CLHR/056

IBS Center for Management Research

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Can Amazon Overcome Workplace Stress through Up-Skilling
at Its Fulfillment Centers?
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This case was written by Jitesh Nair and Balaswamy Pasala, IBS Hyderabad. It was compiled from published sources, and is
intended to be used as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management
situation.
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 2020, IBS Center for Management Research. All rights reserved.

To order copies, call +91 9640901313 or write to IBS Center for Management Research (ICMR), IFHE Campus, Donthanapally,
Sankarapally Road, Hyderabad 501 203, Telangana, India or email: casehelpdesk@ibsindia.org
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 CLHR/056

Can Amazon Overcome Workplace Stress through

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Up-Skilling at Its Fulfillment Centers?
“Pressure, Pain, and Productivity at Amazon is an eye-opening report

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documenting the pain suffered by the Amazon fulfillment center workers who are
forced to work at dangerous speeds to ensure the packages Americans order
arrive quickly”1
– Dr. David Michaels, Former head of the US Occupational Safety and
Health Administration, in 2019

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“Amazon has a well-documented history of mistreating and dehumanizing its
workers in the U.S. and around the world”2

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– Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union (RWDSU), in 2019
“The future of work is now and the challenge is not just adapting to new
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technologies, but adapting to the dynamism of the economy, which will only
accelerate. Amazon is demonstrating the new role employers must play to counter
that challenge, fostering a new relationship with workers where maintaining and
growing their skills is an imperative for business success.”3
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– Jason Tyszko, Vice President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Foundation, in 2019
With more than 640,000 employees worldwide, Amazon4 had been included in LinkedIn’s Top
Companies list for four years in a row – 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015; ranked #2 in the Fortune
2017 and 2018 World’s Most Admired Companies, and ranked #5 in Fast Company's 2018
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World’s Most Innovative Companies. The company had also received a perfect score of 100 points
from the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index5. Amazon reported total net sales of
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$70 billion in the third quarter of 2019.

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1
New NYCOSH Report “Time Off Task” Emphasizes Unhealthy Workplace Practices At Amazon’s Staten
Island Distribution Center”, https://nycosh.org/2019/10/new-nycosh-report-time-off-task-emphasizes-
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unhealthy-workplace-practices-at-amazons-staten-island-distribution-center/, October 17, 2019.

2
Ibid.
3
“Amazon Pledges to Upskill 100,000 U.S. Employees for In-Demand Jobs by 2025”, https://press.
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aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-pledges-upskill-100000-us-employees-
demand-jobs-2025, July 11, 2019.
4
Amazon.com, Inc., is an American multinational technology company based in Seattle that focuses on e-
commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence.
5
Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the largest and most visible LGBTQ rights organization in the US. It
scores companies on their corporate nondiscrimination policies for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender,
and Queer (LGBTQ) employees.

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 Can Amazon Overcome Workplace Stress through Up-Skilling at Its …l

In July 2019, Amazon announced that it planned to up-skill 100,000 employees in the US for In-
Demand Jobs by 2025 across its corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retail stores, and
transportation network in the US with access to training programs that would help them move into
more highly skilled roles within or outside of Amazon. The company announced US$700 million
for the Upskilling 2025 programs. 6

UPSKILLING PROGRAMS

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Amazon had a number of employee training programs including re-training opportunities,
apprenticeships, career skills training, leader orientation, software developer training for women,
Pathways Operations Leadership Development program to develop high-potential graduates, a re-
launch program for women who had previously left the workforce to care for their families,

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veteran apprenticeships, a military leader program, a military pathways program focused on high-
potential leaders, fellowships, and mentorships.
As part of Upskilling 2025, Amazon planned to build on the success of its current programs and
create new training opportunities for employees across the US. Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President,
HR, said, “Through our continued investment in local communities in more than 40 states across

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the country, we have created tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S. in the past year alone. For us,
creating these opportunities is just the beginning. While many of our employees want to build their
careers here, for others it might be a stepping stone to different aspirations. We think it’s

