New Survey: Amazon workers in 8 countries say intrusive monitoring is making them sick and anxious

Amazon’s performance monitoring system makes its workers feel “stressed, pressured, anxious, like a slave, robot and untrusted,” according to a new, international study of Amazon employees in major markets for UNI Global Union—the first ever of its kind. Over half of Amazon workers surveyed say Amazon’s monitoring systems have had a negative impact on their health (51%) and their mental health (57%). 

The study, commissioned by UNI Global Union and carried out by Jarrow Insights collected 2,000 responses from self-identified Amazon warehouse workers, drivers and office workers from 8 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and Australia.  

“Amazon cannot look the other way when workers all over the world are saying that going to work is making them feel sick and anxious,” said Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union. “This corporation has the data and resources to make their workplaces safer, they are just choosing to ignore workers who want a voice to make their jobs better and proven solutions like union health and safety committees.” 

Key findings: 

• Over 57% of responders say Amazon’s monitoring has had a negative impact in their mental health. 
• Over 51% say Amazon’s monitoring system has a negative impact in their overall health.
• 59% of workers feel that Amazon’s monitoring is excessive.
• 53% fear losing their jobs due to Amazon’s monitoring technologies, 
• 78% of delivery drivers feel that Amazon’s targets are either difficult or very difficult to achieve. 
• 58% said Amazon doesn’t clearly explain how it uses the data it collects on workers.
• 65.7% of drivers, in particular, reported a negative impact on their physical health stemming from productivity monitoring. 

Studying the responses in their entirety, a clear picture emerges across countries and roles. The majority of workers surveyed expressed their belief that Amazon’s monitoring of their work performance is excessive and opaque, that its expectations are unrealistic, and that striving to meet these unrealistic expectations has negative effects on their physical health and, even more acutely, their mental health.  

Despite its use of cutting-edge technologies and state-of-the-art facilities, research has shown that injury rates at Amazon’s warehouses are significantly higher than industry averages. The results of the survey shed light on this apparent contradiction. Worker testimony indicates that it is often precisely this cutting-edge technology that pushes workers to work harder and faster, at the expense of both their physical and mental health.  

Several workers who suffer from conditions such as irritable-bowel syndrome (IBS), which require them to spend more time in the restroom, reported conflicts with the company’s infamous time-off-task (ToT) policies, and a lack of accommodation from the company.  

• “I feel like I’m drowning all day, causing me to drive in unsafe ways to meet the unreasonable expectation[s],” one U.S. driver explained.
• “Today I received a write-up for – unaccounted for idle time – due to my IBS. I’m constantly harassed over missing work or restroom breaks due to my illness.” – U.S. warehouse worker
• “I got an infraction because I was having an asthma attack on the highway and needed to reach into my bag to grab my inhaler. It logged it as distracted driving.” – U.S. delivery driver
• “I had two surgeries on my wrists and after returning to work I was harassed for not reaching my targets, everyday negative feedbacks and I had to explain why I can’t reach the targets even with doctors’ recommendations to not overstrain my hands. Now I’m off work again as my carpal tunnel returned and extended to nerve entrapment in elbow.” – UK warehouse worker 
• “As a rebinner in Outbound Sort Flow, my quota was nearly physically impossible to reach. Rebinding requires fast walking through the entire shift to meet the minimum quota, I developed tendonitis due to suddenly being put on rebin/suddenly fast walking each shift for the entire period. This tendonitis caused me to be unable to show up, which resulted in me being fired for Job Abandonment.” – U.S. warehouse worker
• Having a lot of back problems that have worsened enormously because of them. I told them about the pain, and they never took anything seriously…” – French warehouse worker
• “I understand that they want to make sure everyone follows break rules, but I have a medical issue and that requires a little longer bathroom break. Most [of] my break is waiting for a stall in the restroom.” – U.S. warehouse worker

The mental cost of working at Amazon, which we have seen clearly expressed by workers in both numbers and words, can be explained in part by what appears to be a notable absence of positive reinforcement from management, particularly in the warehouse. Workers describe a management culture lacking in basic empathy – one that reflects the unforgiving and fundamentally non-human algorithm that constitutes its foundation.  

• “I got written up the day I got back from losing my son” – U.S. warehouse worker
• “When rates are reached there is nobody to come to congratulate you… On the other hand, the one day when you’re tired and your performance is not top, they are the first to come to you ask for a reason.” – French warehouse worker 
• “Sometimes I can be a bit below the expected rate because It’s physically exhausting to work at amazon, and when I tell my leader why I’m slower that day they don’t care at all and just say to work harder.” – Polish warehouse worker 
• “I got a write up for my performance without a verbal warning or coaching. One bad day and they wrote me up for it.” – U.S. warehouse worker 
• “How can they come to ask you why you’re slow when one day you’re worse than normal, and you’re always super good? The smallest thing and they bite” – Spanish warehouse worker

Monitoring devices allow Amazon to quantify worker productivity, and thus to set measurable targets – commonly called “rates” in the warehouse context. The results of the survey indicate a widespread sentiment among workers that Amazon’s targets are unreasonable. Statistically speaking, 54.2% of Amazon workers surveyed said that Amazon’s productivity targets are either difficult or very difficult to achieve. 

• “Break times are very strict and enforced. If you are over by 2min or more, your break time will be sent to the manager. Also break times start from when you scan your last item, and end when you scan your first item after break, your break doesn’t start from when you actually sit down outside etc., so you lose a few min. from your break.” – Australian warehouse worker
• “The computer software only counts the number of packages shipped. It does not allow for malfunctioning equipment, wrong box sizes, restocking your workstations, etc.” – U.S. warehouse worker
• “Monitoring of errors by the electronic system does not take into account technical conditions and problems with machines.” – Polish warehouse worker 
• “There is absolutely no reason that a camera should be pointing directly at me all day. That is a total and clear violation of my right to privacy.” – U.S. delivery driver

Survey respondents consistently expressed that safety comes second to productivity at Amazon 

• “Amazon favours productivity over safety. They won’t make safety changes unless someone gets hurt if it’s really bad. If not, they will let it happen multiple times before they make changes. Their first goal will be to blame the person who got hurt.” – U.S. warehouse worker
• “Break times are very strict and enforced. If you are over by 2 minutes or more, your break time will be sent to the manager. Also break times start from when you scan your last item, and end when you scan your first item after break, your break doesn’t start from when you actually sit down outside etc., so you lose a few min. from your break.” – Australian warehouse worker
• “The computer software only counts the number of packages shipped. It does not allow for malfunctioning equipment, wrong box sizes, restocking your workstations, etc.” – U.S. warehouse worker
• “Monitoring of errors by the electronic system does not take into account technical conditions and problems with machines.” – Polish warehouse worker 
• “Many tasks that we encounter at our stations are not calculated and therefore, sometimes, the manager believes that we are doing nothing, even though we are working.” – French warehouse worker 

UNI previously detailed the extent of Amazon’s intrusive and all-encompassing surveillance systems in its report, The Amazon Panopticon.  

Representing more than 20 million workers in 150 countries, UNI Global Union is driven by the responsibility to ensure skills and service jobs are decent jobs and that workers’ rights are protected, including the right of union representation and collective bargaining.