Amazon's Algorithm Automatically Fires Inefficient Warehouse Workers

The Verge obtained Amazon documents detailing the firing of hundreds of warehouse workers who failed to live up to 'a proprietary productivity metric.' Those firings 'are far more common than outsiders realize' -- and they're apparently initiated by an algorithm.

In a signed letter last year, an attorney representing Amazon said the company fired 'hundreds' of employees at a single facility between August of 2017 and September 2018 for failing to meet productivity quotas. A spokesperson for the company said that, over that time, roughly 300 full-time associates were terminated for inefficiency. The number represents a substantial portion of the facility's workers: a spokesperson said the named fulfillment center in Baltimore includes about 2,500 full-time employees today. Assuming a steady rate, that would mean Amazon was firing more than 10 percent of its staff annually, solely for productivity reasons.

The documents also show a deeply automated tracking and termination process. 'Amazon's system tracks the rates of each individual associate's productivity,' according to the letter, 'and automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity without input from supervisors.' (Amazon says supervisors are able to override the process....)

'One of the things that we hear consistently from workers is that they are treated like robots in effect because they're monitored and supervised by these automated systems,' says Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and a prominent Amazon critic. 'They're monitored and supervised by robots....' The bottom 5 percent of workers are placed on a training plan, according to the company. An appeal system is also part of the termination process.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.