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important to invest in our employees, and to help them gain new skills and create more
professional options for themselves. With this pledge, we’re committing to support 100,000
Amazonians in getting the skills to make the next step in their careers.”7
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The up-skilling programs were built based on a review of the company’s jobs and an analysis of
hiring data. Amazon’s fastest growing highly skilled jobs since 2014 were Data mapping specialist
with 832% growth, Data scientist with 505%, Solutions architect with 454%, Security engineer
with 229%, and Business analyst with 160%. Within customer fulfillment, highly skilled roles had
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increased over 400%, including jobs like logistics coordinator, process improvement manager, and
transportation specialist within its customer fulfillment network. Through its Upskilling 2025
pledge, Amazon focused on creating pathways to careers in areas including healthcare, machine
learning, manufacturing, robotics, computer science, cloud computing, and more.
Amazon Technical Academy
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It offered a tuition-free training and job placement program for non-technical employees. The
program was created by Amazon’s software engineers and was intended to help non-technical
employees to acquire the essential skill sets to move into software engineering careers. Ashley
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Rajagopal, program manager of Amazon Technical Academy, said, “There is a huge need for
software developers, and not just at Amazon. This program helps fill that gap that exists in
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industry right now.”8

Associate2Technician (A2Tech)
This was a fully-paid 90-day program designed to train fulfillment center associates to move into
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technical roles regardless of their previous IT experience. In this program the associate would
shadow another technician and gain hands-on experience in IT as a support technician. Amazon
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6
“Amazon Pledges to Upskill 100,000 U.S. Employees for In-Demand Jobs by 2025”, https://press.
aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-pledges-upskill-100000-us-employees-
demand-jobs-2025, July 11, 2019.
7
Ibid.
8
Meg Coyle, “Skills today for tomorrow’s jobs, https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-at-amazon/skills-
today-for-tomorrows-jobs, July 11, 2019.

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would pay for the training and also fund the employee’s certification tests. No existing degree was
needed, and participants had paid study time of about eight hours a week to do online courses
during their work week. This program was initially launched in 2016.
Machine Learning University (MLU)
This initiative helped Amazonians with a background in technology and coding to gain skills in
Machine Learning. It was a six-week module that required only half to one full day of participation
a week. MLU was taught by more than 400 Amazon Machine Learning scientists.

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Career Choice
This was a pre-paid tuition program for fulfillment center associates looking to move into high-
demand occupations including aircraft mechanics, machine tool technologies, computer-aided

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design, medical lab technologies, and nursing. The company would pay up to 95% of tuition fees
toward a certificate or diploma in qualified fields of study. Career Choice was launched in 2012 and
over 25,000 Amazonians received training for high-demand occupations. Amazon planned to expand
the program by building additional classrooms in its fulfillment centers globally, and expected to
have over 60 on-site classrooms by the end of 2020. Juan Garcia, director of Associate Career
Development at Amazon, said, “We offer training paths designed to lead to opportunities and

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careers outside of Amazon. If we can help people realize their dreams, we want to be part of it.”9
Amazon Apprenticeship

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This was a Department of Labor certified program that offered paid intensive classroom training
and on-the-job apprenticeships with Amazon. Under this program, Amazon trained hundreds of
candidates in different areas including as cloud support associate, software development engineer,
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and data technician. This program was launched in 2017.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Training and Certification
Amazon employees had access to free classroom and digital training to build cloud knowledge,
and to discounted AWS Certification exams to validate their cloud expertise. The company offered
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free digital training, classroom training, and private on-site training. It also offered ramp-up guides
to help build knowledge of AWS Cloud through a variety of resources from free digital training,
classroom courses, videos, whitepapers, and certifications.

AMAZON IN NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND

HEALTH 2019 DIRTY DOZEN LIST
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A few weeks before the up-skilling program was announced in July 2019, Amazon was included in
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the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) 2019 Dirty Dozen list
of the most dangerous employers in the United States (US). The National COSH reported10 six
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Amazon worker deaths between November 2018 and April 2019.

The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) also conducted a
survey between January 3rd and May 7th, 2019, at New York City’s Amazon Fulfillment Center in
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Staten Island. The survey indicated that Amazon’s workplace culture encouraged its workers to
work harder and faster; the work environment was tough with uncomfortable temperatures inside
its warehouses; workers suffered from injuries and heart attacks; and they had inadequate breaks
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while on the job. (See Exhibit I for details of the survey and subsequent recommendations made
by NYCOSH).

