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Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

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Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#21

Post by [deleted] »

andrestan wrote: post #12
crooked-v wrote: post #3

Bonuses for warehouse workers, presumably throughput-based, seem like a way to optimize for maximum output at the expense of worker health. It's good that those are going away.

Why? Are the workers completely and totally incapable of deciding for themselves what the proper tradeoff between increased income and whatever decreased health comes from working harder?? What is your calculus that helped you arrive at it being the case that the now former monetary incentives' value was outweighed by the decrease in worker health that you have perceived?

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#22

Post by Spooky23 »

xt00 wrote: post #5

This will help with recruitment, but the sentiment that new workers will essentially get paid the same as older workers is going to immediately be a big sticking point. From watching the Boeing union strikes over many years, I get the sense that once a labor force unionizes they setup their own structure for pay and get that signed off -- where they have seniority and things like that. But it also means the company b…

Most of the unsolvable adversarial issues are related to the inconsistent legal framework, various holes pinched in labor law and the constant threat of closure.

A place like Boeing is really a government employer in disguise and has entirely different dynamics.

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#23

Post by lozenge »

andrestan wrote: post #12
crooked-v wrote: post #3

Bonuses for warehouse workers, presumably throughput-based, seem like a way to optimize for maximum output at the expense of worker health. It's good that those are going away.

Why? Are the workers completely and totally incapable of deciding for themselves what the proper tradeoff between increased income and whatever decreased health comes from working harder?? What is your calculus that helped you arrive at it being the case that the now former monetary incentives' value was outweighed by the decrease in worker health that you have perceived?

How do you think people gain this mystical knowledge of how targeting that extra level of throughput will affect their health?

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#24

Post by dantheman »

bsder wrote: post #13
xt00 wrote: post #5

This will help with recruitment, but the sentiment that new workers will essentially get paid the same as older workers is going to immediately be a big sticking point. From watching the Boeing union strikes over many years, I get the sense that once a labor force unionizes they setup their own structure for pay and get that signed off -- where they have seniority and things like that. But it also means the company b…

> But it also means the company becomes very adversarial with their work-force This is due to a combination of lack of social safety net and lack of worker representation. In the places where unions are noted for being "good", the government covers the social safety net and workers unions are given board seats as well as stock. This keeps everybody's goals aligned.

Public sector unions are notoriously bad.

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#25

Post by paxys »

savanaly wrote: post #2

Impossible to judge the effect until someone investigates the relative sizes of the lost bonuses and the increased hourly wage. I did read Amazon's claim in the article that the increase outweighs the decrease. But I would like to see a journalist confirm that and also report on how big the difference is and whether it affects certain types of workers differently than others.

There is no way to really investigate this claim since only Amazon has all the numbers.

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#26

Post by MBCook »

lighthazard wrote: post #6
crooked-v wrote: post #3

Bonuses for warehouse workers, presumably throughput-based, seem like a way to optimize for maximum output at the expense of worker health. It's good that those are going away.

I thought it was more like required quotas to fulfill or risk getting fired?

I’m sure it is, but jobs that can tract workers piecemeal often pay extra to the highest performers to incentivize people to try and work harder.

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#27

Post by NeedMoreTea »

savanaly wrote: post #2

Impossible to judge the effect until someone investigates the relative sizes of the lost bonuses and the increased hourly wage. I did read Amazon's claim in the article that the increase outweighs the decrease. But I would like to see a journalist confirm that and also report on how big the difference is and whether it affects certain types of workers differently than others.

Over half the pay rise for Amazon workers in the UK.

They gained a pay rise, but lose a yearly share (£1,500 or $1,950), and another share every five years.

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#28

Post by Spooky23 »

andrestan wrote: post #12
crooked-v wrote: post #3

Bonuses for warehouse workers, presumably throughput-based, seem like a way to optimize for maximum output at the expense of worker health. It's good that those are going away.

Why? Are the workers completely and totally incapable of deciding for themselves what the proper tradeoff between increased income and whatever decreased health comes from working harder?? What is your calculus that helped you arrive at it being the case that the now former monetary incentives' value was outweighed by the decrease in worker health that you have perceived?

Because Taylorism is a blunt instrument that is marginally effective.

If you’ve ever worked in an environment with those sorts of incentives, it’s immediately obvious that they are loosely related to productivity and turn into tools of favoritism and control.

Amazon isn’t doing this out of the kindness of their hearts. They no doubt concluded that just focusing on objective, easily controlled measurements like hours ultimately made more sense. The workers themselves are disposable anyway.

Besides, the workers now have more guaranteed income that can be invested in Amazon stock! They gain the freedom of dollar cost averaging.

Re: Amazon Warehouse Workers Lose Bonuses, Stock Awards for Raises

#29

Post by mikestew »

andrestan wrote: post #12
crooked-v wrote: post #3

Bonuses for warehouse workers, presumably throughput-based, seem like a way to optimize for maximum output at the expense of worker health. It's good that those are going away.

Why? Are the workers completely and totally incapable of deciding for themselves what the proper tradeoff between increased income and whatever decreased health comes from working harder?? What is your calculus that helped you arrive at it being the case that the now former monetary incentives' value was outweighed by the decrease in worker health that you have perceived?

Are the workers completely and totally incapable of deciding for themselves what the proper tradeoff between increased income and whatever decreased health comes from working harder??

Such a decision would be short-lived, as the level of work required to maintain bonus-level status would become the new baseline. Minimum wage + bonus will become your new pay structure.

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