Staff satisfaction should be top of Amazon’s agenda

Amazon has been making plenty of headlines recently, with news of its recent Q2 financial results depicting a net loss of £1.6bn in spite of a 7% increase in sales. However, out of all the Amazon-related news circulating, its current battle with unions and the company’s refusal to offer staff higher wages, an uphill battle since 2015, is what is grabbing headlines. 

The conversation of Amazon staff mistreatment has reemerged finally in the UK, when prior to 2020 it was largely localised in the US. Amazon is thought to be at loggerheads with its staff due to factors such as stagnating wages, poor working conditions, as well as the combined stress of the energy crisis and the rise in the cost of living weighing heavily on employees with no worthwhile benefits being extended by the company. 

A catalyst for the latest employee action was Amazon’s proposed pay rise of 35p an hour, which was met by workers with outrage by not matching the current rate of inflation at 9.4%. As a result, walkouts have been picking up pace, with warehouse workers staging ‘wildcat walkouts’ where they put down their tools and leave from sites. So far, Essex and Tilbury have started the trend, with an estimated 700 people participating in the protest.  

Due in part to Amazon’s unwillingness to provide a living wage, with the GMB Union urging the company to offer £15 an hour, as well as better work environments, it could suffer if it is unable to retain workers due to its reputation as an inattentive employer. 

Only last year Amazon was at the tail end of another dispute, which was covered on ITV News. An analysis of 9,000 adverts posted by either Adecco or PMP Recruitment, both agencies hired by Amazon, were found to exploit temporary employees by putting them on zero hour contracts that didn’t deliver on Amazon’s own guaranteed 20 hours a week, even when 20 hours of work was not available.  

Amazon could face an even bigger financial loss if it chooses to keep undermining the people that maintain its operations running smoothly. If the company’s loss of $34m (£28m) in sales during an internet outage back in 2021 is anything to go by, then the losses in sales caused by unhappy employees could cost Amazon their customers, good reviews, as well as their position as the most reliable store on the internet. 

In fact, unsatisfied staff has been shown to have adverse effects on even the most powerful businesses, particularly when it comes to high employee turnover, according to People Management. Tom Seymour, senior director of HR at Wiley Edge, warned that poor retention rates could be “very costly” for businesses by driving up recruitment and training expenses along with curbing productivity. 

Overall, it seems that Amazon’s next response to this crisis should be measured and generous in order to get their staff on their side. If they choose to keep fighting their workers, however, they should expect more resources wasted on damage control.