Amazon's productivity monitoring system is reportedly making employees feel like robots
Amazon employees are treated like "robots" due to an automated tracking and termination process used at fulfillment centers, reports The Verge.
The system tracks the rate of individual workers' productivity, writes The Verge, and it "automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity without input from supervisors."
More than 300 employees were reportedly fired from a single facility from 2017 to 2018 after failing to meet productivity quotas.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, told The Verge that employees feel as if they are "treated like robots." The system tracks when employees take time off from scanning packages and will automatically flag employees with warnings. Some employees forgo going to the bathroom when fulfillment demands are high.
Read more about the system at The Verge.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.
-
Sudoku hard: November 13, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Codeword: November 13, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Who were the ‘weekend snipers’ of Sarajevo?Under the Radar Italian authorities launch investigation into allegations far-right gun enthusiasts paid to travel to Bosnian capital and shoot civilians ‘for fun’ during the four-year siege
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
