Submitted by Sorin61 t3_yftzcf in technology
BallardRex t1_iu5aq3z wrote
> Workers at a combined Starbucks and Amazon store in Times Square filed a petition for union election Friday morning, saying they’re required to do the responsibilities of two jobs for the pay of one.
Was that in their job description when they signed up?
Banea-Vaedr t1_iu5bcur wrote
Probably not, although it says at the end "and any other duties assigned", which is really just a worthless cop-out phrase.
minus_minus t1_iu825a1 wrote
> “We have partners that were coerced into working at this store using intimidation and miscommunication and not given any proper benefits when transferred here.”
Employees have been involuntarily transferred to this store apparently.
halbiird t1_iuf7xmg wrote
yes ! i am actually a partner at this store and i was involuntarily transferred by my manager. there are about 4-5 amazon positions such as a hot foods section (cooking amazon food and stocking it every 2 hours from 6am to 2:30pm) inventory support (which manages the inventory of the amazon go market and receives PO’s, pulls slack to be cooked by the hot foods), the concierge (directing customers to the market / being the bouncer to the market) and the expirary (restocking, recounting stock in boh and THROWING OUT tens and tens of good food) we are not compensated for any of the work we do there and our store set up is awful. we receive the exact same pay as a regular barista despite the amazon work we are entailed
Darth_Meowth t1_iu6z1oc wrote
So like you might have to pour coffee and ring someone up? Oh no says everyone who’s worked a job before
xford t1_iu7f7us wrote
"it has always sucked, so don't try and change anything." is a pretty sad way to go through life mate.
c0d3s1ing3r t1_iu80s3c wrote
"I refuse to do anything that is not within the narrowly defined scope of my job description. I am a cashier, therefore I will not stock shelves"
xford t1_iu9rkl5 wrote
The more realistic scenario is that they are feeling the affects of 'schedule optimization' where one person is being staffed in place of two because the algorithm says that is all you need. That single person is then being given completely disparate requirements such as 'stock this section in the next X minutes' while also 'greet every customer within fifteen seconds of them walking in the door' 'along with 'ensure that all drink orders are fulfilled within 3 minutes' and also 'ensure all packages are picked within 90 seconds of scanning the ticket'.
I've manged retail before, it isn't some secret that there are large stretches of time where the staffing levels 'make sense' if you only look at the computer but also objectively suck for the person tasked with working that time when it happens to be even slightly busier than projected.
This is the exact sort of thing that affects workers from minimum wage all the way up to six figure software developers. Kudos to them for standing up and seeking the only path that will empower them to do so without fear of retribution.
c0d3s1ing3r t1_iub5mto wrote
Anyone designing such an algorithm should clearly have some automatic additional compensation system in situations where a storefront is busier than expected.
Over optimization of labor is a thing, for sure, but I wouldn't be able to say which one it is without knowing the situation of it better
darthjoey91 t1_iu7k98l wrote
The Amazon side doesn’t even do normal checkout, so it’d be directing people to use the app.
It does probably require employees to actively be stocking shelves.
Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments