported on Tuesday, amid a wave of layoffs, high worker turnover at Amazon and the start of this year’s Amazon Prime Day. Men work at a distribution station in the 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center in Staten . .

. [+] Island on February 5, 2019. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images Key Facts Amazon disclosed the documents in response to a complaint by the National Labor Relations Board regarding the dismissal of employee Gerald Bryson in April 2020.

As part of that disclosure, Amazon released 600 disciplinary notices spanning 2015 to 2021 that included falling 6% short of a company’s productivity goal and “being off task for six minutes. ” Some workers told Reuters the immense pressure to perform with both speed and accuracy contributed to unionization efforts, such as the vote to unionize at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse in April. Big Number 13,000.

That’s how many disciplinary notices Amazon issued just in its Staten Island warehouse from April 2019 to April 2020, which had approximately 5,300 employees at the time. A lawyer referenced this number in court papers, Reuters reported. In the same papers, the company also released statistics for three warehouses in the Northeast, which reported 15,000, 4,800 and 5,000 such notices in that same time frame.

Contra Amazon stated its goals are “fair and based on what the majority of the team is actually accomplishing. ” The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Key Background Amazon is known for its focus on customer obsession, though critics argue it can be at the expense of employee well-being.

Over the years, its promises of same-day or two-day delivery and, as the world’s largest retailer, immense scale has led some to criticize the company’s cutthroat emphasis on worker productivity. In addition to the intense monitoring and discipline workers face, they’re at risk for on-the-job injury and sometimes need to fight to get benefits after being hurt at work, they claim. Additionally, a memo that leaked earlier this summer indicated that Amazon could run out of people to hire in its United States warehouses by 2024 due to its high turnover rates, Vox reported.

Tangent The Amazon documents come amid layoffs and fears of a looming recession. Monday, a leaked memo from fellow tech giant Facebook stated that managers should weed out “low performers. ” The post, which was reviewed by The Information , stated that “if a direct report is coasting or a low performer, they are not who we need; they are failing this company.

” What We Don’t Know How Amazon’s employee policies have changed since 2021, the latest of these disclosed notices. Further Reading Amazon issued 13,000 disciplinary notices at single US warehouse ( Reuters ) Amazon Wants Do Over Of Union Vote After Accusing NLRB Of Bungling Election ( Forbes ) Amazon Workers In Staten Island Vote To Unionize In Blow To Retail Giant ( Forbes ) As Prime Day Nears, Injured Amazon Warehouse Workers Still Get the Runaround ( CNET ) Leaked Amazon memo warns the company is running out of people to hire ( Vox ) Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn . Phoebe Liu Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.