by Calvin Smith
As I drive down the main street in downtown Morgan Hill, CA towards Aragon’s headquarters, I can’t help but notice all of the multi-colored lights that are strung around the trees, outlining window sills, and hanging from nearby restaurants. Yes, we are in the midst of the holiday season and that means the season of gift giving is upon us.
I have relied on Amazon for a few years now when it comes to my holiday shopping. You’d be hard-pressed to find an e-commerce provider that gives customers the vast array of shopping items and the multitude of delivery options that Amazon provides. However, I recently read an article about the massive e-commerce provider experiencing serious worker safety issues in their various warehouse locations. Amazon’s negligence has resulted in employee injuries and even death—a death which could have been easily prevented had the right safety protocols been in place.
This blog will discuss Amazon’s warehouse employee safety problems, and how better talent management and enterprise video can help alleviate some of these problems.
Amazon’s Warehouse Safety Issues
According to the article from The Atlantic, Amazon’s “obsession with speed has turned its warehouses into injury mills.” The infatuation with customer satisfaction is forcing Amazon warehouse employees to overlook proper safety practices in order to meet their delivery quota.
Amazon is aware that their employee injury rate is significantly higher than the national average. The article states that one warehouse in Eastvale, CA experienced 422 injuries just last year. In addition, in 2018, the company experienced a spike in injuries on two specific days: Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day.
As the article continues to outline a plethora of injury cases, it becomes apparent that Amazon is severely negligent when it comes to employee safety. If Amazon wants to change this, here are two things they can incorporate to help with worker safety: effective talent management and enterprise video.
Deploying Better Talent Management
Effective talent management is critical for any business success. Talent management is how human resource professionals manage their global workforce and offer insights into the hiring and recruiting process. Talent management solutions also support the planning and execution of human resource initiatives and focus on keeping employees engaged and motivated throughout their career.
It’s vital that your organization provides an environment where learning can take place and promotes employee engagement. Amazon seemingly lacks an effective onboarding process that sets up employees for warehouse success and the execution of proper safety practices.
Amazon raves about their technological advancements that have led to faster delivery times and higher customer satisfaction rates. I will not disagree with this stand. Their delivery time is impeccable. However, there seems to be a severe disconnect between deploying assisting technology and ensuring proper safety practices amongst their warehouse employees.
Quotas are a great way to inspire employee engagement and drive, but there comes a time where the line must be drawn between this dichotomy of achieving employee quotas and ensuring employee safety. Deploying a more efficient talent management strategy will allow Amazon to value and motivate their employees in a more effective manner.
Deploying better talent management and utilizing enterprise video can improve Amazon’s warehouse safety issues.
Utilizing Enterprise Video for Employee Safety
Aragon has been covering the enterprise video market extensively since 2013 and has highlighted the benefits that come with deploying an enterprise video strategy. When it comes to communications, meetings, training, security and many other use cases, video has become a critical form of medium for employee learning and engagement, and knowledge retention. While talent management is about the initial onboarding process and preparing employees for success, enterprise video is an effective method to reinforce the initial onboarding processes and provide continuous learning.
In the case of Amazon’s warehouse employee safety habits, deploying an enterprise video strategy would help with the learning and reinforcement of proper safety practices within their warehouse operations. For example, deploying ‘how-to’ videos on tablets that both warehouse managers and stockers can carry with them on the job can clearly illustrate how to properly lift items without injury, essential warehouse safety tips, and how to manage their time properly while in the warehouse to ensure they are meeting their quota.
However, it also falls on Amazon’s corporate shoulders to ensure that they are giving their employees the right training, an efficient amount of time to complete a task, and the proper amount of breaks throughout the day. More importantly, Amazon needs to establish that they value their employees’ safety and well-being more than their shipment and delivery speed.
In Aragon’s 2019 Globe for Corporate Learning, one of the five essential learning journeys that organizations should emphasize is compliance and operations. Amazon needs to prioritize compliance over quota. They don’t, and that’s why their employees are purposefully working in unsafe manners—they are trying to get their job done as fast as possible. Some of the types of training needed for compliance and operations are ‘how-to’ videos, interactive operations manuals, and microlearning just to name a few.
The larger picture here, is that compliance and operations learning journeys will properly instruct Amazon warehouse employees how to efficiently complete their tasks without the risk of injury. More importantly, it ensures employees are properly equipped to do their jobs and promotes better employee engagement.
Bottom Line
This blog is not a call to boycott Amazon by any means. However, it’s time for Amazon to take accountability for their warehouse safety practices. Their warehouse employees are vital stakeholders in the company’s success and it’s time that they start prioritizing their warehouse employees’ well being. Deploying an enterprise video strategy and effective talent management approach are two areas that can help to transform their safety issues.
Aragon has provided extensive coverage in both enterprise video and talent management. If you’re ready to promote better employee learning and engagement in your organization, let us help you get started with your approach. Schedule a complimentary consultation today.