I recently moved to a new team at Amazon and visited a few fulfilment centers as part of onboarding. I visited some fulfilment centers for Amazon fresh in and around Seattle. I noticed how poor the working conditions were. 1. 2 electrical outlets in the common rooms (folks are supposed to raise SIMs and email all the time) 2. 4 - 6 chairs for a team of > 100 people 3. Non functional water dispenser 4. Non functional coffee maker 5. Paid snacks 6. 1 functional bathroom per gender For 5, don't call me entitled! I'm referring to the hourly associates who work their butt off around the FC for long hours. We dispose or donate around $5000 worth of product every week from the FC. Couldn't we simply provide free snacks or provide everyone a small snack allowance that they could use to buy something? For 6, this is brutal! Amazon allows 15 min of break only, and imagine having to wait for the bathroom as well as the common room (still observing social distancing). Is there a portal I can raise my concerns to? In all honesty, I felt ashamed of our facility and think we can do better. TC: 150k, YOE: 3 #amazon #frupidity
No one create sims from break rooms, it’s done from actual work stations that have laptops. Every FC I’ve been to has hundreds of chairs and tons of tables. Enough for an entire shift to take a break. And I’ve visited over 50. How many water coffee dispensers did you see that were broken? Did you walk around to see all of them. Again not a common thing in FCs. The conditions being reported in the news is about work expectations, wanting associates to work hard, maybe too hard. Not about break room conditions because in general that is not a problem.
I don't know if you've been to a UFF/Fresh FC. They are smaller than .com warehouses. And no, the ones I visited do not have hundreds of chairs.
Forgot to mention the pee bottles?
Think of this like corruption in countries like India. - Can one fight the system, no. - Can individuals push back and stand for themselves, no for majority (I am one of them, for my own convenience and speed I bribe and move on) - The few that fight back gain very little or nothing in return - Can you accept things as they are? Yes - most logical thing to do - Can folks unite and say no to injustice - YES. In this case, system can and will gladly replace you in seconds and there will be thousands who’d be willing to take that pay and work in such conditions. Bottom Line - As much as cliche that says, change starts with you - nothing will change.
Hmmm...was this all a surprise for you even though it's been talked about in the news for years? If these media outlets couldn't fix it what makes you think reporting it yourself will be any better?
I am on my way out. Might as well loop the VP in!