Yes it’s amazing our packages arrive in time. But have you worked at a facility or know people who have?
TLDR: Amazon needs so many workers they hire anyone who can breath, who then end up standing around in the warehouses doing nothing. A union contract will also define requirements of worker achievements also. Good employees will be compensated properly and stay. Bad ones will leave. If Amazon facilities run like UPS the company wins also.
Story below was during covid. So maybe that negatively skewed the hiring process.
In New Jersey we have many large facilities popping up. They need a lot of workers. It’s not an exaggeration that if you can fill out your name and address on a computer you’re getting hired in NJ..
They just keep throwing every warm body into the building.
So you end up with a lot of not great workers. Sure there are rules about no phones and quotas, but many seem to find ways around it. Stashing phones in shelves and then using them for hours.
Management can be weak so they avoid the grumpy workers and don’t want to fire because apparently it looks good on reports to have positions filled. So the bad ones get ignored and they lean harder on the good people.
My family member who worked at a large facility for 6 mos over a covid holiday shopping season busted her ass as others did nothing and were not reprimanded.
Her leads recognized her hard work and would constantly move her around to all the problem areas. “Susie, wall 6 is a mess can you go clear that out?” It was a mess because those assigned to it were just standing around.
So more so from pride she stuck it out for 6 mos. No other recognition for working hard. No extra pay.
She tried to stay with part time hours. Waited 2 weeks for an HR reply to say she couldn’t change to part time. She Tried talking to her lead about the inequities and other things. Didn’t care. In desperation she just didn’t come back.
No one called.
Now she is at a small family owned distribution company. Has had 3 raises in 6 mos.
The irony is this non-working workers at Amazon are probably still there while the good ones left.
I’ve heard similar from others just this story above was closer to home.
So with defined worker requirements and goals, good people will stay and be compensated properly. The bad workers should get booted. And while it may cost Amazon more overall their facilities will operate much more efficiently ,
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