Evaluation Essay about Problems in Amazon

With the announcement of Jeff Bezos’s retirement Amazon could look to change a few options. While Amazon is a trillion-dollar company, there has a been a few downsides. Recently being appointed to the head of Human Resources I believe some issues need to be brought up. Issues that need to be fixed sooner than later. Some of the issue can and will be a real downfall of the company. Some of the issues are bad publicity, overworked workers and finally a look into the need for Human Resources. As the head of Human Resources, I need to be able to persuade the new CEO of Amazon that they will need to make changes. With the recent years as Amazon really took off, more of the public’s eye have been watching us closely. Recently with the bad publicity stating, “that Amazon has cut more than 1,200 delivery jobs during the pandemic.”   With the pandemic still in the view, we as a company would need to make changes to make sure the workers and the public believe in the work of amazon. 

As stated, before bad publicity of one of the things that need to be changed. 2019 ProPublica report found amazon’s contract drivers were involved more than 60 serious crashes since 2015, at least 10 were fatal.  we need to make sure our Amazon delivery service provider drivers or also known as DSP drivers are always alert and careful. While I understand it is outsourced, we as amazon need to something about this. As a trillion-dollar company we have more than enough funds to put some effort into safer ways to get packages to the customer without stressing out the drivers. Since the DSP drivers are carrying cargo for Amazon, we need to ensure a flawless experience. While currently Amazon is using the camera based technology and planning drivers routes that is a great start, but ten hour shifts and urinating in bottles is something that needs to change. I believe somewhere we could start is put a cap on package loads. Do an average of the community loads and plan from there. Just because a driver can deliver 120 packages in a shift does not mean they can consistently perform that every single shift. There are so many different variables that would come into play for that. For example, the community is it New York city or is it somewhere in the Midwest with less traffic. Another issue could be the weather. We wouldn’t want the drivers speeding in the rain or snow. Nobody would want multiple trucks speeding reckless through out their communities. It is not safe for anybody and accidents already happen. If the community views Amazon drivers to be reckless than they would think the company does not care, which should not be the case at any point. We need to ensure the communities that Amazon is all about professionalism and safety.

Another large problem is that using the bathroom while working should not be something the worker should worry about. Allowing a few minutes to be able use the bathroom should not be a problem. The drivers should not be starving nor not drinking fluids their entire shift. There are so many things about this that is wrong. From a moral standpoint and a Human Resources standpoint. It is inhuman to make a person have to use the bathroom in bottles. These kinds of references can be found all over social media.  People will perform better with food and water than without.  I understand that Amazon is about fast packages and such, but from a Human Resource standpoint we need to be able to draw a line. These are just some examples of bad publicity and we as a company need to make changes soon.

The standards for Amazon should be changed. I believe the current standards were put into place without any consideration with the Human resources. Even with the pandemic the standards barely changed. With how big Amazon is as a company, we should strive to be the best company that we can be. The employees trying to form unions should be a big problem for Amazon. The reasons unions are formed are because the workers do not feel the company is doing enough for them. Amazon should try to make the standards to make sure the workers feel comfortable and yet also very professional. Amazon managers openly warned recruits that if they liked things comfortable, this would be a difficult, perhaps impossible, job. For customer service representatives, it was difficult to keep up, according to media accounts and labor organizers. Overtime was mandatory. Supervisors sent emails with subject headings like YOU CAN SLEEP WHEN YOU’RE DEAD.  While this is completely unprofessional, we need to make sure the workers never face this again. While that one email is now in the public’s eye, there can be a lot of more that we do not know about. The workers wouldn’t need to feel like they needed to form a union if we as a company do better. The standards need to be modified. For example, the complaints about workers feeling the stress of getting the packages to the customer as fast as possible. While getting the package to their home quickly is a great thing, we need to ensure without a doubt that safety is number one. Adrienne Williams suggests that an Amazon employee be physically present in each region who is in charge of listening to driver feedback and improving routes. . This a great start point of a suggestion that should be invested into. As I stated before different communities and variables really need to come into play. 

One last thing I believe that would help is more funding into the Human resources departments. I believe that the HR department would have been able to hear the cries and pleas that people had. With the more funding we can hire more professionals to be on site. I believe that certain managers may intimidate workers not to say anything bad about their current position. The HR department should be a place that workers can come to and speak their minds. The HR teams that work at different locations need to make an effort to actively engage the workers and ask questions. Human resources play a vital role in a company. Developing, training and overall culture of Amazon could really change a lot of things. We need to be able to work with everyone to ensure true professionalism and trust. A worker who trusts their company will only put in more effort. Another step that HR would be able to help is just to sometimes walk around the facility. What I mean by this is as stated before some employees may feel intimidated. Yet if the HR rep is walking around and see’s something that could be fixed there would be excuses or lies. The workers might feel more relaxed because they know their managers wouldn’t act bad in front of them. Another idea for the HR team would be randomly selected workers would come in for a short meeting. The meetings should not be told ahead of time just so the managers and rest of the crew do not know. The workers wouldn’t feel pressure from the manager trying to sway them into a direction they do not want to go. In a span of five to ten minutes they could have a sit down and chat about how their current work is going. The employee might have a different insight being somebody in the front lines. The workers are the first people to see and hear all the news around the job. We need to ensure that teamwork and efficiency is working perfectly. While these are just some simple steps, I believe that these are the steps we need to gear into.

Overall, I would try to advise the new CEO that while Jeff Bezos did a good job making the company a giant, yet we still need improvements. I believe setting times for a meeting about the company is needed.  We need a new strategy for drivers, New and modified standards, lastly more Human resources. We as a company need to ensure that the workers will go home happy and satisfied. We don’t want the workers to go home and complain about how horrible their jobs are. Throughout the pandemic, Amazon warehouse workers have protested what they consider unsafe conditions, sometimes resulting in embarrassment for the company, as with the disclosure of notes from an internal meeting in which an Amazon executive called a worker-turned-protester “not smart, or articulate.”  Statements like these should never be heard again from another Amazon worker. We need to change the mindset and culture of Amazon. It needs to change with the every grown popularity of this company.