9
Neal Karlinsky, “Building herself a great story”, https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-at-
amazon/building-herself-a-great-story, April 16, 2018
10
“The Dirty Zone 2019, https://nationalcosh.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2019_Dirty_Dozen.pdf, 2019.

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The Guardian reported “It doesn’t take long before you’ve seen blown backs, boxes falling on
people’s heads, carpal tunnel in your coworkers’ wrists, and balky knees that never get better.
You’ve seen workers compensation claims repeatedly denied and efforts to address safety issues
given low priority. You’ve seen sexism, racism, and ageism in a promotion culture tainted with
favoritism. You’ve seen write-ups unfairly distributed and used to manipulate workers. You’ve
seen an emotionally toxic culture, where the stress of meeting productivity targets leads managers
to treat workers like things, to be pushed harder and faster without regard for the emotional or
personal cost. You’ve arrived home exhausted, too worn out to spend time with your kids or

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friends. And you’ve noticed that the wealth we produce is being accumulated by our boss – the
modern world’s richest man – while our wages barely keep us afloat.”11

NEXT STEPS

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Amazon had a toxic workplace culture for years. In 2015, an article published in the New York
Times (NYT) described Amazon’s workplace as ‘bruising’. According to the article, the founder &
CEO of Amazon, Jeffery Bezos (Jeff), to meet his ever expanding aspirations, tried to push the
employees so hard that the work environment had become toxic12. In various reports published by
NYT, many former employees came out with statements exposing the allegedly inhuman treatment

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meted out to them. They narrated several incidents in which they alleged employees had been
humiliated during company meetings; that employees suffering from health complexities were put

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on a performance improvement plan; and many more. As per the allegations, the company forced
its employees to work ignoring their family and other personal issues. Other allegations were:
stringent and unfair evaluation processes and secret feedback system that were prevalent in the
company had made the employees emotionally and physically ill; employees had to work till late
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hours and even on weekends and during regular vacations.
It remained to be seen whether career growth plans and up-skilling opportunities offered an
alternative to the stressful work environment that had prevailed in Amazon over many years.
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. What are the objectives of employee training? Elaborate on the importance of up-skilling or
re-skilling programs as announced by Amazon in mid-2019.
2. Describe the various factors that lead to employee stress in an organization. What steps should
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Amazon take to ensure an improvement in its workplace environment at its fulfillment

centers?
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11
“Our new column from inside Amazon: 'They treat us as disposable'“, https://www.theguardian.com/us-
news/2018/nov/21/our-new-column-from-inside-amazon-they-treat-us-as-disposable, November 21,
2018.
12
Jodi Kantor, David Streitfeld, “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace,”
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside-amazon-wrestling-big-ideas-in-a-bruising-
workplace.html, Aug 2015.

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Exhibit I:
NYCOSH Survey Results
The NYCOSH surveyed 142 of the 2,500 workers at the 855,000 square feet New York City’s
Amazon Fulfillment Center in Staten Island on four key occupational health and safety issues:
psychological stress, economic stress, occupational pain, and occupational injuries. The details
follow.
Psychological Stress:

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80% of the Amazon workers surveyed said they felt pressured to work harder and faster.
Amazon’s workers were evaluated based on the speed at which they worked, and when workers
took breaks, this time was considered “time off task.”13
Occupational Pain:

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NYCOSH found in its survey that bodily pain was a regular way of life for workers employed at
Amazon’s Staten Island distribution center. Of the workers surveyed, 66% had experienced
physical pain while doing their regular work duties; 42% of workers continued to have pain
even when they were off work. The work conditions at the fulfillment center led workers to
develop musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and they were then forced out of the workforce, and

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into disability impacting not only the workers’ individual lives but also that of their dependents.
In the survey, the workers consistently indicated that pain was a part of their daily job.
Occupational Injury:

