It is the world's biggest online business. But with questions
being asked about its treatment of employees, what is it like to work at Amazon? Carole Cadwalladr lands a ob in one of its giant warehouses and dis!o"ers the human !ost of our lust for !onsumer goods On my second day, the manager tells us that we alone have picked and packed 155,000 items in the past 24 hours. Tomorrow, 2 Decemer ! the usiest online shopping day o" the year ! that "igure will e closer to 450,000. #nd this is $ust one o" eight warehouses across the country. #ma%on took &.5m orders on a single day last year. 'hristmas is its (ietnam ! a test o" its corporate mettle and the kind o" challenge that would make even the most e)perienced distriution supply manager reak down and weep. *n the past two weeks, it has taken on an e)tra 15,000 agency sta"" in +ritain. #nd it e)pects to doule the numer o" warehouses in +ritain in the ne)t three years. *t e)pects to continue the growth that has made it one o" the most power"ul multinationals on the planet. ,ight now, in -wansea, "our shi"ts will e working at least a 50.hour week, hand.picking and packing each item. /or a week, * was an #ma%on el"0 a temporary worker who got a $o through a -wansea employment agency. #ma%on is the "uture o" shopping1 eing an #ma%on 2associate2 in an #ma%on 2"ul"ilment centre2 ! take that "or doulespeak, 3r Orwell ! is the "uture o" work1 and #ma%on4s payment o" minimal ta) in any $urisdiction is the "uture o" gloal usiness. # "uture in which multinational corporations wield more power than governments. #ma%on is success"ul "or a reason. *t is rilliant at what it does. 2*t solved these huge challenges,2 says +rad -tone. 2*t mastered the chaos o" storing tens o" millions o" products and "iguring out how to get them to people, on time, without "ail, and no one else has come even close.2 5e didn4t $ust pick and pack more than 155,000 items on my "irst day. 5e picked and packed the right items and sent them to the right customers. 25e didn4t miss a single order,2 our section manager tells us with proper pride. *t4s here, where actual people ru up against the usiness demands o" one o" the most sophisticated technology companies on the planet, that things get messy. *t4s a system that includes unsystemisale things like hopes and "ears and plans "or the "uture and children and lives. #nd in places o" high unemployment and low economic opportunities, places where #ma%on delierately sites its distriution centres ! it received 67.7m in grants "rom the 5elsh government "or ringing the warehouse here ! despair leaks around the edges. The process is e)plained and a selection o" people are interviewed. 28ike you, * started as an agency worker over 'hristmas,2 says one man in it. 2+ut * 9uickly got a permanent $o and then promoted and now, two years later, *4m an area manager.2 #ma%on will e taking people on permanently a"ter 'hristmas, we4re told, and i" you work hard, you can e one o" them. There are "our agencies who have supplied sta"" to the warehouse, and their reps work "rom desks on the warehouse "loor. 5alking "rom one training session to another, * ask one o" them how many permanent employees work in the warehouse ut he mishears me and answers another 9uestion entirely0 25ell, oviously not everyone will e taken on. :ust look at the numers. To e honest, the agencies have to say that $ust to get people through the door.2 *t does that. *t4s what the ma$ority o" people in my induction group are a"ter. * train with ;ete ! not his real name ! who has een unemployed "or the past three years. +e"ore that, he was a care worker. <e lives at the top o" the ,hondda (alley, and his partner, -usan =not her real name either>, an unemployed *T repair technician, has also $ust started. *t took them more than an hour to get to work. 25e had to get the kids up at "ive,2 he says. #"ter a 10?.hour shi"t, and aout another hour4s drive ack, e"ore picking up the children "rom his parents, they got home at @pm. The ne)t day, they did the same, e)cept -usan twisted her ankle on the "irst shi"t. -he phones in ut she will receive a 2point2. *" she receives three points, she will e 2released2, which is how you get sacked in modern corporatese. #nd then there4s 28es2, who is one o" our trainers. <e has a special, coloured lanyard that shows he4s an #ma%on 2amassador2, and another that says he4s a "irst aider. <e4s worked at the warehouse "or more than a year and over the course o" the week * see him, speeding across the "loor, going at least twice the rate *4m managing. <e4s in his A0s and tells me how he lost two stone in the "irst two months he worked there "rom all the walking. 5e were told when we applied "or the $os that we may walk up to 15 miles a shi"t. <e4d een a senior manager in the same "irm "or &2 years e"ore he was made redundant and landed up here. <ow long was it e"ore you got a permanent $o, * ask him. 2* haven4t,2 he says, and he holds up his green *D adge. ;ermanent employees have lue ones, a etter hourly rate, and a"ter two years share options, and there is a sutle apartheid at work. 2*" you have a lue adge you have etter wages, proper rights. Bou can e working alongside someone in the same $o, ut they4re stale and you4re $ust cannon "odder. 5hy haven4t they given you a proper $o, * ask 8es, and he shrugs his head ut elsewhere people mutter0 it4s "riends o" the managers who get the $os. *t4s <, picking names at random. *t4s some sort o" lack magic noody understands. 5alking o"" shi"t in a great wave o" orange high.vis vests, * chat to another man in his A0s. <e4d een working in the Cnity mine, near Death, he told me, until a month ago, the second time he4d een laid o"" in two years. <e4d worked at #ma%on last 'hristmas too. 2#nd they $ust let me go straight a"ter, no warning or anything. #nd * couldn4t have worked any harderE * worked my socks o""E2 5hen * put the 9uestion to #ma%on, it responded0 2# small numer o" seasonal associates have een with us "or an e)tended period o" time and we are keen to retain those individuals in order that we can provide them with a permanent role when one ecomes availale. 5e were ale to create 2,&00 "ull.time permanent positions "or seasonal associates in 201& y taking advantage o" 'hristmas seasonality to "ind great permanent employees ut, un"ortunately, we simply cannot retain 15,000 seasonal employees.2 *t4s worth noting that agency workers are not #ma%on employees. There4s no dout that it is hard, physical work. #s an agency worker, you4re paid 1@p an hour over the minimum wage ! 6A.50 ! and the shi"ts are 10? hours long. +ut lots o" $os involve hard, physical work.