Amazon Tracks Warehouse Workers’ Every Move Because Jeff Bezos Thinks People Are Inherently Lazy, Report Says
He pointed to a short-term employment model and performance trackers to keep workers on their toes.
This story originally appeared on
Many of were designed to prevent workers from becoming lazy, a former vice president .
David Niekerk, who helped design , told the publication that founder Jeff Bezos’ belief that people are inherently lazy helped shape the company’s policies.
Bezos believed that workers’ desire to perform well decreased over time and that an entrenched workforce was a “march to mediocrity,” Niekerk told The Times.
Related: Jeff Bezos Says He’s Flying Into Space With His Brother on July 20
“What he would say is that our nature as humans is to expend as little energy as possible to get what we want or need,” Niekerk told The Times.
He pointed to a short-term employment model that doesn’t provide employees many opportunities for advancement and to the way Amazon used technology to keep workers on task. Amazon doesn’t guarantee wage increases after a worker’s first three years, the report said, as a way to or turn “disgruntled.”
The practices that Niekerk described are some of — like and continually keeping workers on task with limited break time and high productivity goals.
The practices have left many workers feeling as if Amazon treats them more like machines than people, The Times reported.
Related: Amazon Tests Robots to Improve Worker Safety
“We are human beings,” an employee wrote on a warehouse’s internal feedback board last year, according to The Times. “We are not tools used to reach their daily / weekly goals and rates. “
Amazon’s culture and high expectations for employees have also . Earlier this month, of data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration suggesting that Amazon warehouse workers were nearly twice as likely to be seriously injured as workers at companies like Walmart.
In April, Bezos said that the company was and that it would invest over $300 million in 2021 to make warehouses safer. He added that the company needed “a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success. “
Amazon representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Related: Amazon Prime Day: dates and offers
Many of were designed to prevent workers from becoming lazy, a former vice president .
David Niekerk, who helped design , told the publication that founder Jeff Bezos’ belief that people are inherently lazy helped shape the company’s policies.
Bezos believed that workers’ desire to perform well decreased over time and that an entrenched workforce was a “march to mediocrity,” Niekerk told The Times.