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42% of the workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island said that they had
sustained a physical injury on the job, and 10% had been injured more than once. NYCOSH said
that Amazon had been known for prioritizing the speed of its delivery, and this had had lasting
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consequences on workers.
Key Recommendations
Based on the results of its survey, NYCOSH recommended that Amazon take the following
actions to protect its workers immediately:
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Remain neutral in workers push to unionize: NYCOSH recommended that Amazon should
remain neutral to allow its workers to decide for themselves with regard to unionization.
NYCOSH said that to fire workers or to intimidate them because they sought to unionize was
not only bad business, but was also illegal.
Build a comprehensive ergonomics program: NYCOSH advised Amazon to create a
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comprehensive ergonomics program to prevent workplace pain and injury, especially work-
related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs). Amazon had provided short periods of guided
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stretching (about 15 minutes in duration) before the beginning of a shift, and after the lunch
break as well as training to its workers during onboarding, wherein new hires were shown how
to lift materials correctly. However, based on the nature of the injuries sustained and the pain
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experienced by Amazon employees, NYCOSH opined that the preventive measures that
Amazon had taken were not sufficient to prevent WMSDs among employees.
Reduce line speeds: NYCOSH observed that pace of work was a key risk factor for injuries and
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WMSDs, as it dictated the amount of time that the body had to rest and recover between task
cycles. The faster the pace was, the less the recovery time available, and the higher the risk of
developing a WMSD. To prevent injury and WMSDs for workers, NYCOSH also recommended
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that Amazon slow down the line speeds.

13
‘Time off task’ refers to any break that a worker takes, excluding their legally required 30-minute lunch
break.

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Suggested Readings and References:

1. “Amazon fulfillment center receives $7K fine, hazard alert letters after OSHA
investigates workplace safety complaint”, https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/
region3/01122016, January 12, 2016
2. “Neal Karlinsky, “Building herself a great story”, https://blog.aboutamazon.com/
working-at-amazon/building-herself-a-great-story, April 16, 2018

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3. “Day One Staff, “First class of veteran apprentices “graduate” into Amazon jobs”,
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-at-amazon/first-class-of-veteran-apprentices-
graduate-into-amazon-jobs, August 29, 2018
4. “Neal Karlinsky “A tech job without college”, https://blog.aboutamazon.com/operations/

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a-tech-job-without-college, October 15, 2018
5. “Our new column from inside Amazon: 'They treat us as disposable”, https://time.com/
5629233/amazon-warehouse-employee-treatment-robots/, November 21, 2018
6. “The Dirty Dozen 2018”, https://coshnetwork.org/sites/default/files/Dirty%20Dozen%

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202018,%204-25-18+FINAL(1).pdf, 2018
7. “Neal Karlinsky, “Cleared for takeoff”, https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-at-

8.
amazon/cleared-for-takeoff, January 04, 2019

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“Michael Sainato, “Revealed: Amazon employees are left to suffer after workplace
injuries”, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/02/revealed-amazon-employees-
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suffer-after-workplace-injuries, April 2, 2019
9. “Amazon recognized as a LinkedIn Top Company in nine countries”, https://blog.
aboutamazon.com/working-at-amazon/amazon-recognized-as-a-linkedin-top-company-in-
nine-countries, April 3, 2019
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10. “Meg Coyle, “Skills today for tomorrow’s jobs”, https://blog.aboutamazon.com/working-

at-amazon/skills-today-for-tomorrows-jobs, July 11, 2019
11. “Amazon Pledges to Upskill 100,000 U.S. Employees for In-Demand Jobs by 2025”,
https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-pledges-upskill-
100000-us-employees-demand-jobs-2025, July 11, 2019
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12. “Emily Guendelsberger “I Worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center; They Treat

Workers Like Robots”, https://time.com/5629233/amazon-warehouse-employee-
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treatment-robots/, July 18, 2019

13. “Amazon Workers Report”, https://nycosh.org/resource/amazon-workers-report/, October
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16, 2019
14. “New NYCOSH Report “Time Off Task” Emphasizes Unhealthy Workplace Practices
At Amazon’s Staten Island Distribution Center”, https://nycosh.org/2019/10/new-
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nycosh-report-time-off-task-emphasizes-unhealthy-workplace-practices-at-amazons-staten-
island-distribution-center/, October 17, 2019
15. “Michael Sainato, “Go back to work': outcry over deaths on Amazon's warehouse
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floor”, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/17/amazon-warehouse-worker-
deaths, October 18, 2019
16. “Training”, https://www.aboutamazon.com/amazon-fulfillment/our-fulfillment-centers/
training