{"id":54376,"date":"2023-10-20T16:27:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T16:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/understanding-the-amazonian-workplace-its-the-law-of-the-jungle-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T16:27:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T16:27:24","slug":"understanding-the-amazonian-workplace-its-the-law-of-the-jungle-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/understanding-the-amazonian-workplace-its-the-law-of-the-jungle-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Amazonian workplace \u2013 it’s the law of the jungle – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/em><\/span>In virtually every science fiction novel or film, there is an evil corporation which dominates the world \u2013 from LexCorp in the Superman franchise to Weyland-Yutani in Alien<\/a>. Their masterminds tend to hide their ambitions behind stretched smiles and a language of care. That is, until the story\u2019s protagonist exposes their plans and saves the world by exposing the evil afoot.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Compare this to the real world. We have corporations with huge influence which do bad things, we are well aware of it and yet we continue to let it happen. Why?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The recent New York Times expos\u00e9<\/a> of life working for Amazon used old-fashioned investigative journalism to reveal the harsh reality of working in the company\u2019s head office in Seattle. It documents a culture of relentless criticism, with a reliance on continual measuring of performance and long working hours. Unsurprisingly, this results in high labour turnover, as those who refuse to become \u201cAmabots\u201d (a term used to describe someone who has become part of the system) get spat out like returned parcels.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There has been predictable criticism<\/a> of Amazon following these revelations \u2013 rightly so. But consider what we already know about the company. We have known for some time that it has a tax structure which ensures that it minimises its responsibilities<\/a> in paying for the roads which allows it to transport its goods and the education that allows its employees to be able to read and write (Amazon\u2019s British business paid just \u00a34.2m in tax in 2014, despite selling goods worth \u00a34.3 billion).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n We know, following the work done by Spencer Soper in the US<\/a> and Carole Cadwalladr in the UK<\/a> that the conditions in its warehouses are punishing. Long hours, low wages and continual monitoring by technology result in high labour turnover. Oh, and (surprise surprise) Amazon doesn\u2019t like trade unions<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nNothing new to see here<\/h2>\n